Thursday, May 13, 2010

Mr. Collins: The Master of Courtship

"Mr. Collins, awkward and solemn, apologising instead of attending, and often moving wrong without being aware of it, gave her all the shame and misery which a disagreeable partner for a couple of dances can give. The moment of her release from him was ecstasy."

Here, Mr. Collins could not have been a worse dance partner. To start off with, he asks her to dance twice, which in itself is socially unacceptable. After that, he moves wrong "without being aware of it," which not only implies that he does not know how to treat a woman, but has no intent of learning how. This (presumably, I wouldn't know from experience or anything) would be a major turnoff to a woman because it is one thing for a man to be clumsy, but a completely different thing for a man to be oblivious to all social cues. Mr. Collins is that man.

1 comment:

  1. I love how the narrator notes that Elizabeth goes from "mortification" when dancing with Collins to "ecstasy" when they stop dancing. Collins lacks any form of social grace. Poor guy.

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