Elizabeth Bennet is described in the beginning of the novel Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, as having "something more of quickness than her sisters."(2) Elizabeth is a self-sufficient, independent girl, who possesses a quality that is rare to young women during that time period: intuition. She can easily see through people if they are translucent, when other people may not even realize. In a way, Elizabeth is too smart for her own good, because she observes people, yet they tend to often disappoint her.
             It is not in Elizabeth's nature to marry someone for their wealth or for material possessions, but instead for love. When Collins proposed to Elizabeth, it annoyed her that his motives for a marriage were boiled down to three reasons which totally disregarded love: every clergy man "in easy circumstances" should set the example of matrimony in his parish, it will add "very greatly to [his] happiness," and also because Lady Catherine De Bourgh advised him to marry her(91). She sees his reasons as self-involved in that he thinks only of himself in the marriage. What never grazed his mind was whether she would be happy. He automatically assumes that she would be happy because the Longbourn estate will remain in her family, proving that he doesn't even know Elizabeth enough to tell that she is not the type to marry for material possessions. She also now sees him as a conformist, because he is directly obeying the wishes of his patroness in asking her to marry him. Also, Collins thinks "too well of himself to comprehend on what motive his cousin could refuse him"(97). Elizabeth views Collins as a pompous man after he cannot accept her rejection and continues to pursue her even after she had said no. He simply does not understand why she would turn down his proposal, furthering her dislike towards him. When Collins proposed to Elizabeth, he totall
             ...