Pride and Prejudice Dialectical Journal 2

“I am not now to learn ,” replied Mr. Collins, with a formal wave of the hand, “that it is usual with young ladies to reject the addresses of the man whom they secretly mean to accept, when he first applies for their favour; and that sometimes the refusal is repeated a second or even a third time. I am therefore by no means discouraged by what you have just said, and shall hope to lead you to the altar ere long.” Chapter 19, Page 93
Literary devices: irony, humor, indirect characterization, and voice

Mr. Collins’s refusal to accept Elizabeth’s denial of his proposal is ironic and funny. In a way it is dramatic irony because the audience knows that Elizabeth really is denying Mr. Collins and not trying to tease him, though it is mostly situational irony because males are the courters in marriage while the females are docile and teasing about refusing; in this case, Mr. Collins is the one who is not accepting Elizabeth’s refusal, while Elizabeth is firm in her reply. This creates humor not only because of Mr. Collins’s blindness to Elizabeth’s refusals but also because it is funny to see someone rejected. The humor invoked by Mr. Collins provides social commentary against him, the clergy, and the upper class. He is not only embarrassing but also impractical, and his desires to be associated with the upper class, as evident in his obsession with Lady Catherine, only serve to mock him and the upper class’s superfluities. Mr. Collins is also indirectly characterized as quixotic and foolish because he is unable to see the truth while maintaining that Elizabeth’s refusals are all to add to the romantic effect. Mr. Collins’s firm belief that women are supposed to refuse several times before accepting a marriage proposal provides social commentary of society at that time. Girls were meant to be sweet, unintelligent, and playful, whereas Elizabeth provides Jane Austen’s voice through her refusal to accept marriage based on society’s expectation that women should be married. Mr. Collins is a clergyman, and since he his actions are foolish and outdated, Austen characterizes the church as trivial and obsolete. However, the fact that Mr. Collins agrees to marry Elizabeth despite the Bennets’ class shows how Mr. Collins somewhat rebels against society’s expectations of marriage. Mr. Collins is only marrying Elizabeth as a way to compensate the Bennets for inheriting the house, indirectly characterizing Mr. Collins as overly sorrowful, for marriage was an important event, and criticizing entailment. Mr. Collins’s firm belief that women are to deny several times before accepting mocks society’s expectations that children’s upbringings should teach them to accept marriage proposals. Elizabeth’s repeated refusals and contrasted against Charlotte’s solitary acceptance of Mr. Collins’s proposal and shows how they are character foils through their different opinions of marriage.