Great Moments in Comic Literature: Pride and Prejudice

One of the greatest moments in comic literature occurs in Chapter 19 of Pride and Prejudice. In the novel, Jane Austen creates a household of five daughters, all of marriageable age. Because the book was written in the early 1800s when most women had to use marriage as a means of surviving financially, finding a “good” husband for your daughter was considered to be one of the premiere duties of a father and mother.

The heroine of the novel is Elizabeth Bennet, one of the most sparkling heroines in English literature. Early in the novel, a distant cousin of the Bennets, a clergyman named Mr. Collins, visits the Bennet household. He is gauche and clownish and thinks he is God’s gift to the world of taste. He decides to propose to Elizabeth, and instead of telling her how wonderful she is, or that he’s in love with her (which he isn’t), he says the following:

“My reasons for marrying are, first, that I think it a right thing for every clergyman in easy circumstances (like myself) to set the example of matrimony in his parish; secondly, that I am convinced that it will add very greatly to my happiness; and thirdly …, that it is the particular advice and recommendation of the very noble lady whom I have the honour of calling patroness …, Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

“[T]he fact is, that being, as I am, to inherit this estate after the death of your honoured father (who, however, may live many years longer), I could not satisfy myself without resolving to choose a wife from among his daughters. … And now nothing remains for me but to assure you in the most animated language of the violence of my affection.”

Who could resist such a proposal?!

Read more about Pride and Prejudice in Ken’s speech, Jane Austen and the Comic Tradition, delivered on October 19, 2016 in Washington, D.C. to open the Annual Meeting of the Jane Austen Society of North America.