Lady Catherine insults Lizzy’s Uncle / Pride and Prejudice analysis #janeausten

#womenofyoutube #classicbooks

[J_Benn]

It's also a subtle dig at Lady Catherine by Austen, as the Gardiners are generally depicted as perhaps the most decent, happy, helpful couple in the book. It makes Lady Catherine look even worse than she is to insult Uncle Gardiner, who she doesn't even know.

[daniels]

Lady Catherine had trouble comprehending that people in trade could in fact become very wealthy. Keep in mind that the Bingley's money was made in trade, and also that Mr. Darcy seemed sensible enough to keep his aunt away from his friend, whom she would have seen as a social climber and probably would have been very rude to. That said, I would have *loved* to see Lady Catherine interact with Caroline Bingley, since she would have probably seen her as an even worse interloper on her plans to marry her daughter to her nephew.

[a-]

Lady Catherine can barely address anyone without insulting them. Darcy was offended by the bad manners of Lizzy's family when he first met them, and Lizzy felt ashamed of their behaviour; but when Darcy is at Rosings, it is his turn to be embarrassed by his family's manners (chapter 31). Lady Catherine's patronizing of her guests is just as "ill-bred", in a different way, as Mrs Bennett's.
After marrying Darcy, Lady Catherine becomes Lizzy's aunt by marriage, and no doubt Lizzy, with Darcy, was occasionally required to spend some days with her. I wonder how that would have gone down!

[EmeraldsFire]

Another reason they were more expensive/ better paid might be because of how few men wanted to do it. Women did have few options so were basically stuck with jobs society in general thought was beneath them. Whereas men could do just about anything they wanted to - if they had the strength/ ability to do it.

[raphaelledesma]

I did notice it. That line was also in the 1995 adaptation. It was not subtle at all because it was glaringly obvious that she didn't think her family could afford a manservant.

[SarahElisabethJoyal]

Manservants were such a status symbol that there was actually a manservant tax, which I guess people were willing to pay just to show that the expense was no burden

[Victoria-xojh]

It always makes me so sad about how women were treated/seen

[faithfulthecall]

Her tone in the 1995 version definitely came across as at least condescending about that fact to me, so it's not a stretch for it to be an insult.

[orangemoon]

Now I want to go back in time because now I need to hear the old timey arguments and insults of the time. 😂😂

[operaguy]

My fav slung at Lizzy ...
"You have a very small garden."
It is not in the book. Only in the film.

Lizzy got in this nuanced dig:
About the middle of the next day, as she was in her room getting ready for a walk, a sudden noise below seemed to speak the whole house in confusion; and, after listening a moment, she heard somebody running upstairs in a violent hurry, and calling loudly after her. She opened the door and met Maria in the landing place, who, breathless with agitation, cried out-- "Oh, my dear Eliza! pray make haste and come into the dining-room, for there is such a sight to be seen! I will not tell you what it is. Make haste, and come down this moment."
Elizabeth asked questions in vain; Maria would tell her nothing more, and down they ran into the dining-room, which fronted the lane, in quest of this wonder; It was two ladies stopping in a low phaeton at the garden gate.
"And is this all?" cried Elizabeth. "I expected at least that the pigs were got into the garden, and here is nothing but Lady Catherine and her daughter."

[childofpersia]

And here I was…thinking she was insinuating the uncle was gay 🤦🏻‍♀️

[OcarinaSapphr-]

Mrs Bennett might have received Mr Collins' 'compliment' as a bit of an insult too, if memory serves - & because it's been a hot minute since I read P&P, I might be paraphrasing a tiny bit; 'when Mr Collins asked to which of his fair cousins the excellence of the meal was owing, Mrs Bennett replied with some asperity, that they were perfectly able to retain both maids & cook- & that her daughters had nothing whatever to do with the kitchen'.
So, if Lady Catherine's comment regarding a manservant is a bit raw, Collins accidentally implying that the girls do regular household work might be even worse, in their view...

[kirstenirwin]

Lady Catherine was just jealous and she didn't even know it. She had all that wealth and was miserable. Meanwhile, Uncle and Aunt Gardnier lived in Cheapside and were happily married with their children around them.

[AdrianColley]

Lady Catherine has a subtle role in the story. Her social status is equivalent to that of her nephew Mr. Darcy, and noticeably superior to that of the Bennets. It follows that Mr. Darcy is equally superior in class. But whereas Lady Catherine handles the social gulf with condescension and haughtiness, Mr. Darcy is (after a bad start) careful to treat Miss Elizabeth Bennet as if she were his social equal. This escapes Lizzie's notice for most of the novel. She only realizes it when she angrily throws it in Lady Catherine's face ("He is a gentleman; I am a gentleman's daughter; so far we are equal.")

[ameliecarre]

I didn't notice this one specifically, but I just assume everything Lady Catherine says has an insult somewhere in it.

[L.Spencer]

I thought she was genuinely surprised, but that itself is a sort of dig.

[peregrinearc]

I wonder if we can compare it to "Ooh, I didn't know that was a real Coach purse." Wowsers, Lady Catherine at a whole added level.

[kimmylatsch]

For such a high society person, Lady Catherine is So Rude!

[CTXSLPR]

Interesting then that Ms. Eleanor Dashwood agreed to keeping a manservant when they moved to Barton Cottage despite the narrow income.

[ipdipdu]

Ah interesting, I always thought it was a dig at Elizabeth’s father and therefore herself about being poor, Mr Bennett wasn’t rich enough to send a manservant so her uncle has to, your explanation makes more sense.