Comment on the significance of the Meryton ball in Pride and Prejudice.

This ball or assembly is significant because it sets the novel's two main love plots in motion. At the ball, Jane and Mr. Bingley meet, dance, and begin to fall in love. Mr. Bingley calls Jane "the most beautiful creature I ever beheld."
Likewise, Elizabeth has her first experience of Mr. Darcy there. This, however, does not go so well. She is sitting out some dances for lack of male partners. Mr. Bingley approaches his friend Darcy and suggests he ask Elizabeth to dance, calling her "very pretty." Darcy rejects this idea. He says instead

She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me.

Elizabeth who overhears this conversation, feels the burn of Mr. Darcy's insult. As any young woman would be, she is highly displeased and develops an instant prejudice against Mr. Darcy. It will take her a long time to warm up to him, and he falls in love with her as she treats him badly.