Q) wirte a short note on lady Catherine de bourgh

`LADY CATHERINE DE BOURGH

Lady Catherine de Bourgh is one of Austen’s background characters in ‘Pride and Prejudice. Austen
has used her to elucidate the characters of Elizabeth, Mr. Darcy, and Mrs. Gardiner.

She is a very dominating and wealthy woman who is Mr. Darcy’s aunt. We are first introduced to her
through Mr. Collins, who has the utmost respect and admiration for this lady. During his visit to
Longbourn he forms up an image of Lady Catherine by his continuous reference to her greatness and
comparisons to her décor.

She is referred again when she is visited by the Elizabeth Bennett. During the initial meetings, Lady
Catherine shows her arrogant side through her comments and the way Elizabeth handles her shows her
brilliance of courage. Although Lady Catherine is a woman of social standing, ironically, even Mr. Darcy is
ashamed of his aunt’s ill-breeding, after she welcomes Elizabeth to practice the piano at her house in Mrs.
Jenkinson’s room because ‘she would be nobody’s way in that part of house.

It is very much ironic that twice Lady Catherine unknowingly aids in encouraging the relationship of Mr.
Darcy and Elizabeth. The first time occurs when Lady Catherine demands that Mr. Collins must marry. Lady
Catherine's request starts a chain of events that leads Mr. Collins to marry Charlotte Lucas. Elizabeth then
goes to visit the Collins' while Mr. Darcy is staying nearby with Lady Catherine. This causes the two to
meet and starts breaking down the "wall" that has built up between them. However, the most important
impact Lady Catherine has on the plot comes when she voices her disapproval of the possibility that
Elizabeth might become married to Mr. Darcy. Her desire to break off any possible engagement between
Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy instead forces Elizabeth to reconsider the idea of a relationship with Mr. Darcy
and to admit that he might have obtained her affections. Lady Catherine's objections to Mr. Darcy about
his relationship with Elizabeth actually encourage him to propose to Elizabeth a second time. He reasons
when speaking to Elizabeth after they are engaged, "had you been absolutely, irrevocably decided against
me, you would have acknowledged it to Lady Catherine, frankly and openly" (306).

While Lady Catherine does have a role in the plot of Pride and Prejudice, her primary function is to give us
a better understanding of other characters in the novel. Lady Catherine's bout with Elizabeth over her
relationship with Mr. Darcy is used to make Elizabeth's character as strong and impertinent. Austen sees
Elizabeth's nature in a positive light and sets her apart from the other women in the novel as a type of
heroine, standing up to Lady Catherine by saying "I am only resolved to act in a manner which will...
constitute my happiness, without reference to you"(298)

Another fascinating use of Lady Catherine is how she is used to spotlight the personality change of Mr.
Darcy. Lady Catherine and Mr. Darcy have similar amounts of wealth, which puts them fairly close in terms
of rank. However, while Lady Catherine disapproves of Elizabeth's "obstinate, headstrong" nature (296),
Mr. Darcy has a strong liking for Elizabeth's character. Mr. Darcy's differing opinion from Lady Catherine,
despite their common rank, helps establish his divergence from the social norm.

A minor use of Lady Catherine is to help establish the character of Mrs. Gardiner as compassionate and
understanding, as they are both aunts. Lady Catherine's interaction with her nephew, Mr. Darcy, can be
clearly identified in her antiquated insistence upon an arranged marriage between Mr. Darcy and Miss De
Bourgh. This relationship is contrasted with that between Mrs. Gardiner and her niece, Elizabeth. Mrs.
Gardiner simply offers suggestions to Elizabeth, such as recommending the "understanding and opinions"
of Mr. Darcy (271). The difference in the way the two aunts offer opinions to their relatives makes the
caring and nurturing nature of Mrs. Gardiner apparent to the reader.

Jane Austen uses Lady Catherine as a means of criticizing the social status of young women during early
19th century England, but more importantly, as a way of exposing rank as an indicator of character. Lady
Catherine's suggestions such as "young women should always be properly guarded and attended,"
characterize how women were regarded as objects to be won and prized (179). However, Jane Austen
subsequently suggests that this image is flawed. Austen also uses Lady Catherine to put forth her more
prominent theme, suggesting that even with limitless wealth and higher rank, one is not superior to those
less fortunate. In fact, she implies that true nobility can be found among the working class, such as in the
case of Mrs. Gardiner. Austen thus concludes that wealth and rank as a means of ordering society and
determining one's character is overvalued and flawed.

Q) Discuss pride and prejudice as a novel about marriage

Pride and Prejudice is written by Jane Austen with the purpose to share her views of marriage. She
believed that marriage should not occur on the grounds of superficial feelings, pressures to marry, or
wealth and social status. The author believed that one should only marry for love and it is this, and only
this, which can enable the characters of the novel to be happy. 

The very first sentence on novel, which, I would like to quote, “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that
a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife” highlights the importance of
marriage within the world of the novel. The sentence suggests that the sole purpose for marriage was to
increase the characters social and financial ranking or to enhance their social security. In this novel we see
two established marriages, the Bennets and the Gardiners and then four other marriages take place, Lydia with
Wickham, Charlotte with Mr Collins, Elizabeth with Darcy, and Jane with Bingley. 

Mr and Mrs Bennet marriage is used to depict the loneliness and anger which can evolve between two
people when they are married without love. Mrs. Bennet is a woman who just wants her five daughters to
get married. Mr Bennet has a good sense of humour and likes to tease his wife. He pretends not to understand her.
Their marriage was based on an initial physical attraction. Mr Bennet was mesmerized with the youth and beauty
possessed by Mrs. Benner. The initial physical attraction dies quickly and all Mr Bennet’s hopes about domestic
happiness were lost and he also lost the respect for his wife. Here, Jane Austen wants to highlight that marriage
should never be based on physical appearances or external beauty as beauty fades with time and this was the major
flaw in bennets marriage.

The next established marriage which we come across is of Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner. The Gardiners is a sensible,
lively and intelligent couple. They love each other and work well together. Mr Gardiner is Mrs Bennet’s brother. He is
a tradesman. The couple lives in Gracechurch, a street in the City of London. Elizabeth looks up to Mrs Gardiner, not
to Mrs Bennet. 

The next marriage is that of Mr. Collins and Charlotte Lucas. Mr. Collins was a distant cousin of Bennets and
he came to Longbourn with the purpose to marry.The first choice of his was the eldest daughter of Mr
and Mrs. Bennet-Jane but when he got to know about the fact that Jane liked Mr. Bingley, his next
choice was automatically turned to Elizabeth. But Elizabeth found Mr. Collins a much uncivilized,
insane and a person who is not sensible so she rejects the proposal of Mr. Collins. And this incident
can also been being seen as a landmark in novel because after this, his attention moves to Charlotte
Lucas. Charlotte Lucas is Elizabeth’s dearest friend. When Collins proposes Charlotte she immediately
accepts it and marries Mr. Collins for money. Charlotte accepted his proposal for the pure and
disinterested desire of an establishment. She wanted nothing more out of marriage than financial
stability and that is what she got. In Hunsford she did nothing but tend to the chores of maintaining
her home and pleasing Lady Catherine. I don’t think that Charlotte and Mr. Collins were in love. This
was another marriage which highlights that you should not marry a person just for financial reasons.

The marriage between Elizabeth and Darcy is the example of successful marriage and a excellent match. This
marriage highlights that it’s not necessary for two people to be physically beautiful but what’s more
important is that you get to know a person well by meeting each other frequently. Although Darcy’s
first impression of Elizabeth was that she is a girl who is nice but not that nice that I can fall for her
and Elizabeth’s impression of Darcy was that he is a snobbish and proud man. Later in the novel, at
Pemberley, Elizabeth sees Darcy in various roles and gets to know the true personality of Darcy and
also says that ‘It’s something to be the mistress of Pemberley’. When Darcy also gets to know about
Elizabeth’s true personality he says my feelings for you will not change and give me a chance to
admire and love you. This shows that both of them love each other because of their personality and
not for money or physical beauty and this is the main reason for their successful marriage, that they
know each other so well and believe in their love that it will never fade. This marriage also portrays
Austen’s views of marriage-a package of love, financial stability, physical attraction, and happiness. 

The next marriage is of Lydia and Wickham. Their marriage was a result of irresponsible behavior and
lust. Lydia first meets Wickham at a dance. Although Wickham first paid attention to Elizabeth but
when he gets to know that miss King has inherited huge fortune he moves away his attention from
Elizabeth. Later when regiment moved Brighton, Lydia with Mrs. Forster also goes. At this point Lydia
elopes with Wickham and later marries him with the help of Darcy who gives money to him. Lydia
doesn’t care about other feelings and the sad part is Lydia care more than Wickham cares for her. The
money he gets from marriage is used for paying his debts. The marriage is not a very happy one.
They were always in debts and Lydia keeps on asking money from her sisters.

Jane and Bingley’s marriage is based on love and respect. Jane is the most beautiful daughter and Mrs. Bennet had
high hopes from her. Jane is very polite and always sees well in others. Jane first meets Bingley at meryton at a ball
where they both liked each other. But Darcy thinks Jane is indifferent to Bingley and is only interest in his fortune and
money so he sends bingley for some business work and didn’t even tell him when Jane was in London.Later when
Elizabeth confronted Darcy; Darcy gets to know his mistake and try to make things better. Later Bingley proposes to
Jane with Darcy’s consent and this shows how much he is influenced by Darcy.Both of them are optimistic and nice.
Mr. Bennet also thinks that the couple is great and will make a good pair.

Jane Austen used all these marriages to highlight the flaws of marrying just for physical beauty or money and also the
fact that how knowing well a person can make the same marriage work.she also talks about the importance of love in
these marriage and when it is not there the partners becomes burden to each other and the beauty or relationship
fades. She shows all types of relationships. Mr Collins-charlotte and Lydia-Wickham marriage will not be able
to withstand long enough because of the superficial reasons because which they married, whereas,
Elizabeth and Darcy’s marriage shows how well the marriage can work without any temptation fron=m
such things (money and beauty).

Hence, Pride and prejudice is economic basis of marriage.