Lady Catherine de Bourgh

Lady Catherine de Bourgh
Jane Austen character
In-universe information
Gender	Female
Spouse	Sir Lewis de Bourgh (deceased)
Children	Anne de Bourgh
Relatives	Unnamed Earl (brother) Lady Anne Darcy (sister; deceased) Colonel Fitzwilliam (nephew) Fitzwilliam Darcy (nephew) Georgiana Darcy (niece) Old Mr Darcy (brother-in-law) Elizabeth Bennet (niece-in-law)
Home	Rosings Park, in the village of Rosings, town of Hunsford, Kent

Lady Catherine de Bourgh (née Fitzwilliam; English: /dˈbɜːr/; d’-BER) is a character in the 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. According to Janet Todd, Lady Catherine can be seen as a foil to the novel's protagonist Elizabeth Bennet.

Family

Character genealogy

Mr Hurst Louisa Hurst Mr Philips Caroline Bingley Mrs Philips Mr Charles Bingley Mrs Gardiner Jane Bennet Mr Edward Gardiner Elizabeth Bennet Mrs Bennet Mary Bennet Mr Bennet Catherine "Kitty" Bennet Mr William Collins Lydia Bennet Charlotte Lucas Mr George Wickham (Old) Mr Darcy Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy Lady Anne Darcy Georgiana Darcy Lady Catherine de Bourgh Anne de Bourgh Earl _____________ Colonel Fitzwilliam

Lady Catherine was the sister of Lady Anne Darcy, mother of Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy and Georgiana Darcy. The sisters were the daughters of an earl and their brother is the sitting earl during the events of the novel. Thus she and her sister are always styled as Lady Catherine and Lady Anne, as their marriages to a knight or baronet (Austen never specifies whether Sir Lewis is knighted or holds a baronetcy) and an untitled man, respectively, do not confer upon them a preferable style.

Lady Catherine is the widow of Sir Lewis de Bourgh. If she were not entitled to the courtesy style of an earl's daughter, she would be styled as Lady de Bourgh. The couple had a single daughter, Anne de Bourgh. Lady Catherine desired to marry her daughter to Mr. Darcy.

At the end of the novel, Lady Catherine becomes the aunt-in-law of Elizabeth Bennet after Elizabeth marries Mr. Darcy. She considers that Mr. Darcy is marrying someone much below him.

Rosings Park

Lady Catherine and Elizabeth in the more simple Hertfordshire by C. E. Brock, 1895

Rosings is the residence of Lady Catherine de Bourgh as well as her daughter Anne de Bourgh. It is noted many times within the novel as being a luxurious house with many fine fittings. One such feature is a chimney piece in the second drawing room that is worth £800 as Mr. Collins so proudly states. The stateliness and grandeur of Rosings Park underline the side of Mr. Darcy's background that impresses Elizabeth, although she refuses to be overawed by it.

Depictions in film and television

Further information: Jane Austen in popular culture § Pride and Prejudice

Film

Year	Actress	Role	Film
1940	Edna May Oliver	Lady Catherine de Bourgh	Pride and Prejudice
2004	Marsha Mason	Catherine Darcy	Bride and Prejudice
2005	Judi Dench	Lady Catherine de Bourgh	Pride and Prejudice
2011	Cynthia Sharp	Mrs. de Bourgh	A Modern Pride and Prejudice
2016	Lena Headey	Lady Catherine de Bourgh	Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Television

Year	Actress	Role	Film
1938	Dorothy Green	Lady Catherine de Bourgh	Pride and Prejudice
1952	Helen Haye	Lady Catherine de Bourgh	Pride and Prejudice
1958	Phyllis Neilson-Terry	Lady Catherine de Bourgh	Pride and Prejudice
1961	Loudi Nijhoff	Lady Catherine de Bourgh	De vier dochters Bennet
1967	Sylvia Coleridge	Lady Catherine de Bourgh	Pride and Prejudice
1980	Judy Parfitt	Lady Catherine de Bourgh	Pride and Prejudice
1995	Barbara Leigh-Hunt	Lady Catherine de Bourgh	Pride and Prejudice
2008	Lindsay Duncan	Lady Catherine de Bourgh	Lost in Austen
2013	Penelope Keith	Lady Catherine de Bourgh	Death Comes to Pemberley
2018	Natália do Vale	Lady Margareth	Orgulho e Paixão

References

Bibliography

• Austen, Jane (1965). Pride and Prejudice (3rd ed.). London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-254702-X.
• Todd, Janet (2006). The Cambridge introduction to Jane Austen. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-85806-2.