Jane Austen's Presentation of Mr Collins in Pride and Prejudice

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Jane Austen's Presentation of Mr Collins in Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen presents Mr Collins as a character with many different

traits. Mr Collins is a man who is very aware of his social status,

likes to impress people, is extremely proud and has an inflated ego to

name but a few.

The first time we get a mention of Mr Collins, is in chapter thirteen,

where we learn that Mr Bennet has in fact never met the man who will

inherit the house upon Mr Bennet's death. We learn this from Mr

Bennet, and the way he says, "``it is a person whom I never saw in the

whole course of my life.''" This suggests that Mr Collins' arrival

will be one of great surprise and unexpected. Also, it gives a hint of

suspicion, as Mr Collins is Mr Bennet's cousin and yet they have never

met before, so why has he suddenly decided to write now?

However, the first time we see the character of Mr Collins, is when Mr

Bennet reads out his letter. In the first sentence, Mr Collins says:

"The disagreement subsisting between yourself and my late honourable

father, always gave me much uneasiness" I feel that here Mr Collins is

trying to sweeten the family up, so that he could in turn receive

something for trying to heal the rift between the two families. Yet

again, I wonder why he has decided to write now at this time and why

he has not done it sooner.

He then goes further on to say, "Right Honourable Lady Catherine de

Bourgh, widow of Sir Lewis de Bourgh". Here I feel he is name dropping

to impress the Bennets, he is making himself out to be important and

of a higher social status to the Bennets as he uses her full name

rather than just saying Catherine de ...

... middle of paper ...

...to apologise." Here, he is trying to make Mrs Bennet believe

that her daughter is in the wrong for turning down Mr Collins, than Mr

Collins proposing so early. Also, he is trying to make out that he

does not care that Elizabeth has turned him down and that all he

wanted out of his proposal was a companion and that he can find

someone else to replace her. He is horrified to think that he has been

turned down by someone in their situation and can not believe it.

Overall, Mr Collins is a man who is so wrapped up in himself that he

cannot see how inflated his ego is. He also thinks that he is above

everyone else both socially and personally. Mr Collins is also

arrogant as he expected Elizabeth to accept his marriage proposal and

he is also striving to impress as he tries to sweet talk everyone by

paying them compliments.

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