The reader first heard of Mr. Collins when he sent a letter to Mr. Bennet in this letter he explains
“I have frequently wished to heal the breach.”
This means he wants to make up the quarrel between Mr. Bennet and himself, he also mentions he has been ordained. This means that Mr. Collins has been made a clergyman and later on in his letter he mentions.
“At being the means of injuring your amiable daughters, and beg leave to apologise for it, as well as to assure you of my readiness to make them every possible amends.”
Mr. Collins is clearly hinting to the Bennets that he is thinking about marrying one of their daughters and he is not just visiting to make up the quarrel. He has an ulterior motive and this is to find a wife quickly to obey Lady Catherine de Bourgh wishes. Also Mr. Collins knows he will find a wife at Longbourn because there are five unmarried girls. Mr. Collins is very punctual to the time and he arrives in his letter he says
“I propose myself the satisfaction of waiting on you and your family, Monday, November 18th by for o’clock.”
He did arrive at 4 o’clock.
At first Mr. Collins wanted to marry Jane, the eldest of the Bennet girls, but when Mrs. Bennet told him that Jane was so going to marry Mr. Bingley, Mr. Collins looked again at all of the girls and noticed Elizabeth. Mr Collins immediately turns his attention to Elizabeth as he sees her as a prospective wife and he know that Lady Catherine De Bourgh would approve of her because she is shy and obedient. The only real reason he came to Longbourn was to find a suitable wife that Lady Catherine De Bourgh would approve of but Elizabeth is not the suitable type to suit Lady Catherine de Bourgh. This proves that Mr. Collins is a foolish man marrying to obey Lady Catherine De Bourgh and marrying without getting to know his prospective wife.
In the proposal scene Mr. Collins’ ridiculous character is fully revealed to the reader. This is shown when it states
‘He supposed it a regular part of the business.’
Mr. Collins sees this as a business transaction, instead of having time for emotion, love or passion. Despite being a clergyman he is not above lying to Elizabeth, because he said he chose Elizabeth out of all the Bennet girls, when what actually happened was Mr. Collins notice Jane and after Mrs. Bennet told him, she was soon to be engaged, he switched to Jane to Elizabeth, while Mrs. Bennet was stirring the fire; this proves he is very sly, cunning and he does not care which girl he marries.
When he makes his proposal is formal, he actually lists the reasons for wanting to marry which isn’t what you do when you fall in love.
During the proposal he actually humiliates Elizabeth by say that her father is not wealthy and no man would want to marry her because they would not get a big dowry and she is lucky he is offering proposal to her, this proves Mr. Collins is not a sensitive man towards her or her family. Mr. Collins is trying to make Elizabeth feels guilty for refusing her proposal. Elizabeth sees Mr. Collins as a ridiculous man saying his heart is running away with passion, he is lying again because he doesn’t care about love; he is just obeying Lady Catherine de Bourgh.
When Elizabeth refuses his offer of marriage Mr. Collins does not take her seriously, because Mr. Collins thinks Elizabeth is to shy to accept his offer of marriage and she secretly means to accept. Elizabeth is serious and says,
‘You could not make me happy.’
Elizabeth is determined to she wants to marry someone and to be very happy as well, she knows she would not be happy if she married Mr. Collins. At this period of time would be seen as a very eligible bachelor, to prove he is a eligible bachelor he states three reasons why Elizabeth cannot refuse his proposal of marriage the first reasons was about his
‘Establishment I can offer would be any other than highly desirable.’
The second reason was about his connections with Lady Cather De Bourgh and the third was about the connections with the Bennets and that Elizabeth’s father is not paying a lot to marry his daughters. Now Mr. Collins actually begun to humiliate and insult Elizabeth to force her to marry him. Eventually Mr. Collins has to accept Elizabeth’s rejection after everything he tried to do to get her to marry him.
However, though his pride was hurt his determination to return to Hunsford with a bride remained. Luckily when Charlotte Lucas came to visit the Bennets home and was informed about the refusal. Charlotte knew Mr. Collins was desperate to marry and because Charlotte was twenty seven and would have been called an ‘old maid’ at the time because she was getting old and was still unmarried. When Mr. Bennet proposes to Charlotte, she immediately accepts his offer. Elizabeth was shocked to hear that her best friend Charlotte was going to marry her idiotic cousin Mr. Collins. Charlotte Lucas’ attitude to marriage was very different to her friends she says,
‘I am not romantic you know. I only ask for a comfortable home; and considering Mr. Collins character, connections and situation in life.’
This means that Charlotte does not care about marrying because you love the person, but marrying because you what a comfortable house to live in, this is totally different to Elizabeth’s views, Elizabeth wants to marry for love and that you need to know them a fairly long time.
Despite Mr. Collins warning to Elizabeth about the danger of remaining an old maid and that no one would want to marry her because her father could not pay a big dowry, but in fact Elizabeth proposed to by Mr. Darcy and did accepted the second time because she did fall in love and not because she wanted a nice home. She makes the best match of all
