For those not in the know:
Mr. Collins is a character from Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice," a clergyman, and as Deirdre Le Faye wrote, "What does make Mr Collins a figure of fun and rightful mockery is his lack of sense, of taste, and of generosity of spirit contrasted to his own supreme unawareness of his shortcomings in these respects."
For anyone who missed English Lit, Miss Havisham is from Charles Dickens' "Great Expectation."
She is a wealthy spinster who lives in her ruined mansion with her adopted daughter, Estella. Dickens describes her as looking like "the witch of the place."
Although she has often been portrayed in film versions as very elderly, Dickens's own notes indicate that she is only in her mid-fifties. However, it is also indicated that her long life away from the sunlight has in itself aged her, and she is said to look like a cross between a waxwork and a skeleton, with moving eyes.
