Mr. Collins is obsequious, silly, and pompous—downright absurd. Yet Charlotte Lucas becomes engaged to him within a few days after Elizabeth turns him down.
Discuss Charlotte’s choice.
Were her reasons for marrying him valid?
Were they fair to him?
What are the pros and cons of this marriage?
Try to argue both sides of the issue in your own mind (especially if you find her choice inconceivable).
Have you ever felt tempted or been forced to make an unappealing choice for the sake of security—economic, psychological, social, or otherwise?
It’s okay to use examples from your own experience (though this is never a requirement). How do people today have limitations placed on their freedom because of economics or other issues?

Charlotte is 27, which is much older than the Bennett daughters. Because of this she sees marriage with a totally different perspective. Charlotte feels the urgency stronger to become married, more for practicality than for love. She tells Elizabeth she is not a romantic as she is, but is more concerned with “establishment and a comfortable home.” Charlotte believes it is safe to marry Mr. Collins because of his clergyman position, connections, and inheritance of Longbourn.

In my opinion, these are not the most important reasons for marriage, although they are fair to Mr. Collins. It seems Mr. Collins isn’t looking for love either, since he did inquire about marrying Jane and actually proposed to Elizabeth. Mr. Collins is looking for a companion and wife to occupy his home and help him to set an appropriate example of marriage to his congregation as he says. This is a fair engagement for they both have alternate motives of marriage: love not being the core foundation.

One of the pros of this kind of marriage is that both do state that each other will make themselves happy, probably because their own personal needs will be met. They come to the marriage with expectation that can easily be fulfilled. Charlotte and Mr. Collins can be certain of companionship and loyalty to one another, as they both portray that this opportunity of marriage is scarce.

One of the cons of this marriage would be the lack of a love and passion for one another based solely on each other’s personalities, common interests, physical attraction, ability to make each other happy even without wealth and connections. These are the things that were most important to me when choosing the man I wanted and did marry. Particularly amongst my group of friends, these are the most important aspects of relationship: common interests, real love, and common moral and religious beliefs, and so on. This isn’t always the case, but definitely times have changed since this book was written.