Before Mr Collins embarrasses himself further, Elizabeth finds a moment to interrupt him. “Accept my thanks for the compliment you are paying me. I am very sensible of the honour of your proposals, but it is impossible for me to do otherwise than decline them.” This gives us a clearer picture of what Elizabeth is like as a person. Instead of laughing in Mr Collins’s face she shows gratitude in her rejection of the marriage proposal. This also shows although Elizabeth’s feelings are not the same as those of Mr Collins she acknowledges him in a respectable manner. However Mr Collins persists in trying to lure Elizabeth. Mr Collins thinks that despite Elizabeth’s refusal he believes that it is a ploy to make him ask again. “It is usual with young ladies to reject the addresses of the man whom they secretly mean to accept, when he first applies for their favour. I am therefore by no means discouraged by what you have just said, and shall hope to lead you to the altar ere long.” This single quote from Mr Collins gives the reader a vivid picture of what he is like as a person, pompous, persistent, and ultimately optimistic. When he is turned down by Elizabeth he cannot accept the fact that she may not want to engage in a relationship, yet he still perseveres. At this point Elizabeth makes sure that Mr Collins fully and absolutely understands that she does not want to commit her long term future to him, “ I am perfectly serious in my refusal. You could not make me happy, and I am convinced that I am the last woman in the world who would make you so, -- Nay, were your friend Lady Catherine to know me, I am persuaded she would find me in every respect ill qualified for the situation.” Despite continuously saying that she does not want to spend her future life with Mr
Collins, Mr Collins persists in trying to persuade Elizabeth
to consider accepting his proposal. “When I do myself the honour of speaking to you next on this subject I shall hope to receive a more favourable answer than you have now given me.” Elizabeth is increasingly exasperated by Mr Collins’s refusal to believe that what she has said is her final word “You puzzle me exceedingly. If what I have hitherto said can appear to you in the form of encouragement, I know not how to express my refusal in such a way as may convince you of its being one.” Although Elizabeth is frustrated with the persistent behaviour of Mr Collins she still manages to be civil towards him until threats are made. “I am persuaded that when sanctioned by the express authority of both your excellent parents, my proposals will not fail of being accepted.” We see a different side to Mr Collins at this moment. He is trying to intimidate Elizabeth to get his own way. Elizabeth’s response to this scandalous comment was one that she could not obviously respond to with words, and instead, she withdrew herself from the conversation.
Mrs Bennet learns the news that Mr Collins has proposed to and been refused by Elizabeth. She is confident that she could educate Elizabeth into marrying Mr Collins. “ I will speak to her about it myself directly. She is a very headstrong foolish girl, and does not know her own interest; but I will make her know it.” This shows us that Mrs Bennet does not understand how her daughter could refuse Mr Collins’s proposal and is unable to respect Elizabeth’s decision in this matter. This also portrays Mrs Bennet as a selfish person. Mr Collins following this remark tells Mrs Bennet not to persist in the matter. This demonstrates to Mrs Bennet that Mr Collins is feeling somewhat defeated. In my opinion I think this is just a ploy to lure Elizabeth quickly because why give in after one has persisted for so long? “ But if she is really headstrong and foolish, I know not whether she would altogether be a very desirable wife to a man in my situation, who naturally looks for happiness in the marriage state. If therefore she actually persists in rejecting my suit, perhaps it were better not to force her into accepting me.” This comment makes Mrs Bennet more desperate to show her daughter in abetter light and to endeavour to get Elizabeth to accept Mr Collins’s proposal. “ In every thing else she is as good natured a girl as ever lived. I will go directly to Mr. Bennet and we shall very soon settle it with her, I am sure.” Mrs Bennet makes a short journey to Mr Bennet and hurriedly speaks, “Oh! Mr. Bennet, you are wanted immediately; we are all in an uproar. You must come and make Lizzy marry Mr Collins, for she vows she will not have him, and if you do not make haste he will change his mind and not have her.” Mrs Bennet seems insistent on Elizabeth marrying Mr Collins and tries to use her powers to try and encourage Mr Bennet to make it compulsory that their daughter marries him, “Speak to Lizzy about it yourself. Tell her that you insist upon her marrying him.” Mr Bennet is not as forceful as his wife and decides to call Elizabeth into the room to see what she has to say. “An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth. From this day you must be a stranger to one of your parents. -- Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do.” Here we see that Mr Bennet has a humorous nature but we also see that he is the dominant figure within the household. Throughout out the remainder of the chapter Mrs Bennet reminds Elizabeth that she may never get another offer of marriage, “But I tell you what, Miss Lizzy, if you take it into your head to go on refusing every offer of marriage in this way, you will never get a husband at all -- and I am sure I do not know who is to maintain you when your father is dead. -- I shall not be able to keep you -- and so I warn you. -- I have done with you from this very day. -- I told you in the library, you know, that I should never speak to you again, and you will find me as good as my word.” We witness the harsh realities that will be caused by Elizabeth refusing Mr Collin’s proposal.
By looking at Mr Collins’s proposal to Miss Bennet the reader gets a clear picture to what he’s like as a person. I get the impression that he is well spoken but wordy, pompous and a little arrogant, “When I do myself the honour of speaking to you next on this subject I shall hope to receive a more favourable answer than you have now given me.” Mr Collins thinks because he is of a higher class he should not get refused by anyone of a lower social standing, Elizabeth should be grateful to him. His tone also gives us a vivid image of how Mr Collins’s character is portrayed. He is very select in the way he says things. He comes across as being arrogant, confident and condescending. The evidence of this is, “ It is by no means certain that another offer of marriage may ever be made you. Your portion is unhappily so small that it will in all likelihood undo the effects of your loveliness and amiable qualifications.” “You would have been less amiable in my eyes had there not been this little unwillingness.”
Before we hear of Darcy’s unexpected proposal to Elizabeth we find out that she is prejudiced even before he proposes. Evidence of this is shown when we hear of Wickham’s deprived upbringing by Darcy and his family. Wickham tries to turn Elizabeth against Darcy so that he can have a better relationship with her. When Darcy offers a marriage proposal to Elizabeth we know for certain that she will not accept as she assumes that he has mistreated Wickham in his earlier days.
When Darcy walks into the room the reader can see clearly that he is nervous and tense, which is portrayed by him pacing around the room. The manner in which he proposes is represented as being very agitated, “In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.” We see a different side of Darcy here. Throughout the novel he has seemed quite arrogant, quiet and condescending towards others. This portrayal of Darcy shows us that he is a spontaneous romantic, but a somewhat assuming individual. This is very different from Collins’s proposal. Collins states the reasons for wishing to marry her but he doesn’t actually say if he loves Elizabeth. Whilst Darcy, not only does he say he loves her but furthermore he states his admiration for Elizabeth. This is unusual and out of character as Darcy usually sees the bad in people.
When Elizabeth witnesses this proposal Darcy is faced with a response filled with cold civility and sheer disgust, “In such cases as this, it is, I believe, the established mode to express a sense of obligation for the sentiments avowed, however unequally they may be returned. It is natural that obligation should be felt, and if I could feel gratitude, I would now thank you. But I cannot -- I have never desired your good opinion, and you have certainly bestowed it most unwillingly.” Darcy is outraged by the way he is met with Elizabeth’s response and responds to it accordingly, “And this is all the reply which I am to have the honour of expecting! I might, perhaps, wish to be informed why, with so little endeavour at civility, I am thus rejected.” Elizabeth defends her refusal of marriage and states further reasons for rejecting Darcy, “Why, with so evident a design of offending and insulting me, you chose to tell me that you liked me against your will, against your reason, and even against your character? Was not this some excuse for incivility, if I was uncivil? But I have other provocations. You know I have. Had not my own feelings decided against you, had they been indifferent, or had they even been favourable, do you think that any consideration would tempt me to accept the man, who has been the means of ruining, perhaps for ever, the happiness of a most beloved sister?” Elizabeth greets Darcy with numerous reasons why she does not want to engage in a relationship. Darcy appears to have no remorse for his misdemeanours and accepts the fact he did everything in his power to break up Jane and Mr Bingley. “I have no wish of denying that I did every thing in my power to separate my friend from your sister, or that I rejoice in my success. Towards him I have been kinder than towards myself.” Elizabeth further explains another reason why she is so adamant in her refusal of Darcy, “You have reduced him to his present state of poverty, comparative poverty. You have withheld the advantages, which you must know to have been designed for him. You have deprived the best years of his life, of that independence which was no less his due than his desert. You have done all this! And yet you can treat the mention of his misfortunes with contempt and ridicule.” Elizabeth mentions how she was told how Darcy mistreated Wickham. Darcy is astounded by this accusation but refuses to fight back and deny it. Instead Darcy speaks in an amazed manner, and refrains himself from getting too angry, “Is your opinion of me! This is the estimation in which you hold me! I thank you for explaining it so fully. My faults, according to this calculation, are heavy indeed! But perhaps, these offences might have been overlooked, had not your pride been hurt by my honest confession of the scruples that had long prevented my forming any serious design.” Further conversation takes place between the couple, Elizabeth becomes increasingly angry and agitated. Meanwhile Darcy is astonished and incredulous regarding Elizabeth’s accusations and disdain for him. Eventually he says to Elizabeth:- “You have said quite enough, madam. I perfectly comprehend your feelings, and have now only to be ashamed of what my own have been. Forgive me for having taken up so much of your time, and accept my best wishes for your health and happiness.” Darcy, in a state of suppressed anger still finds himself able to end the conversation in a gentleman like manner and accepts Elizabeth’s rejection. Darcy during his proposal didn’t even begin to realise the prejudice he faced from Elizabeth regarding Wickham and Jane. He was also shocked that Elizabeth had refused his proposal. With his superior status and enviable financial position he was astounded that she could reject him. By refusing Darcy, Elizabeth took a massive gamble. Due to her increasing age there was a substantial risk in not agreeing to marry Darcy. There was the possibility that would not be able to find such an eligible suitor in the future. In my opinion I think that Elizabeth was right in refusing Darcy due to a number of reasons. One reason was that he deliberately tried to ruin the growing relationship between Jane and Mr Bingley and the other crucial factor was the Wickham saga. Elizabeth was not to know that Wickham was lying about being mistreated by Darcy. She had taken Wickham at his word, they were close and she believed him to be more trustworthy than Darcy.
Judging both Mr Collins’s and Mr Darcy’s proposals their intentions for marrying Elizabeth were very obvious to the reader. Mr Collins’s reasons were merely to please his patroness Lady Catherine De Burgh, that it was right to set the example of matrimony in the parish and that it would greatly add to his happiness. Mr Darcy’s reasons for marring were purely for undying love and admiration. Although this is not evident at the start of the novel it is clear that when Darcy proposes to Elizabeth that it is not a business proposition, but an act of love. Of the two proposals I consider Mr Darcy’s more genuine because he wanted Elizabeth for love and furthermore admiration. This would have added strength to his proposal if Elizabeth had not been so prejudice against him. I didn’t find Mr Collins’s offer of marriage particularly convincing, as he doesn’t state his love for Elizabeth but instead tries using marriage as a somewhat calculated business deal.
Elizabeth shows compassion towards Mr Collins because although she didn’t want marriage she ensured that the refusal of the proposal was carried out in a civil manner. With Darcy it was a different case. She showed no sympathy in rejecting his proposal him and answered with cold civility and backed up her arguments of refusal to such a degree that Darcy had no opportunity to respond. We gain the impression that Elizabeth is not too fond of Mr Collins right from the moment he came to Pemberley. “Dear Ma'am, do not go. -- I beg you will not go. -- Mr. Collins must excuse me. -- He can have nothing to say to me that any body need not hear. I am going away myself.” This tells us that Elizabeth knows what her cousin is like and she probably realizes that he is going to propose. Elizabeth finds Mr Collins very predictable, pompous, assuming and a very persistent individual but still respects him enough to be civil towards him. Elizabeth’s feelings towards Darcy are in ways similar to Mr Collins but different in the fact that she has little if any respect for him. Elizabeth thinks that Darcy is a proud, presumptuous and selfish person. “You chose to tell me that you liked me against your will, against your reason, and even against your character? Was not this some excuse for incivility?” This quotation from Elizabeth portrays the lack of respect she feels for Darcy and the contempt she has regarding his treatment of her sister Jane.
The institution of marriage was different in Jane Austen’s day compared with the act of marriage today. The majority of women were pushed by their families into marriages, which were advantageous for reasons of money, status and respectability. Women of the middle and upper classes did not work, thus, on leaving their family home for married life their standard of living was dictated by their husbands income. It was expected that good matches would be made between people from similar backgrounds and from respectable families. Anything scandalous (divorce, affairs, money problems, improper behaviour etc.) within a family could have serious consequences on daughters and their eligibility for marriage. Many would remain spinsters or they would marry outside their usual social circle. It was not unusual for couples to become engaged in their late teens (with the life expectancy at this time of approximately forty years it is perhaps not surprising that couples married young). Today many couples are marrying in their thirties and marriage is not as fashionable or socially vital. In the Bennets’ case as there was no son and heir there was the law of entailment whereby property was left to a male relative. Therefore there was a real pressure for a daughter to marry the inheritor so that property and wealth could remain within the family. Of course laws like this do not generally exist today, and marriages are a union of love rather than a business proposition.