The 1995 movie has Charlotte admitting frankly to Elizabeth that she encourages him to spend as much time in his garden as possible. I think the movie's take is valid as adaptations go, but Austen phrases the situation more delicately:
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To work in his garden was one of his most respectable pleasures; and Elizabeth admired the command of countenance with which Charlotte talked of the healthfulness of the excercise, and owned she encouraged it as much as possible.
We witness through Elizabeth's eyes how Charlotte treats her husband. Again, not mocking, and really quite the opposite. Charlotte is ever mindful of her husband's dignity, especially when he is being foolish as is his tendency.
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When Mr. Collins said any thing of which his wife might reasonably be ashamed, which certainly was not unseldom, she involuntarily turned her eye on Charlotte. Once or twice she could discern a faint blush; but in general Charlotte wisely did not hear.
In no sense did Charlotte trick Collins into marriage. As a man with a good present income and even better prospects, he could easily have waited after Elizabeth's rejection. It would have been the sensible and sensitive thing to do. But he immediately seeks out another woman, who is two years older than he and who has never been pretty. I say this to suggest that given his speed and Charlotte's plainness, he was not swept away with love and passion, which, by the way is what the Tina Turner song is about.
What's love got to do with it?Collins was bent on revenge to sooth his vanity and, perhaps, too, to obey the dictate of his patroness to find a wife. Charlotte was only doing what gentlewomen in her society did, that is, find a husband who could be a suitable provider. We could certainly discuss in some other thread her ethics and her desperation, but she was definitely a much better wife than his method of finding one could have resulted in. Collins really got lucky with Charlotte.
