Lizzy and Mr. Collins

In Jane Austen's novel, Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet is a character far from the "norm" in her time. Her pride stands in the way of her accepting not one, but two marriage proposals. The first of these is from the rather awkward Mr. Collins. Lizzy and Mr. Collins may have had the shortest so-called "relationship" throughout the novel; so short in fact, their relationship began and ended with Mr. Collins' proposal.

Austen made it clear with her use of formal diction that to Mr. Collins, this whole ordeal was simply a "business deal". Before he even proposed to Elizabeth, the reader is told, "having no feelings of diffidence to make it distressing to himself even at the moment, he set about it in a very orderly manner, with all the observances which he supposed a regular part of the business" (pg. 91). This immediately tells the readers that Mr. Collins is going into this proposal with the sole thought of it being a business deal. Usually a relationship, let alone a proposal is not solely for business purposes, even in the era of Pride and Prejudice, it's no wonder as to why Lizzy reacted in such a way. After the initial part of the proposal Lizzy was "so near laughing that she could not use the short pause he allowed in any attempt to stop him farther" (pg. 92). Lizzy couldn't take this proposal seriously, even from the start of Mr. Collins speech, the reader knew right away this was not going to work out well for Mr. Collins.

In this scene of the novel, Mr. Collins is stating his reasons of wanting to marry Lizzy. Normally in a proposal, you don't "state your reasons" , its usually an I love you, you love me type deal. With Mr. Collins, this is more of a business deal then a romantic relationship, so therefore the tone of this part seems stiff and very unromantic. In all of the reasons that Mr. Collins presents to Lizzy, only one is even remotely close to the reasons two people would marry today. Mr. Collins states, "Secondly, that I am convinced it will add very greatly to my happiness" (pg. 92). Even after he says this marriage would make him happy, Mr. Collins then brings up how Miss De Bourgh told him to marry someone, he also doesn't fail to mention the death of her parents. These are not your typical topics one might bring up in a marriage proposal. This proposal cannot be taken seriously by the reader, let alone Lizzy.

This rather unique proposal represents Lizzy and Mr. Collins relationship as a whole. Their relationship, if you can even call it that, did not even have its chance to begin. The overall success is non existent, since there wasn't even a relationship in the first place. Lizzy took Mr. Collins' proposal almost as a joke from the way he came about asking her. Even before he made his move, Lizzy thought the idea of Mr. Collins and her being in any kind of relationship was ridiculous, therefore she didn't even let it begin. Austen utilizes tone and diction to showcase this proposal as one that readers will remember, and not for the better.