Brideshead Revisited

Brideshead Revisited: Characters

Here is a look at the most important characters in Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited.

Charles Ryder

As the novel's protagonist and narrator, Charles starts as an isolated and unhappy figure. Charles is still reeling from his broken relationship with Julia and struggling to find his purpose in life. Even his military service, which he'd thought would provide him with a sense of meaning, has been dulled by the reality of war.

As he recounts his experiences through the previous twenty years, Charles admits that he has felt detached and isolated for some time. He finds modern life and the blind pursuit of money to be shallow and unfulfilling. He struggles to find happiness in his work and marriage as he reminisces about the carefree days he'd once spent at Brideshead Castle with the Flyte family. Charles' quest for a deeper meaning in life sends him across the world but eventually brings him back to Brideshead.

Sebastian Flyte

Charles meets Sebastian during the pair's first year at Oxford University. He is beautiful and charismatic but also highly self-destructive. Despite his strict Catholic upbringing and pious mother, Sebastian has little interest in religion and hates its controlling influence on his life. Sebastian is hesitant to take Charles home to meet his family as he fears they may steal Charles from him. As Sebastian struggles to mature, he slips further into alcoholism as a coping mechanism. Some have interpreted Sebastian's problems as a failure to come to terms with his sexuality. Though he continues to drink, he later reconciles with Catholicism and finds some peace by helping others.

Lady Marchmain

The matriarch of the Flyte family, Lady Marchmain, is a devoutly Catholic woman who tries to instill the importance of faith in her children. Her husband, Lord Marchmain, had converted to Catholicism to marry her but left her for an Italian mistress after serving in WWI. Despite the couple's estrangement, Lady Marchmain refuses to get a divorce as it is against the teachings of the Catholic Church. She is exceptionally caring but slightly overprotective of her children, which causes them to feel limited. Sebastian rebels against his mother by indulging in alcohol.

Julia Flyte

Julia is Sebastian's oldest sister and the love interest of Charles. When Charles first visits Brideshead as a student, he pays little attention to Julia, who is preoccupied with getting married. She fears that her Catholicism will scare off potential wealthy Protestant suitors, so she renounces her faith. Her husband is a previously divorced man and, therefore, unable to convert to Catholicism. Waugh depicts Julia as obsessed with status and wealth, but neither brings her satisfaction. When Julia's affair with Charles leads to guilt and shame, she can only find peace and fulfillment by reembracing her faith.

Brideshead Revisited: Themes

Evelyn Waugh uses Brideshead Revisited to explore religious themes and the idea of redemption.

Catholicism and redemption

In 1930, Evelyn Waugh joined a group of several prominent English writers who converted to Catholicism. The move proved somewhat scandalous as England was a traditionally Protestant nation. Brideshead Revisited is Waugh's portrayal of his conversion and Catholicism's more significant ethical questions.

Charles learns about Catholicism through the members of the Flyte, some of whom embrace the religion while others reject it. Most characters are shown to suffer and use different means to cope with their suffering. Sebastian drinks heavily to cope with his burden while his father, Lord Marchmain, commits adultery and abandons his family. While Charles is not Catholic, he, too, constantly struggles to find meaning in life. Waugh portrays their efforts to distract from suffering as pointless and views the only way out of this as accepting God's grace.

Waugh shows that accepting God's grace is the only way to achieve redemption. Lord Marchmain can find peace before he dies by reuniting with his lapsed Catholic faith. Julia, too, can be redeemed by rejecting her sinful affair with Charles and focusing on her marriage. Sebastian finds redemption by being of service to others.

The novel's ending implies that Charles converts to Catholicism and finds redemption. Having struggled to find peace and meaning through his marriage, career, and even military service, Charles finds himself in what remains of Brideshead Castle. The soldiers have ruined most of the home's lavish rooms, but an army priest has restored Lady Marchmain's chapel. Charles feels inspired by this hopeful sight and prays at the altar. Leaving the chapel, he feels a sense of connection to those who have come before him and the idea of faith.

Brideshead Revisited: Analysis

Evelyn Waugh began his career as a satirist and humorist who poked fun at the powerful institutions of British society. His most famous satires, Vile Bodies (1930) and Scoop (1938), employ a more broad form of humor to satirize powerful targets. In Brideshead Revisited, he uses a more subtle form of satire to explore the British class system. Since Charles comes from a middle-class background, he initially feels intimidated by the grand aristocratic estate of the Flyte family. For centuries, noble families like the Flyte's wielded great power in Britain. The class system depended on the idea that power was hereditary and the established gentry was superior to other social classes. However, in the case of the Flytes, this privilege has left the children unprepared for the real world. Their sheltered lives and overbearing mother have left them ill-equipped to make it outside Brideshead Castle. On the other hand, Charles, a character with less privilege, makes his way in the world and forges a successful career.

Between WWI and WWII, the aristocracy in Britain significantly declined. Waugh reflects this decline in the physical decay of Brideshead Castle and the disintegration of the Flyte family. As Charles warmly remembers his glorious summers at the castle, he knows too that there is danger in nostalgia and romanticizing the past.

Fig. 5 - Brideshead Castle contains many physical references to Catholicism, such as the dome similar to the Vatican.

Waugh employs a first-person narrative viewpoint to evoke Charles' feelings as an outsider to the Flyte family. Most of the novel unfolds through Charles' memories of events from 20 years ago. While he admits that memory can be untrustworthy, he can also look back with a more mature mindset.

Brideshead Castle symbolizes the history and culture of the Catholic Church. The castle has a grand dome that mirrors the St. Peter's Basilica on top of the Vatican. The Catholic Church sometimes refers to itself as the "Bride of Christ," hence the castle's name. The grand building has a long history and features rooms with styles from different historical periods. Despite this rebuilding, it has always remained on the same steady foundation, which reflects the Catholic Church's changes while remaining connected to fundamental beliefs.

Brideshead Revisited: Quotes

Here is a look at some important quotes from Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited.

The idea of suffering runs through the book, with many characters suffering from a lack of meaning and peace. When Charles and Julia discuss Sebastian's drinking problem, Julia argues that suffering is part of redemption. One of the central ideas in Catholicism is that adherents must suffer to have a closer relationship with God.

When Julia realizes she must break off her affair with Charles, she reasons that her happiness must come second to her relationship with God. Having spent much of her life trying to hide her faith and integrate, Julia is inspired to embrace her Catholicism after Lord Marchmain's deathbed redemption.