Who Is Mr Collins Prideful

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is a romance novel that takes place in England in the late 1700’s to the early 1800’s. The book follows Elizabeth Bennet and her 4 sisters in their quest for marriage. In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen shows the difficulty of overcoming prejudicial pride through Mr. Collin’s reputation, Mr. Darcy’s ignorance, and Elizabeth’s power of discernment. In Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Collins struggles with pride as he attempts to find himself a wife. Collins is prideful because he is to inherit the Bennet Estate, and his patroness is Lady Catherine De Bourgh which means he is from a higher, richer social class than the Bennets. Collins shows his pride for himself when he says “…you may imagine that I am happy on
Darcy. Mr. Darcy is a wealthy, high status man, who views people of a lower status as inferior to himself. Darcy believes that his family is more dignified and pristine than the Bennets. As a result, he dissuades his friend from marrying Elizabeth’s sister, Jane. Darcy’s actions lead to him falling out of favor with Elizabeth and, Darcy is too proud to realize that he made a mistake in breaking up the wedding. He does not realize that social class should not matter in love until Elizabeth explains it to him. Mr. Darcy describes himself “[I am] perhaps.. called resentful. My good opinion once lost, lost forever” (51). Darcy eventually grows to realize his prejudicial pride, and seeks to make amends with Elizabeth. Darcy pays for Lydia’s wedding to help her, and humbles himself. It is possible to see that he is more humble when he says, “You are too generous to trifle with me. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged; but one word from you will silence me on this subject forever.” Because his views on social status changed and he will do what Elizabeth says even though he is of a higher class. Darcy changes from being too high of a rank to deal with the Bennets, to attempting to help Elizabeth and her
Elizabeth makes assumptions about people, without truly getting to know how they are or what kind of people they are. Elizabeth’s opinion of Darcy is an example of this. Elizabeth thinks Darcy is ignorant from the moment they meet and she judges him based on the words of Mr. Wickham, which turn out to be false. Elizabeth misunderstands Darcy and considers his actions to Wickham as wrong and ignorant, but when Darcy explains his actions and Mr. Wickham’s past to her, her opinion of him does change. Elizabeth continues to exercise her prejudice until she learns about Darcy helping to save her sisters and family’s reputation and that Darcy helps bring Jane and Mr. Bingley back together. Elizabeth begins to learn more about other people, and her opinions and prejudice about them change as she learns the