Pride and Prejudice

Mr. Collins asks Mrs. Bennet if he can speak privately with Elizabeth. She readily agrees, despite Elizabeth’s pleas that she not leave. Once alone, Mr. Collins commends Elizabeth’s modesty. He tells her he has chosen her to be his wife and proceeds to list his reasons for marrying. First, clergymen in “easy circumstances” should “set the example of matrimony in his parish” (101). Second, marriage will make him happy. Finally, Lady Catherine has graciously offered her opinion that he should marry a “useful” woman who was “not brought up high” (102). He assures her that her “wit and vivacity” will be “acceptable” to Lady Catherine “when tempered with the silence and respect which her rank will inevitably excite” (102). He notes there is no shortage of women in his neighborhood but that he has chosen to marry one of the Bennets to alleviate their financial burden.

Elizabeth interrupts to thank him and decline his proposal. Mr. Collins brushes off this rejection, stating women often decline proposals they intend to accept. Elizabeth promises she is sincere and that she would not jeopardize her happiness by rejecting a man she wanted to marry. She informs him he could never make her happy, nor she him, adding that Lady Catherine would not approve of her either.