Key Quote
“"I take no leave of you, Miss Bennet. I send no compliments to your mother. You deserve no such attention. I am most seriously displeased"”
Lady Catherine · Chapter 56
Focus: “most seriously displeased”
Lady Catherine's exit — a series of curt, negative sentences that perform her displeasure through the withdrawal of social courtesy. The repetition of 'no' creates a rhythmic denial that is simultaneously threatening and absurdly childish.
Technique 1 — ANAPHORA OF NEGATION
The repeated 'no' / 'no' / 'no' creates an anaphora (repetition at the start of successive clauses) of negation — Lady Catherine asserts her power by removing things: leave, compliments, attention. But withholding courtesy is a hollow threat: Elizabeth does not need Lady Catherine's approval, making each 'no' increasingly impotent.
The short, staccato sentences — each a single declarative blow — mimic the rhythm of a judicial sentence (a judge's ruling). Lady Catherine speaks in pronouncements rather than conversation. But the effect is comic rather than threatening because Elizabeth does not recognise her authority. The would-be judge has no court.
Key Words
RAD — REGRESS
Lady Catherine regresses under pressure — when her authority fails, she resorts to petulance (childish sulking). The withdrawal of courtesy is the aristocratic equivalent of a tantrum: 'if you won't obey me, I won't be nice to you'. Her response to failing to command Elizabeth reveals that her authority has no substance beyond social convention.
Key Words
Technique 2 — COMIC DEFLATION
The final sentence — 'I am most seriously displeased' — is an anticlimax. After an entire scene of aristocratic fury, threats, and demands, Lady Catherine's parting shot is merely that she is 'displeased'. The word 'seriously' is unintentionally comic: she needs to insist she is serious because the reader can see she has been entirely ineffective. Austen creates comic deflation — the gap between the character's sense of her own importance and her actual impact.
The address 'Miss Bennet' (not 'Elizabeth' or 'my dear') reasserts formal distance — Lady Catherine withdraws intimacy as a punishment. But the formality backfires: it reminds us that Lady Catherine never had a genuine relationship with Elizabeth to withdraw from. Her 'punishment' is the removal of a courtesy that was always performative.
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Context (AO3)
SOCIAL COURTESY AS CURRENCY
In Regency society, social courtesies — leave-taking, compliments, calls — were a form of social currency whose withdrawal signalled disapproval. Lady Catherine's refusal to send compliments to Mrs Bennet is a deliberate public insult. But Austen shows the limits of this power: courtesy-as-weapon only works on people who value the courtesy. Elizabeth doesn't.
THE POWER OF REFUSAL
Elizabeth's calm refusal to submit to Lady Catherine demonstrates Austen's thesis: genuine authority comes from moral conviction, not social rank. Lady Catherine has title, wealth, and connections; Elizabeth has integrity. Austen makes clear which force is stronger — and more admirable.
Key Words
WOW — SYMBOLIC VIOLENCE (Bourdieu)
Bourdieu's concept of symbolic violence describes how dominant groups maintain power through non-physical means — language, social rituals, cultural norms. Lady Catherine's withdrawal of courtesy is an act of symbolic violence: she punishes Elizabeth through social exclusion rather than physical force. But Bourdieu argues that symbolic violence only works when the dominated accept the dominant group's rules. Elizabeth's refusal to be hurt by Lady Catherine's displeasure is an act of symbolic resistance — she rejects the entire framework within which Lady Catherine's authority operates.
Key Words