Through her mocking tone in Chapter 15 of Persuasion, Austen portrays the shallowness and vanity of the upper class. After Mr. Elliot comes to Bath and spends time with the Elliots, they cannot stop talking about him. Sir Walter, while discussing the flaws in his appearance, says, “‘He did not mean to complain, however. Mr. Elliot was better to look at than most men, and he had no objection to being seen with him any where’” (Austen 93). Despite having spent a large chunk of time doing nothing but “complain[ing]” about Mr. Elliot’s appearance, Austen mockingly states that criticizing Mr. Elliot was not Sir Walter’s intent. Despite his previous complaints, Sir Walter actually thinks of Mr. Elliot as “better to look at” than many other people,
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Additionally, Sir Walter has “no objection” to the possibility of walking with and “being seen” with Mr. Elliot; this implies that he might object to being seen with a multitude of other people on the basis of appearance alone. It would not matter to Sir Walter if he could have intelligent and entertaining conversations with them, because Austen shows that his superficial and shallow prejudices stop him from associating with everyone but people who reach the pinnacle of attractiveness. Sir Walter cannot stand unattractive people even if they do not associate with him: simply seeing someone who does not meet his standards of beauty upsets him. This can be an issue in Bath, where he says, “‘The worst of Bath was the number of its plain women. He did not mean to say that there were no pretty women, but the number of the plain was out of all proportion…once, as he had stood in the shop in Bond Street, he had counted eighty-seven women go by, one after another, without there being a tolerable face among them’” (Austen 93). Sir Walter believes that having a “plain” appearance is the “worst” possible situation you can be in: he cannot deal with anyone who is not “pretty,” and he will spend all his time thinking about the “proportion” of attractive to
Additionally, Sir Walter has “no objection” to the possibility of walking with and “being seen” with Mr. Elliot; this implies that he might object to being seen with a multitude of other people on the basis of appearance alone. It would not matter to Sir Walter if he could have intelligent and entertaining conversations with them, because Austen shows that his superficial and shallow prejudices stop him from associating with everyone but people who reach the pinnacle of attractiveness. Sir Walter cannot stand unattractive people even if they do not associate with him: simply seeing someone who does not meet his standards of beauty upsets him. This can be an issue in Bath, where he says, “‘The worst of Bath was the number of its plain women. He did not mean to say that there were no pretty women, but the number of the plain was out of all proportion…once, as he had stood in the shop in Bond Street, he had counted eighty-seven women go by, one after another, without there being a tolerable face among them’” (Austen 93). Sir Walter believes that having a “plain” appearance is the “worst” possible situation you can be in: he cannot deal with anyone who is not “pretty,” and he will spend all his time thinking about the “proportion” of attractive to