Lady Catherine de Bourgh (Lady Catherine)

Lady Catherine de Miss de Bourgh is the formidable aunt of Fitzwilliam Darcy (Darcy) and the patroness of the parish church at Hunsford, where Mr. Collins (William Collins, Collins) holds the living through her recommendation. An earl's daughter of considerable fortune and long widowhood, she has accumulated decades of unquestioned authority and expects deference as her due. She is accustomed to managing the affairs of those around her—her protégé Mr. Collins (William Collins, Collins) is entirely in her thrall, and she has long assumed a controlling interest in Fitzwilliam Darcy (Darcy)'s future, including his choice of bride. Cold, imperious, and dismissive of those she considers beneath her station, she reserves her favor for those who properly acknowledge her superiority. She lives at Rosings Park and maintains a household that reflects her wealth and consequence. Lady Catherine's conviction in her own judgment is absolute; she believes herself entitled to direct the course of others' lives and views resistance to her will as an affront to her position. Though she presents herself as a woman of principle and propriety, her actual conduct often reveals selfishness masquerading as duty, and she is incapable of recognizing that others might have valid claims to autonomy or happiness that supersede her preferences.