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It strikes me that "needless theatre" is the beginning and end of Isabella's character. She likes everything to be dramatic (someone on another thread pointed out her excessive use of hyperbole and superlatives; "I have been waiting for you at least this age!" and her frequent use of the word "amazing.") The other thing that strikes me about her speeches, is that Isabella often contradicts herself. For example, in Chapter 6, she says, "Miss Andrews, a sweet girl, one of the sweetest creatures in the world... I think her as beautiful as an angel." A few moments later, "... for I must confess there is something amazingly insipid about her." Also in chapter 6, her reaction to the two young men supposedly staring at her and Catherine. All of this makes me doubt the veracity of everything she says; it seems like she has a hidden, or maybe not so hidden, agenda in everything she says and does. So it makes me wonder whether she genuinely has any affection for (or interest in) James, or if there's something else to it. What do you think?
Catherine is the opposite, which is perhaps why I like her so much. Her response to Isabella's hints about Mr Tilney, "'But you should not persuade me that I think so very much about Mr. Tilney, for perhaps I may never see him again'" shows her own artlessness and exposes Isabella's artfulness (Isabella looks for any opportunity to hint about James, or indeed any other young man.)
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