Mr. Collins was not a sensible man, and the deficiency of nature had been but little assisted by education or society… Having now a good house and a very sufficient income… Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
I really dislike the way most adaptations have presented Mr. Collins. It seems like they want to lean into the Gross Older Relation I Must Marry trope but that is NOT what is happening in the novel and I think it’s more significant to recognize the truth: Mr. Collins is not gross, ugly, or old! Elizabeth did not turn him down based on his appearance but because they were intellectually incompatible.
Probably the most famous portrayal of Mr. Collins was David Bamber from Pride & Prejudice 1995, who was 41 when he played the role:
His hair looked greasy and he was nearly twice Elizabeth’s age. For reference, here is what that actor looked like at 25:
Pride and Prejudice 2005 went with Tom Hollander, who was 38 at the time. They really played up his short stature as a negative, which is ironic since the book specifically says Mr. Collins is tall:
Lost in Austen (2008) was one of the worst offenders in age, with Guy Henry portraying a 48 year old Mr. Collins. He also leaned hard into being creepy:
Matt Smith played one of the better versions of Mr. Collins in Pride & Prejudice & Zombies in 2016 when he was 34 years old (still almost ten years too old!). His Mr. Collins was silly, as he is in the book, and they didn’t play into him being physically repulsive:
I thought Bride & Prejudice (2004) did a good job showing Mr. Collins as a safe choice. Nitin Ganatra was 37 when he played the modernized Mr. Kohli:
Another modernization, Lizzy Bennet Diaries, had Maxwell Glick as a 33 year old Mr. Collins:
The closest to the book is probably Pride & Prejudice 1980. This Mr. Collins, played by Malcolm Rennie, was very tall and definitely ridiculous, though he was still too old at 33:
The best portrayal of Mr. Collin’s formal manners was likely the 1940s movie, where instead of a clergyman, he was a librarian! Melville Cooper was 44 years old at the time:
The problem with all these adaptations is that Mr. Collins isn’t supposed to be either ugly, creepy, old, or gross. When it comes to his physical appearance, this is what we know: He was a tall, heavy-looking young man of five-and-twenty. His air was grave and stately, and his manners were very formal. Jane Austen usually tells us if a man is “plain”, so we can probably assume here that Mr. Collins is at least average looking. He’s also quite young, he’s only four years older than Elizabeth. Younger than Mr. Darcy!
Mr. Collins also doesn’t have any glaring red flags. He doesn’t gamble (or he wouldn’t go on about it at the party), we don’t see him get drunk (Uncle Phillips is the one breathing alcohol fumes), and he doesn’t seem violent/prone to outbursts of temper (he could have shown more anger when Lydia was rude while he was reading). Mr. Collins offers a good deal: domestic security, future wealth, and no danger. He is a safe choice, which when he’s played up as creepy doesn’t come through.
However, Elizabeth understands that without intellectual compatibility, she will be unhappy. She wants a husband she can respect. This is what makes her a heroine. By making Collins old, ugly, creepy, or kind of gross, the adaptations actually erase a lot of Elizabeth’s motivations and strength. The reaction to Collins becomes more visceral than intellectual, and that’s a problem. The idea is that Mr. Collins is fine, but he’s not right for Elizabeth.
What would you like to see in a new portrayal of Mr. Collins? Did I leave your favourite adaptation out? Let me know below:
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