What is the significance of Dowager Viscountess Dalrymple and her daughter?

Dowager Viscountes Dalrymple arrives in Bath with much pomp and circumstance. Despite her title, however, "there was no superiority of manner, accomplishment, or understanding" in her or her daughter Miss Carteret. As the narrator notes: "Lady Dalrymple had acquired the name of 'a charming woman,' because she had a smile and a civil answer for every body" (99).

Honorable Miss Cartaret, daughter of Lady Dalrymple. She is described as "so plain and awkward, that she would never have been tolerated in Camden-place but for her birth" (99).

For Sir Walter and Elizabeth, rank and consequence are everything. They live to be important in society. Although Sir Walter has the title of baronet, the Elliots suffer from the common problem of a limited income. They thus leave their primary home of Kellynch Hall and move to Bath, where they might be “important at comparatively little expense” (10). At Bath, the Elliots are indeed important and their company is much sought after. Sir Walter and Elizabeth are also eager to seek the company of those whom they deem more important than themselves. When the Dowager Viscountess Dalrymple arrives in Bath with her daughter the Honorable Miss Carteret, for example, they "assiduously pus[h] their good fortune" with them (100). Of course, rank does not always equal consequence. Mr. Elliot chooses to marry a wealthy common woman instead of Elizabeth precisely because of the diminishing Ellito fortune. Finally, the border between pride of family and obsession with rank is a fine line. Lady Russell possesses superior understanding but sometimes errs on the side of valuing rank too much; Anne judges people fairly by their character rather than rank, yet still has her share of Elliot pride.