Pride and Prejudice

             There are many minor characters in the novel, Pride and Prejudice, and every character serves its purpose. In this case, Lady Catherine is a major minor character in this novel. Jane Austen's purpose of putting Lady Catherine in this novel is to have her serve as an ironic tool. Also throughout the novel, we can see that Lady Catherine is an ugly exaggeration or distortion of Darcy's worst qualities. We also see his good qualities by the contrast of his estate and Lady Catherine's. Also, Elizabeth's strength and independence shows through the conflicts that Elizabeth and Lady Catherine have in the novel. Jane Austen uses Lady Catherine to develop the theme on what is a lady.
             Lady Catherine is a lady of high class, with very low class manners. She is an imprudent lady and very conceited. She feels authority above all others who are not of her class. She can care less about other people, and only care about the things that can be to her advantage. In this novel we can see how her ways get her nowhere in the novel.
             Jane Austen uses Lady Catherine as a tool to exaggerate the ugly flaws of Darcy. Darcy, when introduced at the beginning of the novel, has really bad manners; and his rude arrogant way keeps people away. One scene where Darcy's rude manners show is when he refuses to dance with Elizabeth at the ball; but refusing her is not enough, he makes a comment saying that she is not pretty enough. Darcy and Lady Catherine are both proud individuals. They will never admit to their faults or when they do something wrong. Lady Catherine's imprudence really shows at the dinner party in her estate, Rosings. She is very imprudent with Elizabeth with the questions that she asks her and is very nosy. Lady Catherine does not seem to have equal respect towards all her guests. She treats the people who have more money better than the ones of lower status, just like Darcy does at parties.
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Pride and Prejudice. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 05:26, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/26483.html