Mr.Collins’ proposal in some stages is comic due to how appalling the attempt is. In an average proposal the theme one tends to carry out would be to flatter the woman, but Mr.Collins does the complete opposite and starts to insult Elizabeth; “I assure you there are many amiable women” in his own neighbourhood. This is very belittling to Elizabeth because she is being told that there are many good looking women in his neighbourhood. This insinuates that he does not love her because he is referring to looks rather than love or even the Longbourne women’s personalities.
The comical aspect of Mr.Collins’ proposal is proved when he begins to use unintentional comical speech, such as when he speaks about “the violence of my affections”. This shows that he deems the entire situation to be serious although the reader finds the speech exceedingly humorous due to the comic phrases he uses throughout the proposal. This use of language would almost certainly be hindering likelihood of Elizabeth agreeing to the marriage even though he doesn’t realise it.
Mr.Collins refers to Lady Catherine de Bourgh frequently throughout the proposal and adds her into his reasons for marriage. She obviously plays a big part in his life because she orders him into life decisions; “Mr.Collins, you must marry”. In his eyes lady Catherine is high in social status and therefore he should listen and comply with her advice. This again would not be helping his case with Elizabeth.
Mr.Collins expects his life to go to plan without any setbacks or unplanned turns. This is highlighted in the proposal which has clearly been premeditated in his choice of words and he assumes Elizabeth to reply in the way he has already thought through. My general feeling of the proposal is that he anticipates it to go like a role play with her rejecting him at the first attempt. “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; and that sometimes the refusal is repeated a second or third time. I am therefore not discouraged.” This segment from the proposal also portrays the intense boringness of the man that he has thought out the proposal to that much detail. Another factor established in the piece is that he feels men are superior to women because he truly thinks a woman should simply accept without due love or affection to the man.
My overall impression of this scene is that Elizabeth means less to Mr.Collins than Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Also I have come to the conclusion that Elizabeth is simply a slot that needs to be filled in Mr.Collins idealistic life for the benefit of his social status and appearance and not for the correct reason like love.
The second proposal involves Mr.Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet again. It is hugely different from the first proposal for a variety of reasons. Mr.Darcy is a well spoken man whom is exceedingly wealthy due to him owning half of Derbyshire.
Mr.Darcy’s proposal is an honest act which is contrasting from the Mr.Collins proposal as his attempt of marrying Elizabeth was not heartfelt.
Austen illustrates Mr.Darcy’s nervousness by and sincerity by using short sentences at the start of the proposal; “yes, his misfortunes have been great indeed.” This shows that he truly means what he says to Elizabeth because he is accustomed to speaking in longer, thought out sentences. Also his typical vocabulary would be more expansive than the vocabulary he uses in the proposal.
I sense that Mr.Darcy is more sensitive to emotion than Mr.Collins for the reason that when he is turned down by Elizabeth he becomes more formal and sarcastic whereas he begins by being polite and nice to her; “I perfectly comprehend your feelings, and have now only to be ashamed of what my own have been”. I also feel that you can tell Austen is keener on Mr.Darcy than Mr.Collins because she lets Mr.Darcy’s emotions shine through whereas she portrays Mr.Collins as a pompous man throughout the novel.
There are many differences between the proposals such as how the conversations are led and enforced by. In the Mr.Collins proposal he dominates the entire conversation which gives Elizabeth no time to reply to his statements. This is incredibly unromantic and would surely set the tone for their entire marriage if Elizabeth did agree to the marriage. Contrastingly, Mr.Darcy does not dominate his proposal and the conversation is very equal which connotes that their potential marriage would be more equal and romantic. It also insinuates that Elizabeth is far more respected by Mr.Darcy than Mr.Collins which is a huge factor in successful marriage.
The Mr.Collins proposal has much less paraphrasing than Mr.Darcy’s because that way Austen can convey how dominating Mr.Collins is without dampening the effect of her great literary effects; she lets the whole conversation run without narrating on the situation.
Austen uses different writing styles for different characters which gives a great effect for the reader.
Austen conveys Mr.Darcy’s personality through a variety of ways such his speech. She chooses to make him seem highly intelligent by using a varying and complex vocabulary with expanded sentences; “there is meanness in all the arts which ladies condescend to employ for captivation. Whatever bears affinity to cunning is despicable”. The effect of this particular type of vocabulary is to make Mr.Darcy seem more intelligent which is perfectly enabled by Austen’s choice of language use.
Mr.Darcy is also specific in his speech- he tends not to drag out his words. “Are you so severe on your own as to doubt the possibility?” the effect of this is to portray that his grammar and speech is clear which in turn conveys that his mind and way of thinking is clear.
Austen conveys the personality of Mr.Collins to be dull and boring by making his speech dull and waffling; “I consider music to be a very innocent diversion, and perfectly compatible with the duty of a clergyman. - I do not mean however to assert that we can be justified in devoting too much of our time into music for there a certainly other things to be attended to.” The effect of this is to compound the fact that he most certainly is a boring character who talks into too much detail on insignificant matters.
Elizabeth’s grammar is simple and yet effective; “I have no doubt of Mr.Bingley’s sincerity.” This conveys that her personality is straightforward and simple yet clear and succinct. She clearly thinks in logical patterns and does not get her words mixed.
Women in the 18th century were clearly thought of as less important and less intelligent to men. I feel Elizabeth Bennet breaks the mould of women at this time because she does argue back to higher ranked men such as Mr.Darcy and Mr.Collins. She also goes against what her mother says and does not back down and simply agree to marry Mr.Collins which would have been expected from her, especially after it meant Elizabeth and her sisters could remain in the family home. Most women at this time, I feel, were like Charlotte Lucus; they would accept she was not as highly regarded as men and would be happy to marry to almost any man that asked, especially if they were as highly ranked as Mr.Darcy and Mr.Collins. I think Elizabeth resembles a woman breaking the mould, similar to the character Beatrice from “Much Ado About Nothing”.
I believe a man could not have written this novel due to the fact that rarely is there a conversation involving only men. Also a man would not be able to go into the same depth of conversation between the women and still be able to portray the feelings within the women. Most of the feelings mentioned in the novel are to do with the women and not the men. The men’s emotions are rarely commented on by Austen due to the simple fact that she does not posses the feelings of a man. She also portrays the difference between men and women through the techniques of speech; sometimes she uses longer sentences with a good standard of vocabulary for a wealthy and intelligent man to show that he is educated and brought up from a good background. This works in the opposite way too when Austen shows other characters as less intelligent by making their vocabulary less varied and simplistic. Austen also can portray the characters emotion by the technique used in the way they are speaking at that time. An example of this is when Mr.Darcy becomes sarcastic when rejected by Elizabeth; this shows he is bitter and angry. Austen does this many time to superb effect during the course of the novel which acts as a way of portraying emotion without actually stating how the characters feel.
