Lady Catherine (and Lady Anne Darcy potentially1) intended Mr Darcy to marry Miss de Bourgh. Lizzy bursts onto the scene unknowingly stealing Mr Darcy’s heart and ruining the tacit engagement.
Unfortunately for Lady Catherine, Lizzy is not like her brown nosing cousin (Mr Collins) and refuses to do anything demanded of her. Even if she hadn’t changed her feelings about Darcy it’s entirely possible she’d still lead Lady C on a merry chase just to spite her. If she hadn’t show up, perhaps Darcy would have married his cousin as intended.
Lady Catherine has been of infinite use, which ought to make her happy, for she loves to be of use”
– Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, C60
Lizzy’s above comment is tongue in cheek but accurate too. Darcy may have eventually got around to proposing again but his aunts relation of the argument with Lizzy gives him hope, so he dashes back to Netherfield. Lady C thinks Darcy has the same views as her, and perhaps at one time he did, but Lizzy teased them out of him.
If you’d like to discuss Austen with me you can book a time
Audio and Video from BBC 1995 Pride and Prejudice
Audio from the last great american dynasty by Taylor Swift
- She’s dead, she can’t talk for herself. I don’t put it past Lady Catherine to use her dead sister’s name in vain. ↩︎