He continually brags about his "so-called" friendship with Lady Catherine DeBourgh. An example that shows that he thinks he is greater than most people is when Elizabeth rejects his proposal and Mr. Collins replies by saying that she can't possibly refuse him because, .
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".It does not appear to me that my hand is unworthy to your / acceptance, or that the establishment I can offer would / be any other than highly undesirable. My situation in life, / my connections with the family of DeBourgh, and my / relationship to your own, are circumstance highly in my / favor" (94 Austen). .
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Living with people higher than him on the social ladder has started to make him think that he's higher than most people. Mr. Collins shows more of his arrogance when he learns of Lydia running off to elope with Mr. Wickham because he sends a letter to the Bennets saying that they have a "faulty degree of indulgence" (246 Austen). Even though he is right about the Bennets, this letter still shows his arrogance. Austen satirizes Mr. Collins because people shouldn't demoralize themselves for the sake of people higher than them on the social ladder of society. People shouldn't think that they are better than most people because thinking that doesn't make you better, it makes you worse. People like this needs to be changed. .
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The highest person on the social ladder mentioned in the book is Lady Catherine DeBourgh. Jane Austen also disapproves of her. Lady Catherine is demanding and thinks that she can order whomever she wants around. An example of this is when she visits Elizabeth after hearing the rumor that Mr. Darcy was to propose to her. Lady Catherine thinks she and people like her are better than everyone because she says to Elizabeth "I know [the rumor] it must be a scandalous falsehood" (294 Austen). She accuses Elizabeth of trying to get Mr. Darcy from the beginning. "Your arts and allurements may, in / a moment of infatuation, have made him forget what he / owes to himself and all his family" (295 Austen).