e, pray, that I should be afraid of him? I am sure we owe him no such particular civility as to be obliged to say nothing he may not like to hear" (PP 76).
             However, men find ways to force women like Mary and Elizabeth back into the framework of female speech. One way men overcome the threat of verbal rebellion is by willfully misinterpreting what women say. This allows the men to co-opt women's voices and turn the women into modest and pliable mates. Although critic Claudia Johnson argues that women retain "the right of refusal" despite other limitations to their words and actions (36), men can invalidate that right by simply refusing to accept it.
             The two most salient examples of men undermining the right of female refusal are in the marriage proposals of Mr. Collins and Henry Crawford. Collins insists on receiving Elizabeth's rejection as a type of marital foreplay, and he dismisses Elizabeth's rejection by asserting his thorough comprehension of the female sex. He explains Elizabeth's behavior to her as typical of those "young ladies who reject the addresses of the man whom they secretly mean to accept, when he first applies for their favor" (PP 82). Collins reasons that Elizabeth has no choice but to accept his proposal; she is, after all, at his mercy once her father dies and the Bennet estate becomes his. Collins also argues the point on what he sees as the quintessential female anxiety: that she will never be as lucky as to receive another marriage proposal. (Unfortunately, Charlotte Lucas proves the validity of this argument by marryin
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