Key Quote
“"I have been used to have my opinion consulted in all matters. I am not in the habit of brooking disappointment"”
Lady Catherine · Chapter 56 (Confrontation with Elizabeth)
Focus: “brooking disappointment”
Lady Catherine at her most imperious — she declares her authority as absolute, unable to conceive that anyone might defy her. The word 'brooking' (tolerating) reveals a woman who has never been told 'no'.
Technique 1 — IMPERATIVE ABSOLUTISM
The phrase 'all matters' is an absurd claim — Lady Catherine positions herself as a universal authority, consulted on everything from marriage to music to gardening. The words 'used to' present this tyranny as normalised (made to seem natural through repetition) habit rather than conscious power. She does not assert authority; she assumes it has always existed and always will.
The archaic verb 'brooking' (from Old English 'brūcan', to tolerate) gives her language a feudal grandeur — she speaks as though she were a medieval lord rather than a Regency noblewoman. This anachronistic (belonging to an earlier era) diction reveals that Lady Catherine's sense of power is rooted in an older, more absolute model of aristocratic authority.
Key Words
RAD — STAGNATE
Lady Catherine represents total stagnation — she has never been challenged, never changed, never grown. Her character is defined by the absence of development: born into power, she has lived her entire life within its protective shell. Elizabeth's defiance will be the first genuine resistance she has ever encountered, and she is psychologically unequipped to process it.
Key Words
Technique 2 — DRAMATIC IRONY — THE FAILED INTERVENTION
Lady Catherine visits Elizabeth to prevent her marriage to Darcy — but her confrontation has the opposite effect. The dramatic irony is devastating: her attempt to intimidate Elizabeth reveals Elizabeth's strength of character to Darcy (who hears about it) and actually encourages him to propose again. Austen creates a perfect peripeteia (reversal of fortune): the action taken to prevent an outcome directly causes it.
Lady Catherine's absolute certainty — 'I am not in the habit of brooking disappointment' — makes her defeat more complete. She cannot imagine being defied because she has never experienced it. Austen shows that unchallenged authority is a form of ignorance: those who have never been disagreed with cannot comprehend disagreement.
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Context (AO3)
ARISTOCRATIC ENTITLEMENT
Lady Catherine's behaviour reflects the entitlement of the landed aristocracy — the assumption that rank confers the right to govern other people's lives. In Regency England, great landowners did exercise enormous local power: they appointed clergymen, controlled tenants, and influenced magistrates. Lady Catherine's attitude is not purely comical but rooted in genuine social power.
THE CONFRONTATION SCENE
The confrontation between Lady Catherine and Elizabeth in Chapter 56 is the novel's climactic test of Elizabeth's independence. Lady Catherine arrives unannounced, demands Elizabeth refuse Darcy, and threatens social consequences. Elizabeth's calm refusal — 'I am only resolved to act in that manner, which will constitute my happiness' — is her definitive statement of moral autonomy.
Key Words
WOW — SOFT POWER & HEGEMONY (Gramsci)
Antonio Gramsci distinguishes between coercive power (control through force) and hegemonic power (control through the consent of the dominated). Lady Catherine exercises both: she has real social power (she controls Collins's living, influences local society) and assumes cultural authority (everyone should defer to her). Her confrontation with Elizabeth fails because Elizabeth refuses to consent to Lady Catherine's authority. Gramsci argues that hegemony breaks down when the dominated refuse to accept the dominant group's values as natural. Elizabeth's defiance is a hegemonic crisis in miniature.
Key Words