the much-abused figure of fun in Pride and Prejudice.

In Barron’s book I read a statement that I do n’t understand it well, would you explain?

the much-abused figure of fun in Pride and Prejudice.

Hmm, it is a little hard to figure out without more context, but…

“much-abused” means people don’t think highly of this character. “Figure of fun” implies a character who is included for comic relief - to relieve the tension or drama by using humor.

I Googled the phrase because I was intrigued. The question is contrasting the clergymen brothers James and Henry with Mr. Collins, who I assume is the comic relief. Here maybe “much abused” means the other characters in the book treat him harshly. It really doesn’t matter to the question, as it is obvious James and Henry are opposite of Mr. Collins. So James and Henry are deferential, which is proper, while Mr. Collins is sycophantic, which is a synonym of “fawning”.