Having just watched one of my favorite movies of all time, Pride and Prejudice, this past week, I thought it was only too perfect to refer to one of the worst proposals of all time in my Rhetoric and Civic Life Blog this week. For all of you english buffs out there, that's right. I'm referring to Mr. Collin's insincere, infamous proposal to Elizabeth Bennet.
Now, I'm certain that a proposal from a short, socially akward man, with the manners of a two year old would be the last thing that any female with a minute romantic notion would want. What makes things worse, is that Collins's proposal is heartless; he proposes solely out of duty.
In class, we recently discussed the term kairos - an ancient Greek term referring to the right or opportunte moment. In my opinion, Collins' proposal is an example of what kairos is not. He approaches his cousin the morning after bustling ball, when she is evidently enamored by another Mr. Wickham. Already the scene is set for disaster.
Furthermore, Collins's appeal to rhetoric has much to be desired. He makes a heavy appeal to logos, beginning by listing his reasons for why she should accept his proposal, instead of complementing her and describing his feelings for her. By getting married, he, a clergyman, can set a good example, can make himself (again not showing concern for her feelings) happy, can fulfill the wishes of his patroness, and, finally, can allow the Bennet property to stay in the family. He speaks condescendingly of Elizabeth's meager dowry, even though he claims that it is inconsequential to him. He evidently has no real affection for her and, being the romanticist that she is, it is most evident that she doesn't either, and most definitely won't accept him.
When Elizabeth first rejects his proposal, Mr. Collins, the bumbling fool that he is, interprets her refusal as an attempt to cause him to share more of his sentiments with her. He is certain that after rejecting him twice, she will surely come around.
Elizabeth rejects Collins at least five times, yet he is still unable to believe that she doesn't want to marry him. At that point, he turns to insult, arguing that she may never receive a proposal, and continues to argue that she "isn't serious in her rejection of (him)."
Elizabeth has to resort to running out on Collins to turn him down.
Collin's inability to appeal to kairos, his excessive appeal to logos, and his ineffectual attempt to refer to pathos are all indicators of an ineffectual, hopeless proposal, one that, hopefully, will never be emulated in the real world.
Check out the proposal below:
Jeanne! I remember this scene. At the end, I felt a little bad for Mr. Collins just because he is so clueless! Anyway, I feel like you gave a perfect example of not using kairos, and you did a great job of explaining the various concepts that you touched on
ReplyDeleteThis is such a good example! I'd never thought of this scene in this way, and I think you made some really good points. Poor Mr. Collins, so clueless. Good movie and great post!
ReplyDeleteIt's ironic that we've never seen/heard anything about each others' media in our posts...but I cringed a little just reading about that poor, clueless guy getting the marital shaft. You do well in noting that kairos isn't always done correctly, and that's the sort of out of the box thinking that keeps our group original. Well done.
ReplyDeleteYou've written about one of my all-time favorite books here, Jeanne. Great merging of the rhetorical concepts we're discussing with this example!
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