Illustrated, interactive talk by Brenda S. Cox, author of Fashionable Goodness: Christianity in Jane Austen’s England

Jane Austen had a high regard for the church. Why, then, did she present Mr. Collins as a buffoon? Why was he so deferential to Lady Catherine? (He had good reasons.) Did he fail in his duties, as Edmund Bertram of Mansfield Park tells us some clergymen did? We’ll explore Mr. Collins’s words and character (including his marriage proposal), comparing him to Austen’s clergymen in all the other novels, satirical cartoons of the time, and Anglican and Evangelical ideals. We’ll conclude with questions and answers.

Zoom information will be sent to members prior to the event.