Collins: The Best Comedian

Mr. Collins although he expresses sexist notions about the nature of women specifically Elizabeth when he proposes to her, Austen mainly uses Collins as a tool of comic relief in her novel. Austen creates situations in which Collins evidently is making a fool of himself and every moral that he upholds. Harding in his article claims that Mr. Collins is a "caricature," expressing the idea that Collins is in one sense one-dimensional and is present for the readers enjoyment and analysis of the typical aristocratic male, which Collins truly is. If one were to state that Mr. Collins was a nightmare that observation would be false because in the novel Mr. Collins never truly interferes with the alteration of society and has little impact on most character's ideals. Hence due to Mr. Collins' egotistical behavior, the reader can perceive him as more of a funny character than a nightmare related character.