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Vanity was the beginning and the end of Sir Walter Elliot’s character; vanity of person and situation.
The narrator of Persuasion is ruthless in the treatment of Anne’s relatives. From this line in the opening chapter onward, the narrator lays bare the fact of Sir Walter’s vanity, several examples of which appear throughout the novel. For instance, he is obsessed with his physical appearance and constantly compares his own looks to that of the people around him. Elizabeth is his favorite daughter because she is the handsomest, and Anne is his least favorite because she has the least remarkable looks. Sir Walter is wary of letting a naval officer rent his house because he worries that too much time at sea would have made the admiral ugly. He also dislikes the idea of renting his house because he feels entitled to live at his historic family estate, despite the fact he lives a more lavish life than he can afford. Rather than adjust his lifestyle to afford his budget, Sir Walter’s prideful vanity leads him to downplay his financial situation and flaunt his title and connections instead.
She might not wonder, but she must sigh that her father should feel no degradation in his change; should see nothing to regret in the duties and dignity of the resident landholder; should find so much to be vain of in the littlenesses of a town.
This quote from Chapter 15 indicates that despite the move from Kellynch Hall to a modest rental home in Bath, Sir Walter’s vanity remains intact. Anne sees how hard it is for her father and sister to leave Kellynch Hall, and she mourns it too. Anne’s own sorrow comes from losing her home and the embarrassment of knowing her family squandered their wealth. By contrast, Sir Walter feels he deserves both his lavish lifestyle and the honor of his baronetcy. Once he is away from his estate, he shrugs off his fall from grace and becomes consumed with being known among the elite and beautiful in Bath.
“I suspect,” said Sir Walter coolly, “that Admiral Croft will be best known in Bath as the renter of Kellynch Hall. Elizabeth, may we venture to present him and his wife in Laura Place?”
Sir Walter cannot fathom that the world doesn’t revolve around him. We don’t know whether he truly believes that Admiral Croft will only have connections through the Elliots, or if he simply wants to take credit for the Crofts’ popularity. Either way, he makes it his business to push the connection in this quote from Chapter 18. Admiral Croft is also popular enough by reputation that Sir Walter wants to claim the link between the families for his own social gain. Croft’s reputation has so overcome Sir Walter’s first misgivings about social status that he wants to introduce the admiral to Lady Dalrymple, a member of the nobility.
