Sir Walter Elliot Rhetorical Analysis

Sir Walter Elliot is a man who is only concerned with his lineage and his legacy. He does nothing but read the baronetage over and over again. The speaker uses cynical diction and details to emphasize Elliot’s narcissism. The choice to put long sentences in the beginning highlights the last paragraph where the author’s contempt towards Elliot is more explicit. Cynical diction is used in this passage to show Elliot’s arrogance. The speaker uses words such as “pity and contempt” which both have a negative connotation. Within the first paragraph readers know that Elliot looks down upon everyone else mentioned in the baronetage. Towards the end of the passage, the speaker writes about Elliot’s “vanity.” This is again a word with a negative connotation.
When first describing Elliot, the speaker chooses to add the words “for his own amusement” when talking about Elliot reading the baronetage. This shows that he does it completely for fun. This makes it very clear immediately that Elliot is self-centered. Another moment where his egotism shines through is when the speaker describes Elliot “inserting most accurately the day of the month on which he lost his wife. It is now more obvious that Elliot is obsessed with his lineage and wants to leave a completely accurate history of the family for future generations. In the last paragraph, the speaker compares women and servants to Elliot: “Few women could think more of their personal appearance than he did, nor could the valet of any new-made lord be more delighted with the place he held in society.” The speaker shows that she hates Elliot’s vanity by showing that even people who have the right to be self-absorbed are not as vain as him. The speaker brings him down in importance, by comparing Elliot to women and servants, both of which hold no actual power. The speaker consistently uses details to show Elliot’s conceitedness and her opinions of