Mr. Darcy's and Mr Collins' Proposals

Elizabeth Bennett is really unlucky. In only a few months, she receives two of the most insensitive and rudest marriage proposals in all of literature. First her ridiculous cousin Mr. Collins asks for her hand, and soon after refusing him, Elizabeth receives another proposal from her proud and selfish acquaintance Mr. Darcy, which she also refuses. These two proposals seem to be different in every way, just as the two characters who deliver them are different. However, both the insincere flattery of Mr. Collins’ proposal and the insulting honesty of Mr. Darcy’s reflect a conceited certainty of being accepted. This certainty, founded on social and financial security, is what most angers Elizabeth about these two offers.

Mr Collins first starts off his proposal by saying that Elizabeth knows perfectly well why he is there, "You can hardly doubt the pruport of my discourse" (80). He describes how from the moment he first stepped into the Bennet house he had chosen Elizabeth to be his future wife. The readers can tell that Elizabeth finds this proposal ridiculous from the beginning as the text describes that the Mr. Collins had "made Elizabeth so near laughing" (80). Mr Collins then launches into a soliloquy explaining his reasons for marriage in general – so he, a clergyman, can set a good example, secure his own happiness, and fulfill the wishes of his authoritarian patroness – and in particular – so he can mend a long standing feud with the Bennett family. Clearly, he has no real affection for her and no doubt that she will accept him, either, because he speaks with such confidence. Though Elizabeth refuses Mr. Collins no less than five times, he is still unable to believe that she does not mean to marry him. “…it is by no means certain that another offer of marriage may ever be made you. Your portion is unhappily so small that it will in all likelihood undo the effects of your loveliness and amiable qualifications…I must therefore conclude you are not serious in your rejection of me…” This continues to show his confidence, something that forced Elizabeth to reject the school.

Mr. Darcy's proposal was straight and to the point, although we don't actually get to read his whole speak to Elizabeth, we do see his profession of love, " In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you" (142). He was very blunt in his profession of love, but he still had the underlying confidence as Mr. Collins had had. When Elizabeth rejects him, he angrily asks for an explanation, and this shows that he was clearly expecting an acceptance.