Eliot's style lends her several aids to characterization. The omniscient point of view sometimes does this by giving the reaction of an unprejudiced observer, someone whom the reader will believe. The Miss Gunns find Nancy charming; and since they are neutral toward her at best, the reader is likely to accept their view.
Another important device of persuasion is metaphor, which is likely to go almost unperceived by the reader, but which have a cumulative effect. Throughout the opening chapters, Silas is compared to a spider in a number of ways, and this "insect-like existence" lends reality to the withering of his humanity.
A third device of characterization is speech. The characters do not all talk alike. Squire Cass' speech is rough but forceful. Priscilla sounds almost like a man, and from what we see of her it is evident that she is trying to fill a man's place. All of the characters except Godfrey speak a more or less rustic dialect, but it is more pronounced when Eliot is calling attention to the insularity of the community — for example, at the gathering at the Rainbow. Godfrey's speech is always somewhat more refined than his neighbors' or his father's, indicating perhaps that he is at least trying to hold himself above a life of "conviviality and condescension."
