Charlotte Lucas isn’t dying to be married: she just wants to be left alone
So much of P&P is about women seeking marriage, so naturally I assumed Charlotte Lucas’s snaring of Mr. Collins was because she didn’t want to be lonely. Turns out, she just wants a room of her own to do whatever the heck she wants.
Charlotte is presented as a shy, homely spinster with no prospects. Her marriage to Collins horrifies Charlotte’s best friend, our heroine Lizzy. Was Charlotte so desperate, so lonely that she couldn’t stand on principle like Lizzy and reject a secure marriage?
In fact, I realized that Charlotte is an introvert after my own heart: She just wants some independence. Imagine being 27, living with your parents and rambunctious younger siblings, and just wanting some alone time.
Once she marries Collins, she sends him off to the garden or to visit that old windbag Lady Catherine de Bourgh as much as possible so she can have some dang peace and quiet in a room that has been set aside for her own use.