What a fabulous literary creation. I laugh and laugh at Mr. Collins, though I would be hard-pressed to be civil in his company. One thing about him that unexpectedly struck me this time around is this description:

Mr. Collins was not a sensible man, and the deficiency of nature had been but little assisted by education or society; the greatest part of his life having been spent under the guidance of an illiterate and miserly father; and though he belonged to one of the universities, he had merely kept the necessary terms, without forming at it any useful acquaintance. The subjection in which his father had brought him up had given him originally great humility of manner; but it was now a good deal counteracted by the self-conceit of a weak head, living in retirement, and the consequential feelings of early and unexpected prosperity. (ch. 15)

I did feel a twinge of sympathy for him. It sounds like he had a miserable childhood. But his own deficiency of character tends to wipe that out. It sounds as if he had the worst of both nature and nurture.