Elizabeth's Refusal Of Mr Collins Proposal

The most telling example of individual versus collective is exhibited in Elizabeth’s refusal of Mr. Collin’s proposal. Mr. Collins, the epitome of the collective, cannot see Elizabeth’s reasoning at all for refusing his request. In doing so, Mr. Collins rejects Elizabeth’s autonomy. For Elizabeth, and Austen’s audience, a profound sense of the phrase “talking to a wall” washes over. The tension of Elizabeth’s own feelings and the larger social norms are thrown into concert here and it is starkly apparent that “collective” minds like Mr. Collins have lost all capacity for understanding of the individual self. “‘Indeed, Mr. Collins, all praise of me will be unnecessary. You must give me leave to judge for myself, and pay me the compliment of believing what I say’” (Austen 74). So goes Elizabeth’s rebuttal of Mr. Collins’s proposal. She emphasizes to his irrationality that she alone is the one who can make a decision regarding her feelings towards marriage.

For Elizabeth, a marriage to Mr. Collins, though it would provide social security and care for her siblings, does not entitle something more essential - true love and the satisfaction of an equal mate - which she later finds in Mr. Darcy. When Miss Lucas remarks about marriage, she lays out that satisfaction may never be obtained, and is purely a consequence of luck. Charlotte concludes: “They [a couple] always contrive to grow sufficiently unlike afterwards to have their share of vexation” (Austen 16). Thus, Miss Lucas accepts the best union for security purposes. Elizabeth, however, feels the inauthenticity of Charlotte’s words: “‘You make me laugh, Charlotte; but it is not sound. You know it is not sound, and that you would never act in this way yourself’” (Austen 16). The irony here is that Charlotte actually does, and whether or not her match with Collins brings her satisfaction, is little to the “collective” mindset she