keep in mind, this is just a draft and i will definitely edit it more

Austen uses discussions of entailment involving Collins in order to satirize the dominance of rich men in relationships due to entailment, a practice Austen thought of as unfair. In chapter 13, Mr. Bennet receives a letter from a man whom he has never met and who will be his heir, Mr. Collins. In this letter, Collins writes “I cannot be otherwise than concerned at being the means of injuring your amiable daughters, and beg leave to apologise for it, as well as to assure you of my readiness to make them every possible amends”(JONAH). It is important to note that Collins brags and uses the rules of courtesy to a ridiculous extent immediately before this statement. This combined with the false, overly-courteous apology that Collins gives here for having to inherit the Bennet fortune over the 5 Bennet daughters is a satirical extreme of what Austen thinks of as wrong with entailment. But it does hone in on one of her main messages: that a man should not be in control of an entire family just because that family did not have a son, especially in so ridiculous a case as the Bennet’s. Later on, Collins proposes to Elizabeth because he is going to inherit the Bennet estate, and he “could not satisfy [himself] without resolving to choose a wife from among his daughters, that the loss to them might be as little as possible” (76). This statement brings forbearance the fact that because he is a man, Collins can control the matrimony of the Bennet daughters and, later on, their money. Collins brings this to light in such a rude and over-exaggerated manner that he (but really Austen) essentially says to the reader: look how awful and ridiculous a man’s control over women is due to entailment. Eventually, Collins marries Charlotte, a 27-year old woman of a lower class who has no adult brothers. When Elizabeth visits them, she sees that Charlotte is unhappy in her marriage and purposefully sits in a small, tucked-away room because “Mr. Collins would undoubtedly have been much less in his own apartment had they sat in one equally lively” (116). Though it may not seem like one, this quote is really a discussion of entailment (it is also one involving Collins, go loopholes!). It says the Charlotte is putting up with an unhappy marriage because of the rules of entailment. Charlotte only gets married to Collins because he has property, she has to in order for her younger siblings to be married, and she might never get another offer of marriage; Collins only marries Charlotte so that he could please his economic superior and because all men had to get married back then. Clearly, Charlotte’s marriage, and the satirical light that is cast upon it by Elizabeth’s mentions of Charlotte’s unhappiness, is a means by which Austen criticizes the omnipotence that rich men have in relationships. Collins’ ridiculous dedication to rules of entailment combined with his ridiculous nature are a means by which Austen can satirize an injustice she sees in the world: rich male dominance over relationships.