#It took a lot of learning about cultural context to be like oh Lady Catherine has some really solid points here

[bethanydelleman]

It took me a long time to realize this because, but the conversation between Lady Catherine and Elizabeth is rude, but for the most part, Lady C is not wrong.

“Why did not you all learn? You ought all to have learned. The Miss Webbs all play, and their father has not so good an income as yours. Do you draw?”

“No governess! How was that possible? Five daughters brought up at home without a governess! I never heard of such a thing. Your mother must have been quite a slave to your education.”

“All! What, all five out at once? Very odd! And you only the second. The younger ones out before the elder are married! Your younger sisters must be very young?”

Yes! They all should have learned and they probably should have had a governess. Especially Lydia and Kitty. The other heroines without a governess (Catherine Morland, possibly the Dashwoods) do have very attentive parents who manage their education. The Bennets don’t have dowries, they could at the very least be educated. It’s far less expensive.

And yes! It’s insane to have five daughters out at once. Even if we just look at it from a financial standpoint, that means five girls need ballgowns and adornment all at once. Families usually put only one or two girls out because of the prohibitive expense. And then we have of course the fact that Lydia is probably too young to be out anyway.

Elizabeth defends her family’s choices, kind of, or at least gives an explanation, but not allowing her family to be dragged through the mud is different than saying her upbringing was correct. And even if she kind of agrees with her family’s justification now, she certainly realizes how devastating these choices were later.

And yet, because Jane Austen is so clever, Lady Catherine is still a rude idiot. A good deal of what she says even during this conversation is ridiculous and condescending. But that is the genius of Austen, she sets up this argument so you get on Elizabeth’s side, even though Elizabeth is wrong. Which is the same as with Caroline Bingley’s warning about Wickham, we discount it because we dislike her and she sneers, but in her speech is the truth.

It’s a nice parallel with Darcy’s first proposal. He’s not wrong, but he is still a rude, condescending jerk about it.