Dating Advice

Even though the relationship between Lizzy and Mr. Collins doesn't have much to look for in a successful relationship, there are still multiple things to learn from their failure. We can take bits and pieces of their short relationship and turn it into excellent advice for people dating in today's world.

Their relationship only consisted of the proposal of marriage, in today's modern dating scene, this would never happen. It is simply unheard of a man proposing to woman after just meeting each other a few days before. Mr. Collins got ahead of himself and skipped multiple steps that lead to a successful relationship. A relationship has a much better chance of success if the couple grows more naturally. Naturally, a relationship is going to take time, you need to take things slow. Before one can become engaged, you must really know the person to whom you might be sharing the rest of your life with. There is no need to rush things, because if a relationship is meant to be, it will be.

Another thing we can take from their proposal is to be married for the right reasons. In modern society, women can hold their own and can be successful without the help of a male figure. In Mr. Collins proposal, he mentioned more of the practicalities of their relationship; money, owning their estate, etc. He failed to successfully bring up the happiness and actual love that would come about from these two coming together. He did attempt to mention his "violent love", but he followed up with that by mentioning the death of her parents, least to say it was an awkward proposal. What we can take from this though is simple. Marry someone for the right reasons, and it will bring mutual happiness. When you meet someone and start to date, you learn the pros and cons of that person, you learn their little quirks, these little qualities lead you to love the person, or hate them. Once the two in the relationship truly know that they are willing to spend the rest of their lives together, then that is the right time to bring up the idea of marriage. They will marry because they want to, not because they need to.

In Jane Austen's novel, there are so many relationships that we can take and translate into today's society. Even the most unsuccessful relationship she created, such as Lizzy and Mr. Collins, can be taken to learn from their failures. We learn that marriage should be between two people that truly know each other, and both want to spend their lives together. In modern society, this takes time. One cannot simply meet someone and immediately propose, more than likely, this will not be a successful relationship. It is better off to be slow and steady in a relationship, than taking things to quickly.