``This is not to be borne. Miss Bennet, I insist on being satisfied. Has he, has my nephew, made you an offer of marriage?''
``Your ladyship has declared it to be impossible.''
``It ought to be so; it must be so, while he retains the use of his reason. But your arts and allurements may, in a moment of infatuation, have made him forget what he owes to himself and to all his family. You may have drawn him in.''
``If I have, I shall be the last person to confess it.''
``Miss Bennet, do you know who I am? I have not been accustomed to such language as this. I am almost the nearest relation he has in the world, and am entitled to know all his dearest concerns.''
``But you are not entitled to know mine; nor will such behaviour as this, ever induce me to be explicit.''
``Let me be rightly understood. This match, to which you have the presumption to aspire, can never take place. No, never. Mr. Darcy is engaged to my daughter. Now what have you to say?''
``Only this; that if he is so, you can have no reason to suppose he will make an offer to me.''
Lady Catherine hesitated for a moment, and then replied,
``The engagement between them is of a peculiar kind. From their infancy, they have been intended for each other. It was the favourite wish of his mother, as well as of her's. While in their cradles, we planned the union: and now, at the moment when the wishes of both sisters would be accomplished in their marriage, to be prevented by a young woman of inferior birth, of no importance in the world, and wholly unallied to the family! Do you pay no regard to the wishes of his friends? To his tacit engagement with Miss De Bourgh? Are you lost to every feeling of propriety and delicacy? Have you not heard me say that from his earliest hours he was destined for his cousin?''
``Yes, and I had heard it before. But what is that to me? If there is no other objection to my marrying your nephew, I shall certainly not be kept from it by knowing that his mother and aunt wished him to marry Miss De Bourgh. You both did as much as you could in planning the marriage. Its completion depended on others. If Mr. Darcy is neither by honour nor inclination confined to his cousin, why is not he to make another choice? And if I am that choice, why may not I accept him?''
``Because honour, decorum, prudence, nay, interest, forbid it. Yes, Miss Bennet, interest; for do not expect to be noticed by his family or friends, if you wilfully act against the inclinations of all. You will be censured, slighted, and despised, by every one connected with him. Your alliance will be a disgrace; your name will never even be mentioned by any of us.''
``These are heavy misfortunes,'' replied Elizabeth. ``But the wife of Mr. Darcy must have such extraordinary sources of happiness necessarily attached to her situation, that she could, upon the whole, have no cause to repine.''
``Obstinate, headstrong girl! I am ashamed of you! Is this your gratitude for my attentions to you last spring? Is nothing due to me on that score? Let us sit down. You are to understand, Miss Bennet, that I came here with the determined resolution of carrying my purpose; nor will I be dissuaded from it. I have not been used to submit to any person's whims. I have not been in the habit of brooking disappointment.''
``That will make your ladyship's situation at present more pitiable; but it will have no effect on me.''
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This is the part of the novel where Lady Catherine made a visit to Longbourn when she heard a report that Elizabeth will be getting engaged to Mr. Darcy. This is my favourite passage as it depicts how Lady Catherine vehemently disapproves of the possible union of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy and yet, Elizabeth confronts her and went against her, demonstrating her strong will and resistance to snobbery. We can also see how Lady Catherine repeatedly uses her class and social status to put Elizabeth down and how Elizabeth stood up as a heroine in this novel.
Lady Catherine's proud and domineering character is seen here where she tries to find out from Elizabeth whether she is engaged to Mr. Darcy and her forbidding Elizabeth from engaged to him. She frequently points out how their union is impossible due to the difference in class and social status. Her overbearing and condescending character can also be seen as she repetitively belittle Elizabeth's lowly status. Her comments of Elizabeth being " a young woman of inferior birth, of no importance in the world" and how " [her] alliance will be a disgrace " demonstrates her arrongance and persistence for the disunion of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy.
On the other hand, Elizabeth once again went against social norm by rebuking Lady Catherine, a woman with a much higher social rank than her. Her confontation with the patronising lady further establishes her as the heroine in the novel where her qualities she has portrayed so far - wit, honesty, and bravery - are evident in her verbal argument with Lady Catherine. Her strong and impertinent character sets her apart from the other women in the novel as a type of heroine by saying "I am only resolved to act in a manner which will... constitute my happiness, without reference to you". She also defends her family by saying " I am a gentleman's daughter; so far we are equal ".
Therefore, we can see that Lady Catherine poses as one of the many challenges facing the romance between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. However, it is important to note that it is ironic that her wish to break off the possible engagement between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth instead forces Elizabeth to reconsider the idea of her and Mr. Darcy getting together. This is when Elizabeth later on confesses her love for Mr. Darcy to Jane and how they later got engaged. Thus, Lady Catherine has unknowingly aid in encouraging the relationship between Elizabeth and Mr. darcy as much as she tries to break it off.
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