| Lady Catherine de Bourgh | |
| Series: | Jane Austen |
| Gender: | Female |
| Spouse: | Sir Lewis de Bourgh (deceased) |
| Children: | Anne de Bourgh |
| Home: | Rosings Park, in the village of Rosings, town of Hunsford, Kent |
Lady Catherine de Bourgh (née Fitzwilliam; ;) 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.[1]
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.[2] 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.[3] 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.[4] She considers that Mr. Darcy is marrying someone much below him.
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.
| 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 |
| 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 |