A Modest Proposal Essay

Words: 773
Pages: 4

Ursula K. Le Guin, once said “Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.” An ideal marriage is found on the basis of love and happiness. However, many pursue marriage for selfish reason such as marrying to obtain power, wealth, or simply for appearance. Marriage has the power to bring two complete strangers and their families together and create something beautiful and unique. The last thing a man must do before marrying is woo his significant other with a proposal. The strength of the proposal will decide the fate of the two lovers, without a sincere proposal filled with rhetoric the marriage may never come true. In Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Charles Dickens Our Mutual …show more content…
When speaking to her about pride she will feel while married he says, “I would try hard” which makes him come off as needy and pushy, as if he is doing too much to woo her. Ultimately, this renders all of the other passionate phrases previously stated useless. Also, when talking about his social status he degrades hers’ by saying his status “would be a shield for” hers. This turns her off his proposal even more because now she assumes that Headstone believes she is below him. Headstone has a strong proposal. Collins does not pursue the woman romantically; he only wishes to marry her because his patroness would be happy, this makes his proposal come off as professional request. He uses transition words such as “first…second…third” to list out the reason why she should marry him. He also talks more about how great his patroness is rather than complimenting the woman, “you will find her manners beyond anything I can describe.” Finally he says “I think you must be acceptable to her” which insinuates the woman is not good enough for him, but is for Mrs. Catherine de Bourgh. Collins comes off as an insensitive pig for wishing to marry the woman to just satisfy his patroness. He does not emotionally invest himself into the proposal establishing he does not truly love her; this turns the woman completely off of his proposal leading to