Pride & Prejudice Excerpt Analysis

Ashley Ducrepin
AP English – Mr. George
09.29.09
Analysis of Mr. Collins address

Mr. Collins effectively utilizes his charm to compliment not only who he is speaking to but also who he includes in his address. We’ve established the audience in the first sentence; he is speaking directly to Elizabeth and he captures her attention by showering her with incomparable adjectives (i.e. natural delicacy, wit, and vivacity). With all this, we determine that his objective is to make Elizabeth his wife. His way of accomplishing that goal is to ease his way into Elizabeth’s heart by excessively flattering her just to make it harder for her to say no to him. He praised Elizabeth for her modesty and also tribute portion of his speech to the very honorable Mrs. Jenkins. He said, “Twice has she [Mrs. Jenkins] condescended to give me her opinion” (Austen). He purposely uses the word “condescended” to demonstrate how noble and honorable this woman is that the act of giving Collins advice would be bringing her down to a lower level. In a way, Collins slightly disrespects himself to pay homage to Mrs. Jenkins. Collins uses more than acclamation to prove a point, he also makes use of syntax incorporating many different literary devices.

Collins particularly selects certain words to emphasize his intentions. When trying to win Elizabeth over, he says, “And now nothing remains for me but to assure you in the most animated language of the violence of my affection” (Austen). That sentence almost does not make sense because he uses the word violent to accentuate his affection. However, he used these contradicting words purposely; this literary device is known as an oxymoron. In this case, he is describing his emotions as aggressively passionate. Collins also uses a paradox to prove a point. He makes a bold statement: “it is usual with young ladies to reject the address of the man whom they secretly mean to accept” (Austen). It is a paradox because it can come off as a false statement (as Elizabeth thought) but it is actually true. Women are known to reject any man’s attempts to get close to them but the truth of the matter is they are really interested. Finally in the end, personification is used to show how kind he plans to be when he marries her: “no ungenerous reproach shall ever pass my lips when we are married” (Austen). Collins’ use of rhetoric is effective and I do believe that eventually he will win Elizabeth over and they’ll get married.