The views of marriage differ greatly in pride and prejudice. Jane and Elizabeth share the same views of that you should marry for love and not for money and status; however Mrs. Bennet and charlotte Lucas believe that the only way you will get ahead in life is by marring a man with money and status. These of course were not the views of Jane Austin as she herself did not marry as in the patriarchal society of the 1800’s Austen would have lost her independence.
Mr Collins is a very unsightly man who is to inherit be the beneficiaries of the deceased estate as he is the cousin of Mr. Benet. We can understand why Elizabeth refused Mr Collins proposal of marriage, through the way he is presented. Elizabeth finds Mr. Collins so unbelievable ingratiating that she cannot bear to be in the same room as him alone. This is shown when Mr. Collins requests to have a privet audience with her when he is to ask her for her hand in marriage. The thought scares her so much that she says to Mrs Benet “Please Ma’am do not go – I beg you will not go” however Mrs Bennet just insists that Lizzy stays with Mr. Collins alone and listens to what he has to say.
When Mr. Collins proposes to Lizzy, he gives her a formal speech about marriage and his views on marriage; this irritates Lizzy and causes the reader to instantly dislike him even more than they already do. Mr Collins says that by him marring Lizzy “ it will add to his happiness greatly” this shows that he has no true feeling for Lizzy and that he doesn’t really care about her the way a husband should care about his wife. He also dehumanises Lizzy in the proposal by telling her that he needs to “select a wife”.
Mr Collins also does not give Lizzy the chance to answer back to his question of marrying him and he is very forceful as he says “ when we are married” This suggests that Mr. Collins is sure that Lizzy will marry him even before she has answered his request. He is extremely insensitive to her feeling as when she...