On the day before Mr Darcy is due to leave Rosings, Colonel Fitzwilliam tells Elizabeth that Mr Darcy thinks he has saved Mr Bingly from marrying into trouble. Elizabeth then realises that Mr Darcy was referring to Jane and she is shocked and full of anger. Mr Fitzwilliam obviously didn’t realise who he was talking to but Elizabeth is relieved he told her.
On the same evening Elizabeth says that she is ill and she doesn’t attend Rosings with Maria Lucas and the Collinses. She spends her evening reading over the letters that Jane sent her and blames Mr Darcy for upsetting her dear sister. Mr Darcy then visits Elizabeth and asks he if she is feeling any better and she replies to him ‘with cold civility’, her reasons for this being that he convinced Mr Bingley not to marry Jane. This upset Jane greatly and as far as Elizabeth was concerned, there was no reason for her to welcome Mr Darcy with a warm heart. Jane Austen then says that ‘Mr Darcy sat for several minutes without speaking. Mr Darcy then gets up and walks over to Elizabeth.’ “In vain have I 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,” says Mr Darcy. From this small speech we can tell that Mr Darcy is eager because his sentences are very sort and he hesitated for a long time before he spoke, Mr Darcy expects Elizabeth to accept his offer but she actually declines it.
After hearing the proposal Elizabeth was in absolute disbelief: it was totally unexpected due to the different views both characters had of each other when they first met. Elizabeth stayed silent for a few minutes after hearing the proposal and Mr Darcy took this opportunity to carry on. He mentioned that although her family had little to offer him and his family would strongly disapprove of his choice of wife, his feelings for her were nothing in comparison. Unfortunately Elizabeth took these words as insulting, when really all Mr Darcy was saying was that nothing else mattered to him apart from her.
Elizabeth then replies to Mr Darcy, ‘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. I am sorry to have occasioned pain to anyone.’ Mr Darcy then looks at Elizabeth ‘with no less resentment than surprise. His complexion became pale with anger. He was struggling for the appearance of composure, and would not open his lips till he believed himself to have attained it.’ Here Elizabeth is having trouble remaining calm as she is so angry at Mr Darcy for splitting Bingley and Jane up. This is also a total shock to her as she did not expect Mr Darcy to propose to her as they didn’t get off to a great start. Mr Darcy is angry that Elizabeth does not feel the same way as him and she shows no similar feelings back.
He then says ‘in a voice of forced calmness’ that he might ask her why she has rejected him and why she has spoken to him in a most ill mannered way. She replies that she might ask him why he has spoken with ‘so evident plan of offending and insulting’ her, by telling her that he liked her against his “will”, his “reason” and his “character”. Then Elizabeth goes on to tell him that even if she did like him, she would never marry him due to the fact that he ruined the happiness of ‘a most beloved sister’.
After hearing this, Mr Darcy shows no sign of remorse but he listens to her when she talks about how her dislike for him becomes stronger due to the separation of Mr Bingly and her sister Jane. When he admits that he did everything in his power to separate them, Elizabeth is very angry because he seems to be admitting that he has made Jane unhappy deliberately and he shows no signs of remorse but in his letter he explains that he didn’t realise how much Jane loved Mr Bingly). Although Mr Darcy still believes Elizabeth’s family are beneath the Binglys, he feels his attitude is totally justified and that Elizabeth is being unreasonable in objecting to it.
Elizabeth then goes on to mention that her opinion of him was also formed because of what he did to Mr Wickham and how he deprived him of his living. Mr Darcy is stunned by what Elizabeth is saying to him and Elizabeth is surprised that he is not ashamed of what he has done. He realises that Elizabeth’s opinion of him is pretty much based on what Mr Wickham has said about him and he is very annoyed because Elizabeth has totally misjudged him.
Mr Darcy says he believes she would have put aside her objection to his supposed treatment of Jane and Wickham if he hadn’t been so honest about his objections to her family. Elizabeth says in response to this “You could not have made me accept your offer of marriage in any possible way that would have tempted me to accept it.” Jane Austen comments that ‘his astonishment was obvious; and he looked at Elizabeth with an expression of mingled incredulity and mortification’. In the same way that Mr Collins could not believe Elizabeth turned down his offer, Mr Darcy feels the same way and cannot believe Elizabeth turned him down.
Elizabeth then mentions to Mr Darcy that her first impressions of him were formed when he thought of her as ‘tolerable but not handsome enough to tempt him’ this revealed “Your arrogance, your conceit and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others.” Elizabeth is referring to his treatment of people in general. She then tells him that her first impressions influenced how she feels towards him, and tells him that “I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry.”
Before Mr Darcy left the room he states to her that “You have said quite enough, I perfectly comprehend your feelings and I have now only to be ashamed. Forgive me for having taken up so much of your time and accept my best wishes for your health and happiness.” Mr Darcy realises that he has been refused and to show no hard feelings wishes Elizabeth all the best for her future, unlike Mr Collins who was reluctant to believe he had been discarded.
Finally Jane Austen comments that Mr Darcy’s proposal took Elizabeth by surprise and she is in utter disbelief that he has had such feelings for her in the past months. She cannot believe that he loves her so much that he wanted to marry her despite all obstacles but she still despises him for ruining Jane’s happiness.
Conclusion:
There are some rather large similarities and some big differences between the proposals made to Elizabeth Bennett by Mr Collins and Mr Darcy. Some similarities are the fact that both men explained to Elizabeth why they wanted to marry her. Mr Collins however wanted to marry Elizabeth so that he could impress Lady Catherine De Bourgh by having a wife and also because he felt it would be right seeing as he would get the Bennets’ estate and inheritance when Mr Bennet died. Mr Darcy on the other hand wanted to marry Elizabeth because he loved her but he felt he had to explain himself because the proposal was quite out of the blue. Finally the one big difference between the proposals was that Mr Collins was marrying to improve his reputation and to make people think better of him, and Mr Darcy was marrying because he loved Elizabeth and if she had accepted, some people would have thought less of him, the complete opposite to Mr Collins.
Jane Austen gives Mr Collin’s proposal a comical aspect because Elizabeth can see the funny side of the situation. Elizabeth responds to the two proposals similarly in that she turns both down but the way she turns them down shows the contrast. When refusing Mr Collins’ proposal Elizabeth says “You could not make me happy and I am perfectly convinced that I am the last woman in the world who could make you so.” She stays quite calm and relaxed but when refusing Mr Darcy’s proposal Elizabeth is stubborn and open minded. She says “If I could feel gratitude I would now thank you. But I cannot.” This shows her anger for him asking her to marry him and shows how strongly she dislikes him.
