Characters

In a play or a novel, characters play the essential role of developing and progressing the plot and the structure of the story. The interaction between characters leads to conflict among one another, and these external conflicts drive the plot. To develop the characters, the narrator often does so through direct or indirect characterization to reveal their personalities and opinions through actions. Or, the character may reveal his personality, or perhaps his perception of his own personality, through a soliloquy in a play, where he is often alone to speak.
In Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth remains in conflict with another character, Mr. Darcy, and the several dialogues between the two conflicting characters develops the conflicting personalities and opinions of the two. Ultimately, Elizabeth experiences an epiphany about her perception of Mr. Darcy with the help of other minor characters. She realizes that she allowed her prejudice to immediately convey her opinion of Mr. Darcy without considering the motives behind his actions. By the end of the novel, Elizabeth appears to have matured in her relationship with Mr. Darcy. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the play helps develop Hamlet's character through the dialogue between the King and him. Throughout the dialogue, Hamlet sarcastically replies towards the new King(his uncle), showing disgust for the King's assumption of the throne in a mere two month's after the previous King's death. Afterwards, the play introduces Hamlet's soliloquy, which demonstrates Hamlet's hidden, dramatic responses to the current events and reveals to the audience the private perspective of Hamlet.