In the novel, Pride and Prejudice, what do Mr Darcy's and Mr Collins' proposals to Elizabethreveal about the three characters?

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In the novel, Pride and Prejudice, what do Mr Darcy’s and Mr Collins’ proposals to Elizabeth reveal about the three characters?

        In Jane Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice, the over-arching theme is obviously marriage. This is evident in the opening sentence: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” A single lady, however, may not feel the same. Elizabeth Bennet, one of five daughters, refuses the proposal of marriage twice in the book. These proposals, apart from being entertaining for the reader, reveal a lot about the characters involved.

        

The first proposal is in Chapter 19. The Bennet family are on a visit to Longbourn, where Mr Collins lives. The Bennets are meeting up with him because when Mr Bennet dies, Mr Collins will take over his house. While they are visiting, Mr Collins makes an unexpected marriage proposal to Elizabeth.

        At the beginning of the chapter, Jane Austen describes Mr Collins’ proposal. She says that “he set about it in a very orderly manner with all the observances, which he supposed a regular part of the business.” This shows the reader that Mr Collins is trying to follow convention and to stick to tradition. It also implies that Mr Collins is quite boring, because he does what is expected of him and tries to observe the customs of society.

At the beginning of his proposal, Mr Collins launches into a long speech about his reasons for marrying Elizabeth. He says that “it is the right thing for every clergyman in easy circumstances…to set the example of marriage in his parish.” This secures the reader’s opinion that Mr Collins likes to stick to tradition, as he is getting married because it is the “right thing” to do. He then mentions that it would add greatly to his happiness. There is no mention of love at this point. Mr Collins keeps talking about himself, and why marriage would make him happy. This shows that he is selfish, because he has not asked Elizabeth for her opinion, and only talked about himself.

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After these two reasons, he states his third reason for marrying, which he says he “should have mentioned earlier.” At that point, the reader expects him to say how much he loves Elizabeth, but instead, he says he wants to marry her because somebody else has advised him to do so. This somebody is Lady Catherine, who is a rich woman, and is very concerned about her wealth and status. Mr Collins thinks very highly of her. So highly, in fact, that he spends a long time while he is proposing to Elizabeth talking about her! This shows that Mr ...

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