Lady Catherine de Bourgh as a Commentary on the Aristocratic Relations in England in the 1800s Anonymous College

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is one of the most iconic narratives of the marriage plot. There is a variety of discourse which surrounds the novel. Over the course of the text readers are introduced to many different characters, most of which are deemed flat, both by critics as well as by superior characters in the text itself. Some characters, while flat, are considered to be parodies; Austen effectively “[transforms] human beings as specific individual into attributes, characteristics, aspects of existence” (Woloch, 55). I plan to interact with the concept of certain minor characters as parodies as well as the larger socioeconomic implications of the text. More specifically how a particular parodic character, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, might be acting to uphold socioeconomic ideals and what Austen herself is trying to say through Lady Catherine.

Jane Austen’s problems with the aristocracy and advocacy for upward mobility are realized through her characterization and treatment of Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Austen goes further to address effects of the aristocracy, namely inter-marriage and consequentially incest, all of which come to be associated with Lady Catherine de Bourgh herself. Her exaggerated characteristics act to...