Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Detailed Summary

• Mr. Collins arrives at Longbourn and immediately displays his pompous manners and self-importance.

• He flatters Mrs. Bennet, boasts of Lady Catherine, and attempts to appear gallant to the daughters.

• His dull conversation and vanity amuse Mr. Bennet but frustrate Elizabeth.

• Austen uses this scene to reveal hypocrisy, absurdity, and the constraints of social propriety.

Character Development

Mr. Collins

• Embodies vanity disguised as humility; his excessive formality and constant references to Lady Catherine make him ridiculous.

• Represents moral blindness within the clergy.

Elizabeth Bennet

• Observes Collins’s absurdity with amusement and growing discomfort.

• Demonstrates intelligence and discernment.

Mr. Bennet

• Uses sarcasm to mock Collins but neglects to intervene.

Writing Techniques

• Dialogue: Exposes Collins’s self-importance.

• Irony: His attempts at humility reveal pride.

• Satire: Criticises church and social conventions.

• Character Foil: Collins contrasts Elizabeth’s sincerity and intelligence.

Themes

Social Class and Etiquette

• Collins’s obsequiousness reveals class dependence and corruption of manners.

Quotes:

• “He was a tall, heavy-looking man of five-and-twenty.”

  • Physical description mirrors moral dullness.

• “He had not the talent of conversing easily with women.”

  • Highlights awkward social incompetence.

• “Lady Catherine has been of infinite use to me.”

  • Displays servility toward rank.

Pride and Prejudice

• Collins’s pride in his patroness blinds him to his own foolishness.

Quotes:

• “His air was grave and stately, and his manners were very formal.”

  • Pride masked by false dignity.

• “He complimented Mrs. Bennet on having so fine a family of daughters.”

  • Reflects social performance.

• “His pride does not offend me so much as his servility.”

  • Reveals Elizabeth’s balanced moral judgment.