Another character we dislike through Austen's satirical portrait is Mr. Collins, the one who will inherit the Bennet estate after Mr. Bennet dies. At the beginning of Chapter XV, the narrator describes him this way:
"Mr. Collins was not a sensible man, and the deficiency of nature had been but little assisted by education or society."
He is presented as a ridiculous man. However, in asking for Elizabeth's hand in marriage he is doing his duty. If she married him, Mrs. Bennet and her daughters would still have their home. In declining his offer, Elizabeth is not doing her duty and is, in fact, being selfish.
Of course Mr. Collins presents another problem with the entail system: The younger sons who did not inherit money or estate often went into the clergy even though they had no interest in the profession. They like Mr. Collins often received "the living" on a large estate. Mr. Collins was given the living of Hunsford by Lady Catherine de Bourgh, his patroness.
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