Summary Of Mr. Collin's Marriage Proposal

It is of no doubt that Mr. Collin’s marriage proposal differs greatly from Bradley Headstone’s. It seems to me that the reasons for which Mr. Collins wants to marry Elizabeth Bennett describe how he is motivated to marry for practical reasons. The fact of the matter is that he wants to inherit Mr. Bennett’s property and entailments. His main reason for asking Elizabeth to marry is that Lady Catherine de Bourgh has assigned him to the task. Also, he wants to meet the expectation of the clergymen as each one apparently needs to engage in matrimony in order to set an example. The way he uses his words humors me more than anything else and is of no seriousness at all. First, he assumes that Elizabeth’s multiple rejections to his proposal is her way of “showing modesty” and apparently to

Collin’s. He describes how blinded he is by such strong compassion for the woman and is solely acting on emotion. In his proposal, he narrows his focus on the benefits of marriage as he states that his reputation would shield hers and that although she could draw him towards any exposure and disgrace, she could also lead him towards “any good and every good” because that is how much her presence impacts him on a more personal level. Unlike how Mr. Collins was encouraged by Lady Catherine de Bourgh’s desire for him to marry, Bradley Headstone seems to act only by his emotions and by his perception of how strong a love he holds for this woman that he is addressing. When he says “if you saw me at my work, able to do it well and respected in it, you might even come to take a sort of pride in me…” he presents himself as strong-willed, stable, and someone of good reputation. The overall tone of his speech is serious. Even towards the end of the passage he says “I only add that if it is any claim on you to be in earnest, I am in thorough earnest, dreadful