haracterization, in which people are revealed through dialogue. There is little physical description of the characters in Pride and Prejudice, and so the reader's perspective is shaped largely through conversation. The importance of the verbal is made explicit at the end of the novel, when Darcy tells Elizabeth that he was first attracted by "the liveliness of your mind."
             The ball at Meryton brings the two couples -- Darcy and Elizabeth, Bingley and Jane -- together for the first time. Austen's original title for the work was First Impressions, and the first impressions at the ball reflect the patterning of the two principle male-female relationships. The ease with which Bingley and Jane find one another is indicative of their easygoing personalities, which are never badly flustered by the obstacles that the novel throws in the way of their happiness. Indeed, their feelings for one another seem to change little after the initial a
             ...