Mr Collins: Character Review

We first hear of Mr Collins, one of Mr Bennet’s distant cousins, in a letter


addressed to the family living in the house which after Mr Bennet’s death will


become his own. In this letter he sounds very pompous, irrelevantly


reiterating and repeating the name of his patron, Lady Catherine de Bourgh.


Mr Collins is honest that he has an ulterior motive for wanting to stay at


Longbourn: he wishes to take the hand of one of the Bennet sisters in a


marriage which would ensure that at least one daughter of Mr Bennet would


remain comfortable, living at Longbourn as ‘Mrs Collins’. He does not ask to


stay at Longbourn, he expects his stay to be welcomed, and even desired, by


the Bennet family. “I remain, dear sir, with respectful compliments to your


lady and daughter”: this quote shows how ingratiating Mr Collins is: a side of


his character which the reader sees more readily during the rest of the novel.


Having previously thought Mr Collins was an “odious man”, Mrs Bennet is


quick to change her mind after Mr Collins made compliments towards her


daughter (and herself) in the letter.






Upon arrival at Longbourn Mr Collins assures that “the young ladies I come


prepared to admire”. The word ‘prepared’ in this quote gives the implication


that Mr Collins does nothing in a rash manner and has everything planned in


what appears to be quite a sly way. Once inside the house Mr Collins begins


to commend each and every item of furniture within it. Mrs Bennet would on


any other occasion have been delighted at this, but she knows that when Mr


Collins entails the estate all that he admires will be his own. Mr Collins


believes that by ingratiating Mrs Bennet about her house he will please her,


but this begins to vex her a fair deal. “The...