Pride and Prejudice - Compare the proposals Elizabeth receives from Mr Collins and Darcy and her reaction to them.

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Pride and Prejudice

Compare the proposals Elizabeth receives from Mr Collins and Darcy and her reaction to them.

The novel Pride and Prejudice opens with ‘It is a truth universally acknowledged that a young man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.’ This hints to us that marriage is the main theme of the book. As we persist in the reading of the book we come to believe that this is the opinion of Mrs Bennet. This line of the novel is very ironic, because various characters in the book, believe this to be true but Jane Austin shows us that it can be incorrect. In the first few chapters, we learn of people’s attitudes towards marriage. We know that Mrs Bennet is very keen to arrange all five of her daughters marriages and that she expects them to be of good wealth and manor. We know that both Elizabeth and Jane want to marry for love. We are led to believe that Mr Darcy is not a particularly pleasant character because the novel is written from Elizabeth’s point of view, who is prejudice towards Darcy. Although we never establish Darcy’s attitude towards marriage, because of his actions between Bingly and Jane, we believe he is not keen to marry. On the contrasting side, we know that Mr Collins is eager to marry. This is shown in that he moves from Jane to Elizabeth to Charlotte Lucas in a short space of time.

The truth of the opening line, becomes questionable in the two proposals. This is because in the case of Mr Collins, he wants to marry for all the wrong reasons. Mr Collins tells Elizabeth his reasons for wanting her hand in marriage. For example, he starts by telling her ‘I think that it is a right thing for every clergyman in easy circumstances (like myself) to set the example of matrimony in his parish.’  This is telling Elizabeth that he does not love her, and this is not what she wants in a marriage. In Mr Darcy’s proposal, he starts by telling her ‘You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.’ This is what Elizabeth wants, but not with Mr Darcy (at this stage in the novel). Darcy tells Elizabeth that he tried not to love her, but couldn’t help it. Part of the opening line is in Darcy, in the fact that he is ‘in possession of a good fortune’ but we are not so sure that he is ‘in want of a wife.’

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We have to take it into consideration that both proposals are in perspective of Elizabeth, we do not get both sides of the story. This affects our views of both Mr Collins and Darcy. Soon after the proposal of Darcy, we change our opinion of him. This is because we realise that Wickham lied to Elizabeth, so we then start to pity Darcy. The fact that we see through Elizabeth’s prejudice eyes shows us the perspective of the novel.

Mr Collins states why he proposes to Elizabeth and I believe this to be true. He is aware that he ...

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