Brideshead Revisited: Book Review

 

Religious Themes Run Through Brideshead

Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred and Profane Memories of Charles Ryder is a novel by Evelyn Waugh set in the 1920s and 30s. After World War II, grand estates like Brideshead and a large swath of the nobility disappeared in Great Britain. The cost of both wars killed off a lot of wealth and land holdings. This is the setting for Brideshead, the twilight years of the nobility.

Brideshead is the estate of the Flyte family. It’s the central home and symbol for the characters, their Catholicism and culture. It ties them together through the years and hast a lasting impact on their characters even when far from home. The main characters are in college at Oxford in the early pages, circa 1925. Charles Ryder, the narrator, befriends a wealthy aristocrat named Sebastian Flyte. Imbued with a child’s desire for fun, Sabastian is mischievous and usually drunk. He carries a teddy bear around, representing his immaturity. The Flyte’s are Catholic. Charles rejects religion, criticizing whenever possible their beliefs in God and their adherence to church norms. It eventually causes friction. Brideshead is owned by the Marquis of Marchmain. Waugh uses Marchmain and Flyte almost interchangeably despite the first being a title. He married Teressa Flyte (Lady Marchmain) before the first World War. Then had an affair and moved with his lover to Italy, rejecting Catholicism and his wife.

The book begins in World War II but quickly jumps back to the carefree college years of Mr. Ryder. Charles Ryder is a Captain by 1944. Commissioned to paint great houses, his unit stumbles upon Brideshead Mansion. It’s been converted into a guest house for traveling soldiers. The recognition of the home prompts him to recall the Marchmains and his connection to the family. Here the novel really gets going. In their college years they drink and party a lot. Charles visits Italy with Sebastian and meets Lord Marchmain and his mistress Cara. Despite their wild fun, Charles begins to mature while Sebastian falls into alcoholism. Eventually he leaves school, unwilling to kick the habit. They remain friends but see less of each other after that. Lady Marchmain is lost on what to do about Sebastian’s drinking. Charles isn’t the help she was hoping he’d be for her son.

Years later, Sebastian ends up in Morocco at a monastery in very poor health. The monks care for him but he can’t kick the habit. It’s the last we hear of him. His sister Cordelia tells Charles he’ll probably die there, unable to go anywhere else. Charles has success as a painter and even goes to Latin America for a few years. He comes back to a wife and kids he hardly knows. That’s when he begins an affair with the oldest Flyte daughter Julia. Both are married but decide to divorce their respective spouses despite Julia’s Catholic tradition.

The final act of the story has Lord Machmain moving back home to Brideshead to die. Lady Marchmain passed on years ago, but it’s this coming back to God theme that drives the story. Wayward sons and daughters, scattered across the world all hold the thread of religion close at hand. It’s the reason why Lord Marchmain returns, it’s the reason Julia keeps bringing in the priest to read her father the last rites despite his public rejection of the faith. It’s why two of the Flyte's, Bridey and Cordelia, enthusiastically support the church. Even Sebastian, found solace in the monastery despite his crippling addiction and emptiness. Charles is moved as well to come to the faith. I won’t say how and spoil it though.

There is a description near the end that sums up the impact of religion in our lives. Charles, now Captain Ryder, walks out of the chapel at Brideshead after saying a prayer. He notices the occupying soldiers had lit an old lamp near the original stones that the early builders had started with. No one’s used it in years. But the efforts of the early builders who thought it essential to have a chapel were not in vain. He is telling us that God’s efforts to reach man carry on through riches and poverty, peace and war. The efforts of people like Lady Marchmain, who carried the torch, are alive still and affecting the next generation.

A lot of people think the book is about the good ol’ days of the aristocracy in Great Britain. That’s certainly present, but to me the religious themes were stronger. I say "religious" even thought it’s Catholicism that Waugh is concerned with. Despite the different personalities within the family, it remained the torch that burned bright for all of them.