Oh, Mr. Collins. We all think you’re a fool. Why are we so hard on you?
It might be because of the novel’s narrator, who doesn’t hold back. Here are some of the ways the omniscient narrator describes Mr. Collins:
Weak headed
Not a sensible man
Possessing a stupidity with which he was favoured by nature
Conceited
Full of pompous nothings
(That last one is a little funny.) For many years, I laughed at Mr. Collins along with the narrator, never questioning her pronouncements. After all, don’t we all feel that the narrator is Jane Austen? Every English teacher tells us, No! The writer and narrator are not the same! But every reader goes ahead and equates them anyway.
But now I’m wondering, what if the narrator is just a narrator? And what if maybe, just maybe, there are things to like about Mr. Collins? For this post, I’m stripping away my prejudices and taking a judgment-free look at the clergyman.
The other characters are too hard on Mr. Collins.
This site is ending, so I moved this post. Click here to read the rest & hear about the characters’ judgments on the clergyman—and his good qualities!
Leave a Reply