#mr. collins's proposal

[mollywog]

Something I find funny about Jane Austen is: she doesn’t f*ck around with dialogue she doesn’t want to write (AKA: end-game main character proposals/acceptances)

Emma/Mr. Knightly

She spoke then, on being so entreated.—What did she say?—Just what she ought, of course.

Lizzie/Mr. Darcy

Elizabeth, feeling all the more than common awkwardness and anxiety of his situation, now forced herself to speak; and immediately, though not very fluently, gave him to understand that her sentiments had undergone so material a change, since the period to which he alluded, as to make her receive with gratitude and pleasure his present assurances.

Elinor/Edward

How soon he had walked himself into the proper resolution, however, how soon an opportunity of exercising it occurred, in what manner he expressed himself, and how he was received, need not be particularly told. This only need be said;—that when they all sat down to table at four o'clock, about three hours after his arrival, he had secured his lady, engaged her mother's consent, and was not only in the rapturous profession of the lover, but, in the reality of reason and truth, one of the happiest of men.

Anne/Captain Wentworth

Charles was at the bottom of Union Street again, and the other two proceeding together: and soon words enough had passed between them to decide their direction towards the comparatively quiet and retired gravel walk, where the power of conversation would make the present hour a blessing indeed, and prepare it for all the immortality which the happiest recollections of their own future lives could bestow. There they exchanged again those feelings and those promises which had once before seemed to secure everything, but which had been followed by so many, many years of division and estrangement. There they returned again into the past, more exquisitely happy, perhaps, in their re-union, than when it had been first projected; more tender, more tried, more fixed in a knowledge of each other’s character, truth, and attachment;

Catherine/Henry

Some explanation on his father's account he had to give; but his first purpose was to explain himself, and before they reached Mr. Allen's grounds he had done it so well that Catherine did not think it could ever be repeated too often. She was assured of his affection; and that heart in return was solicited, which, perhaps, they pretty equally knew was already entirely his own;

Fanny/Edward Edmund

I purposely abstain from dates on this occasion, that every one may be at liberty to fix their own, aware that the cure of unconquerable passions, and the transfer of unchanging attachments, must vary much as to time in different people. I only entreat everybody to believe that exactly at the time when it was quite natural that it should be so, and not a week earlier, Edmund did cease to care about Miss Crawford, and became as anxious to marry Fanny as Fanny herself could desire.

[firawren]

Pride and Prejudice Chapter 22: Charlotte accepts Mr. Collins's proposal

View the full series of P&P chapter memes here

[windowsandfeelings]

Oh Mr Darcy, you and your complete lack of emotional intelligence.

[whats-in-a-sentence]

The discussion of Mr. Collins's offer was now nearly at an end, and Elizabeth had only to suffer from the uncomfortable feelings necessarily attending it, and occasionally from some peevish allusions of her mother.

"Pride and Prejudice" - Jane Austen

[saucymincks]

My favorite part of watching any Jane Austen adaptation is seeing which characters are autistic in this version

[widowshill]

was thinking about r/v au and particularly this line in rebecca, how despite his being married twice, both weddings were in the category of the former ––  to laura, rushed in the days after the trial to reward her cooperation, and then to exile in augusta –– and then to cassandra, similarly quick and clinical the day after he met her. and v of course very nearly had the dream wedding at collinwood, only for it to rot down in bradford's grave into only the bones of a 3 am visit to the courthouse. how they neither of them have really experienced a wedding or marriage as concept as celebration in earnest, not only as a ceremony of romantic love but bonding into the family, to home and the threshold. how each of their prior marriages were hollow façades, as with maxim and rebecca –– to a phoenix, to a witch wearing a false name, to a centuries old ghost –– whereas, with each other, if not happily ever after an earthly grasp at happiness.

[coffee2025]

Boiled Potatoes

Nobody:

Not a single soul:

Literally nobody ever:

My brain and Mr. Collins when there's and awkward silence: WhAt ExCeLlEnT bOiLeD pOtAtOeS.

[firawren]

He certainly respects her by the second proposal, but you've conflated the two proposals. The line about one word will silence him forever comes from the second proposal, for instance.

Because he certainly does not just shut up and respect her decision in the first proposal.

He is not as blatantly dismissive of her decision as Mr. Collins is, but this seems to be more that he's not an idiot like Mr. Collins, not that he's significantly more respectful.

He's completely astonished that she says no, and rather than just saying "I guess I misjudged things, I'll leave you alone now," and leave, or even just saying, "Wow that's not what I expected, do you mind telling me why?"—no, instead of either of these respectful responses, he goes with disbelieving snark:

“And this is all the reply which I am to have the honour of expecting! I might, perhaps, wish to be informed why, with so little endeavour at civility, I am thus rejected. But it is of small importance.”

In other words, "Seriously?! Maybe I should ask why you're being such a bitch." He stays and rudely asks her to explain herself, because her answer is bonkers to him. He's not an idiot like Mr. Collins, he knows she's not playing, but he doesn't pay her the respect of believing she has good reasons for her answer or accepting it at face value.

Then, even after she gives him her reasons, he still doubts that she is sincere:

["]But, perhaps,” added he, stopping in his walk, and turning towards her, “these offences might have been overlooked, had not your pride been hurt by my honest confession of the scruples that had long prevented my forming any serious design. These bitter accusations might have been suppressed, had I, with greater policy, concealed my struggles, and flattered you into the belief of my being impelled by unqualified, unalloyed inclination; by reason, by reflection, by everything.["]

In other words, "You don't really care that much about those supposed reasons you gave, you're just pissed off that I didn't simp."

And then after this, she tells him he's wrong and says no a couple more times, and he still is astonished! It takes him a very long time to let Elizabeth get through to him.

It's actually a key part of Darcy's character growth that he is not respectful of Elizabeth during this first proposal. It contrasts so beautifully with his second proposal because of this.

Someone who loves you truly will always respect you. I was re-reading Pride and Prejudice and this is what occured to me.

Mr. Collins didn't love Lizzy and that's why didn't respect her decision of refusing his proposal. He kept on saying all kind of illogical things, trying to convince her to change her decision, wasn't at all discouraged by her and kept on pestering her to accept him.

He didn't give in to Lizzy's resolve to refuse him. He didn't consider her determined and wise enough to make the best decision for herself. He kept on mistaking her refusal for the affectation and coquetry of an elegant female because he didn't hold Lizzy and her opinions in a position to be respected.

While Mr. Darcy, being truly in love with Lizzy, insulted her connections and status(he surely was very arrogant) but respected her decision of blatantly refusing him. He retrospected the events he was accused of and offered her an explanation but without pressuring her to change her mind. He again mentioned that one word from her would silence him on this subject forever. He believed her reasons for rejecting him and respected her decision.

He considered Lizzy's social status beneath himself but never doubted her intelligence or capability to make right decision for herself. He knew she was smart, accomplished and trusted her judgement. DARCY RESPECTS LIZZY.

WHO LOVES YOU, WILL ALWAYS RESPECT YOU.

Thank you so so much for coming to my half-witTED TALK.

P.S. - True P&P fans can romanticize every single event of the novel. :)

[joybank]

.

[drchucktingle]

Good evening Dr. Tingle! Would you ever like to see a film adaption of Bury Your Gays? I think it would be so neat (especially with all of the tv and movie references present in the novel). If there ever was a movie, who would you want hypothetically cast?

HELLO BUCKAROO this is always a fun question to consider actors for a book adaption. when writing i sometimes CAST IN MY HEAD and sometimes it is just kind of a made up buckaroo. there are really only two characters in BURY YOUR GAYS that were cast in my head while writing and i will mention those below.

ultimately WHOEVER was to trot in these rolls i would be happy with, so lets just consider this a fun way through imagination. i will say that i would prefer to cast queer actors, but also i know the business of hollywood means sometimes that does not work out to get the movie on screens. if bury your gays was turned into a movie i would really have no say in any of this anyway, but queer actors would be my preference when possible.

despite all of that, when writing MISHA, the actor in my head was NOT a queer actor as far as i know (although for some reason us queer buckaroos have given him a pass to play queer characters which i think is very funny and interesting, i guess we just love him a lot regardless) anyway lets kick it off there

MISHA BYRNE

when writing BURY YOUR GAYS i was picturing none other than BILL HADER. maybe it is because i was watchin a lot of BARRY at the time, not exactly sure why but thats the truth.

that being said i think i would be great to get a queer lead in there. so if that was the case i would say LEE PACE, and of course we have the ultimate fan cast MISHA COLLINS

TARA ITO

this is the other character that was FULLY IN MY HEAD as i wrote it and mentally cast from day one. it also kind of coincides with the trot of a tv show i was watching at the time which was PEN 15. so tara in my mind was always MAYA ERSKINE

ZEKE ROMERO

not exactly a known actor in my head, but when considering options i think that OSCAR ISSAC would be very good

JACK HAYS

there are a few options for this, but i keep thinking of a very clean shaven MURRAY BARTLETT in a suit. another options would be ZACHARY QUINTO especially if we get chris pine as chris oak because thats just some incredible META KIRK AND SPOCK action for the sledgehammer scene.

now onto the dang villains.

CHRIS OAK

okay so obviously we gotta cast CHRIS PINE in this role (i might have an in). however if that does not work out i would like to suggest COLMAN DOMINGO

THE SMOKER / UNCLE KEITH

would be neat to have the monsters also play their inspiration. in the case of THE SMOKER i think STEVE BUSCEMI would be incredible

MRS. WHY / AGENT Y

last buck not least i propose ELIZABETH DEBICKI as MRS. WHY

if you have not read bury your gays yet but now you are DANG INTERESTED then you can get it here. thanks for reading buckaroos feel free to reply with your own castings. I AM NO EXPERT you know my art just as well as i do so i am curious your thoughts. LOVE IS REAL

[oifaaa]

So I'm watching pride and prejudice (the BBC miniseries) for the umpteenth time and I never noticed before how Mr Darcy actually looks like he's about to cry as he's walking away from Mr Collins house after lizzy rejects his proposal and it's making me laugh so hard like awww did your feelings get hurt Mr Darcy did your amazing proposal idea get completely shut down that mean miss Elisabeth keep it together until you're atleast out of view Mr Darcy

[anghraine]

#fascinating#that does change lizzy’s rejection of Mr Collins I think#that is to say they do in theory have a safety net#which at least ensures lizzy doesn’t feel the need to accept out of desperation#(in addition to her gamble that Bingley will propose to Jane thus providing another safety net (via @obi-wann-cannoli)

It does! The idea that Elizabeth is being either very brave or very romantic in refusing Mr Collins because the stakes are so high is, IMO, not really reflective of Elizabeth's thought process or even the narrative treatment of the episode in the novel.

I don't think there's even evidence that Elizabeth is gambling anything with her assumption that Jane/Bingley will happen, or that Elizabeth cares about Jane/Bingley for any reason except Jane's happiness. I'm not sure she ever experiences much anxiety about the future at all until the Lydia situation threatens it.

The rejection of Mr Collins is not really treated as high-stakes drama by anyone except Mr Collins and Mrs Bennet, the stupidest people involved. Of course, it's not unimportant. The ways in which Elizabeth has to simply endure him and then endure his succession of insults without complaint are certainly not unrelated to the handling of gender in the novel, there's foreshadowing (most obviously of Darcy's proposal, which I think is not quite as bad but far worse to experience for Elizabeth, and even Elizabeth's own later pining gets foreshadowed in her rejection of Mr Collins). But the Mr Collins subplot is, IMO, treated as fundamentally comic right up to the moment that Charlotte accepts him. That's where the drama comes from.

It's not that Elizabeth will ever be in Charlotte's position and just doesn't realize until she comes to terms with Charlotte's choice. She never fully comes to terms with Charlotte's marriage (she's still sure after leaving Kent that Charlotte will regret her decision someday, although she clearly hasn't yet), and in reality, Elizabeth will never be in Charlotte's position.

Elizabeth is pretty, she's always been a gentleman's daughter, and she has supportive and fairly wealthy if low-status extended family where Charlotte has no resources of that kind. Elizabeth is going to be fine, more or less. Marriage is the only way to fully hang onto her status or improve it, to be sure, but she's never going to be in the straits of a Charlotte.

I think the point of the Mr Collins subplot is not that Elizabeth is being impractical about her own situation, but that not all women—not most women, not even most within Elizabeth's own social group—can so easily shrug off the opportunity represented by even someone as pathetically repellent as Mr Collins. As circumstances grow more desperate, even a Mr Collins starts to look appealing.

Jane, in her Jane way, puts it pretty concisely:

You do not make allowance enough for difference of situation and temper. Consider Mr Collins’s respectability, and Charlotte’s prudent, steady character. Remember that she is one of a large family; that as to fortune it is a most eligible match; and be ready to believe, for everybody’s sake, that she may feel something like regard and esteem for our cousin.

Ok, I've been thinking about this question a lot and there's not enough evidence in P&P to fully support any answer, but I wanted to hear yours: What is the Gardiners' economic status/How rich are the Gardiners?

Obviously, Mr. Gardiner is a tradesman, but I'm desperately curious to know the extent of his wealth. Does he have a similar income to Mr. Bennet but is just more frugal? Would he have been able to take in his niece(s)/sister when Mr. Bennet died? Does he have Bingley-level tradesman wealth without the massive lump sum Bingley inherited from his father? Darcy assumes that Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner are gentry - but like, Bennet gentry or Woodhouse gentry or Lucas gentry. JANE SKIMPED ON THE GARDINER INFORMATION AND NOW WE'LL NEVER KNOW. So what are your headcanons surrounding the Gardiners' wealth?

Really, the most important Gardiner headcanon that the Gardiner children are immediately charmed by Darcy and think he's like ~the coolest~

thanks queen <3

Six months later: hi!

My opinion is that the Gardiners are very well-off in terms of the usual incomes of the gentry. It's difficult to pin down an exact income range because I'm not a historian or economist, but the literary evidence is pretty suggestive IMO.

For one, Mr Bennet has no trouble believing that Mr Gardiner could have shelled out ten thousand pounds for Lydia; the problem is the struggle of repaying him, as Mr Bennet would feel morally obligated to do. The impression I get is that this would be a lot of money for Mr Gardiner to come up with, but everyone accepts that he could quickly do it, where Mr Bennet could not. And Mrs Gardiner does insist that Mr Gardiner would have paid the money if Darcy had let him, which again suggests that it was reasonably doable for him.

When Elizabeth and Jane first pass the news to Mrs Bennet and try to express the debt of gratitude they all owe Mr Gardiner, Mrs Bennet's response is a bitter remark about how if her brother had not married and had children of his own, "I and my children must have had all his money, you know; and it is the first time we have ever had anything from him except a few presents."

Aside from what this reveals about her character (especially given the remarkable understatement of "a few presents" given everything they've done for Jane and Elizabeth), I think "all his money" suggests an awareness that there would have been quite a bit to inherit if Mr Gardiner hadn't had the temerity to, uh, have children.

The summer tourism journey also doesn't seem to represent a severe expense for the Gardiners, though it would be outside the realm of possibility for some. They're not super frugal, but they're also not going to pull a Sir William Lucas and abandon the source of their income, or take an estate or something to distance themselves from trade, and end up unable to provide security for their children or any significant luxuries for their loved ones and themselves. So the Gardiners do make practical decisions like living near Mr Gardiner's warehouses and continuing his business in town.

Darcy (in Elizabeth's opinion) mistakes the Gardiners for "people of fashion" rather than gentry per se. This is interesting because Darcy originally considered the entire Meryton neighborhood, including the local gentry, as people noticeably not of fashion. This concept of people of fashion is typically more about fashionable high society than trade vs gentry IMO.

For instance, Mr Hurst is described as "a man of more fashion than fortune"—i.e. someone with high society credentials from his family, but not a lot of money, though he has enough to maintain a house in Grosvenor Street. (I think the implication is that the Hursts considered their status and Louisa Bingley's 20,000 l. from trade a fair exchange.) So likely, Darcy is not confusing the Gardiners for minor rural gentry, but even higher-status people if Elizabeth is analyzing his reaction correctly, based on their appearance, apparel, demeanor, etc.

This is definitely a time when wealthy people in trade could pass for people of fashion, but I think it would ordinarily take some doing, and though the Gardiners are stylish and relatively young, they aren't trying hard in the way that the Bingleys are. Yet Darcy, who went on a whole tangent about trade cooties during his proposal, can't even identify the Gardiners as people in trade upon meeting them—that's important.

(It's also significant, of course, that he's surprised to discover their exact connection aka that they're Mrs Bennet's relatives, which is honestly pretty fair. In any case, he evaluates Mr and Mrs Gardiner on their own considerable merits by this point.)

So again, I get the sense that the Gardiners are quite well-off people who spend their money on nice enough things that they can be mistaken for a completely different class than their own, but are not specifically aiming for that or super extravagant, either. Their habits seem rather similar to Darcy's, actually—I don't think they're anywhere near as wealthy, but they're wealthy enough that they can approach major expenditures fairly casually, as he does. But unlike Darcy, it will always be contingent on Mr Gardiner's business success and they have to plan around his work and the possibility of sudden changes in terms of his work.

I personally think that Mr Gardiner would undoubtedly have been able to take care of his sister and nieces in the worst case scenario. Six women used to a high standard of living (we know Mrs Bennet is extravagant; it's only Mr Bennet's frugality that keeps the Bennets out of debt as it is) would probably be a strain, but I don't think beyond the income level indicated, even accounting for the needs of his immediate family.

When Mrs Bennet is dramatizing herself during the Lydia disaster, she tells Mr Gardiner, "if you are not kind to us, brother, I do not know what we shall do," and he assures her of his affection for both her and her entire family. This could be seen as a sort of empty redirection that avoids promising anything, especially given that her catastrophizing fantasy scenarios are extremely unlikely, but I think that's a misread of his character.

I see his reply as a tactful assurance that, in the (improbable) event of Mr Bennet dying in a duel, his affection for her and her daughters would indeed ensure his protection of her and her daughters. There's no doubt from anyone that he's capable of doing this, though it would certainly mean a change in their style of living that Mrs Bennet would vocally resent.

So while this isn't super-specific, I hope it helped!

Normally I don't need to do this, but I would like to add a sort of credit/disclaimer: I didn't initially notice all these signs and my understanding of the Gardiners' standard of living and general circumstances was, I believe, strongly influenced by JulieW of the Life and Times board at Republic of Pemberley back in the earlyish 2000s (maybe about 2006?).

The L&T board is sadly gone (or was the last few times I checked), though ROP clings to life, but she knew a lot more about Georgian history and culture than I ever will, and these references to the Gardiners' prosperity seemed really glaring once she pointed them out.

(Her analysis of Pemberley's age, architecture, and general class significance was also really influential and I'm still really sad that I have to rely on the perfidy of memory about it.)

[misscrawfords]

I was listening to Pride and Prejudice on my drive back from my mother's today and it's been so long since I've actually read the novel as opposed to engaged with one or other adaptation...

Goodness, it's good, isn't it? And Elizabeth is so much more complex a character than she is often presented in adaptations.

The thing that was standing out to me today - I was listening to from when Mr. Collins proposes to Charlotte and I stopped just when Elizabeth was talking to Colonel Fitzwilliam at Rosings - was the chapter which is just Jane and Elizabeth talking about Bingley. This gets cut from adaptations or so condensed to be meaningless, but it's incredible. It's just a whole chapter of the sisters chewing over why Bingley ghosted Jane (for lack of a better term) and what Caroline's motivations were and the thing that gets me is that they're both right. Jane is right that Bingley can't be blamed for being a friendly young man and that he had no malicious intentions but Elizabeth is also right that young men can be thoughtless in their dealings with women who have less freedom than them and their thoughtlessness can do real hurt. (She's also right about Caroline, of course.) It struck me as such a modern issue. Maybe I've just been thinking about the unwitting hurt that thoughtless young men can cause recently, but everything is so complicated. Bingley is a flake who makes a mistake with regards to Jane but he's also a genuinely lovely young man who makes it right in the end - he's still on his own journey through life which he will continue with Jane. Jane herself lets her desire to see the best in others cause her to see friendship where it isn't, but being deceived in a friend is not so uncommon, is it? And she's not stupid or weak. Heck, she endures her heartbreak being talked about openly by her mother in public for months silently and without rancour. And she does it all without ever resenting Bingley! Jane's the strongest character in the whole novel and an inspiration to the rest of us - FIGHT ME on this!

The other thing I really picked up on was what an important moment in Elizabeth's character development Charlotte's engagement is. It actually kind of breaks my heart - her best friend makes a life choice that she can't support but has to and nothing will ever be the same again between them. It's the first dent into Elizabeth's world view that forces her to see that people are different from her and can make different decisions and this is okay and not just something she can laugh at. It's so relatable in terms of life events - when a close friend marries and then when they have a baby, these things absolutely still do alter friendships. Elizabeth gets over it and even enjoys seeing Charlotte in Hunsford but we are frequently reminded by the narrator that the previous confidences they enjoyed will never be the same again. It's a really big moment for Elizabeth and really the first event in the novel to start to shake her foundations of her comfortable existence. The other two are Bingley's desertion of Jane and Wickham's decision to pursue Mary King over her. By the time she goes to Hunsford, she is prepared in a way for the final massive shock to the foundations of The World According to Lizzy Bennet, not that she knows it. Such is growing up.

And OMG Lady Catherine is SO vulgar and inappropriate! She is a direct parallel to Mrs. Bennet and the rest of the Bennets. Just as Elizabeth feels accute embarrassment at the Netherfield Ball, Mr. Darcy is feeling exactly the same at Rosings. Beautifully done. But their awareness of what is appropriate behaviour is something that unifies Darcy and Elizabeth even if Darcy massively fails to behave like a human around Elizabeth. Pride and Prejudice is such an expose and examination of "how to behave in social situations". There is nobody who doesn't come under scrutiny and pretty much every type of behaviour is gone over with a fine tooth comb.

Sometimes I feel almost ashamed when people ask me what my favourite novel is and I say "Pride and Prejudice" because it's such a damn cliche. I should say something heavier or more obscure or at least I should say it's Persuasion, the "thinking girl"'s favourite Austen. But P&P is so special to me on so many levels and you know what? It is a MASTERFULLY written book.

[firthbetterorfirthworse]

Pride & Prejudice & Zombies (2016)

Alright I have to admit it. I wasn't super looking forward to this one but I had a romp of a time.

Mostly due to THIS GUY

why did no one tell me Matt Smith was not only in this but one of my favorite versions of Collins EVER. I didn't know my ideal Collins was a foppish bisexual disaster

"We're expecting a proposal for Jane any day now" "Ohhhhhhhhhhh...fuddle. Is there no negotiating over Jane?"

"Mr Bennet I am very susceptible to flattery and you sir, are very charming."

"Oh is there trouble?" (the ladies unsheath their weapons) "Oh it appears there is."

his little wave across the ballroom

And then he officiates the weddings at the end? "You may now kiss Mr Darcy - the brides. You may now kiss the brides" and then he watches Elizabeth and Darcy, just incredible. Watch this movie for Matt Smith, if nothing else.

But also, just a fun movie. Overdramatic? Of course. Interesting take on zombies? Check. True to canon? eeeeeehhhhhh even in the beginning it compressed a lot of conversations, and then as any good variation, went off the rails, but the important bits were there. I particularly enjoyed the moment after the proposal where Lizzy loses her temper and is throwing books and things at Darcy, who is just batting them away.

Of COURSE they had Darcy strip to a white shirt and jump in the lake. Wonderful. Yes. the data

I LOVE that Jane saved Bingley, love a strong Jane.

And adored the line "the very first moment I beheld you, my heart was irrevocably gone"

so fun.

[bethanydelleman]

During Elizabeth and Darcy's walk near Rosings, he asks Elizabeth about her opinion on Mr and Mrs Collins' happiness. My friend told me that he was trying to understand her own views on marriage by asking about her friend because there's no understanding between them yet so he can't be direct with her about it. I agree with her but Darcy already expects Elizabeth to accept his proposal so why is he being so indirect and subtle with her ?

So your friend is right, but I always wish we could hear this conversation because it really seems like he was not being subtle:

He never said a great deal, nor did she give herself the trouble of talking or of listening much; but it struck her in the course of their third encounter that he was asking some odd unconnected questions—about her pleasure in being at Hunsford, her love of solitary walks, and her opinion of Mr. and Mrs. Collins’s happiness; and that in speaking of Rosings, and her not perfectly understanding the house, he seemed to expect that whenever she came into Kent again she would be staying there too. His words seemed to imply it. Could he have Colonel Fitzwilliam in his thoughts? She supposed, if he meant anything, he must mean an allusion to what might arise in that quarter.

Elizabeth is convinced he's talking about marriage, though she assumes it's about his cousin so it must have been a very thin veneer of indirectness and subtlety, the very lowest amount possible. Anyone listening in would have been totally aware of what was happening. Only Elizabeth's certainty that Darcy hated her kept her from grasping these hints.

Stupid smart people.

[elizabeth-freaking-bennet]

Darcy: What do you mean Mr. Collins proposed to you? What did he say?

Lizzie: That it was by no means certain another offer of marriage would ever be made to me. And his reasons for proposing to me was because it would make your aunt happy.

Darcy:

Darcy, getting up: Get me my horse, I need to run an errand.