Language In Clarissa, Evelina And Pride And Prejudice

Mr. Bennet, as the only or eldest son, came away
with the Bennet estate. Had Mr. Collins, Sr., been a
younger half-brother or cousin, then he may have felt the
effects of primogeniture. A younger child feeling
cheated because of primogeniture and strict settlement
was common. An eldest or only son who became secondary
through a second marriage was also common. Spring tells
us that "landowners . . . knew within fairly narrow
bounds what was the correct division of property between
eldest son and younger children. They never had serious
doubt that the bulk of the estate should go to the eldest
son" (Law, Land and Family 87) . Mr. Collins, Sr., would
have assumed the restricted position of a younger son or
step-son coupled with a restricted ability to marry well.
The elder Collins and Mr. Bennet may both have felt
they were punished by strict settlement, especially Mr.
Bennet with his entail, but Mr. Collins, Jr., as Mrs.
Bennet observes, exults in it (56). The irony in the
portrayal is that strict settlement practice not only had
the power to subvert the Bennet family's existence, but
it also adversely affected the inheritor. Rather than
throwing Collins into a higher standard of living and a
more expansive manner befitting his new station, the
knowledge and power of his future inheritance served only