Brideshead Revisited, revisited
I have written and rewritten this post a few times. I think this is basically going to just be notes I come back to and work on rather than an actual essay or something - which I wish I was able to write but just can't seem to churn out. I have so many thoughts about this book. I loved it so much. It is ultimately about Christianity (specifically Catholicism) and conversion. I loved how this reality is told in such a human way. Now of days most Christian books are very clean and tidy - but humans are not clean and tidy. Humans are fallen, they are sinful and in need of a Savior. A Savior they often run from because His very existence makes demands on them. They want to love Him and be saved, just not right now. It is through the different lives of the characters that we see many of the different realities our relationship with Christ can take. And central to it all is the house - Brideshead. Brideshead of course being the ultimate symbol of Christ - as the Brideshead, or spouse, of The Holy Catholic Church. That's another thing about this book, there is a lot of symbolism. But that too reminds us of The Church which also tells the story of our salvation history with both the natural and the supernatural, the physical and the symbolic. The core of The Church is the true, the good, and the beautiful (Phillipians). One who seeks these things cannot help but find the Church, and so find Christ there at the end. The narrator, Charles Ryder, runs into this time and time again. As an artist he is continually drawn to the house and the chapel by their beauty, and ultimately discovers the beauty - and the demands - of faith.
I had trouble collecting my thoughts so I thought maybe I'd just go through the story by writing about each character:
Charles Ryder - as an artist he is attracted to the beauty of Brideshead and especially the chapel. As an agnostic he doesn't understand the doctrines of Catholicism, and moreover, he outright rejects it's moral demands, but he cannot shake his attraction to it's beauty and symbolism. He is a little confused by this. His "attraction" to Sebastian also has to do with this asthetic but I do not believe they are lovers as many seem to suggest. Those people obviously don’t read ancient and classic literature very often. The love that exists between them is that obsession one has for their friends when they are young - that desire to practically own the other person. This is why children have "best friends." They are laying claim to that person as their own. For the aesthetic Charles, that does include an admiration for Sebastian's physical beauty as well - it's only our modern notions that lead us to think of homosexuality. In our culture women can talk about other women’s beauty but if men do it it’s gay. Which is stupid. Many ancient and classic novels refer to strong love between male friends, and may even talk about their physical beauty, but is not necessarily sexual. I think when he refers to Sebastian as the “forerunner” to Julia he’s speaking of deep love and obsessive attraction, not sex. I think Waugh here is also using the “forerunner” symbolism as an allusion to John the Baptist preparing the way for Christ. Charles’ introduction to the Flyte family and Brideshead, through Sebastian, ultimately leads to his conversion and Union with the True Brideshead, Christ, the bridegroom of The Church.
Charles does not want Julia's conversion at the end of the novel because he knows it will require moral demands of him. He understands that if this miracle happens and Lord Marchmain is saved by Christ, then he can no longer run from what his soul has understood for a long time but which is only dawning on him now. And accepting Christ and His Church requires radical change and dying to self. In the end he does convert. He cannot run from the God that has called to him through the true, the good, and the beautiful.
Sebastian - raised piously he is confused (destroyed) by his parents separation and his father's love affair. As a son he admires his father and so does not want to condemn him but you can see that he has little respect for him. He loves and admires his mother but also hates her for repelling his father and for expecting something from him even while pampering him and giving him no purpose. She infantilizes him. This is symbolized most obviously by his teddy bear. Sebastian cannot find peace or happiness until he is pulled down to rock bottom through his alcoholism and resulting poverty. He must go through this suffering- finding the German soldier to take care of along the way, allowing him to have the nurturing, adult, role he needs - to come through and accept God and find peace in the sanctuary of the monastery. We are told by Cordelia in the end that he has finally escaped the drunkenness that characterizes him and is peaceful in his poverty and loved by those he serves. Poverty and suffering are the way to peace is the very Christian message here. One must suffer to follow Christ and in doing so finds true peace. This moment when Cordelia explains this to Charles is illuminating, even if, at the time, Charles doesn't get it:
Cordelia - Cordelia was my favorite character. Mature and wise beyond her age - I often found myself checking back in the dialogue to ask "how old is she again?" - she is most balanced of the Flyte children. Possibly, because she is the baby, she has observed the mess her siblings have made, the constant drama they cause, and does not need or want to repeat their mistakes. It also seems that she has not been pampered like Sebastian, or relentlessly nagged by her mother like Julia, so she has been free to grow and mature into her own person. Quite possibly this was because once her husband left her Lady Marchmain turned too inwardly to be there for her youngest. She also seemed to have been too busy micromanaging Sebastian and reining in Julia. Left to be raised mostly by the servants Cordelia learns the simple faith of her Nanny, the same one who taught the others and whose faith clearly looms large in all of their characters as well. But for Cordelia it is left uncomplicated and seen as a preferable alternative to the drama of her older siblings. So it’s quite natural that Cordelia thought she might be a nun but ends up instead as a nurse in the war. When Charles sees her again he’s surprised at her toughness and plainness but Cordelia hasn’t needed to suffer to find Christ. She already died to self and followed Him straight into the sufferings of others. She is strong, she is humble, she is pious. She is thoughtful and wise. She is at peace.
Julia- Here again we see how money and status in society is complicatedly at odds with Catholicism in the Flytes. Julia wants to be able to move in the moneyed circles of England that her family's wealth allows (to a point) but is keenly aware of the outsider status of her faith in a country with both a state church and the fashionable agnosticism after the first World War. She may have the money but she does not have the desirableness of a Protestant, or an agnostic, woman in England. Couple that with her mother's insistence that she marry a Catholic gentleman, Julia rebels. She understands what her faith necessitates but she also understands that it is the albatross around her neck. And so she rejects it. And as the book goes on we also see the classic, daughter-rebels-against-mother-who-has-a-lot-of-opinions relationship as well. This whole dynamic is made clear in her desire to marry Rex. Julia thinks she loves Rex, especially when she is upset at his cheating on her, but it a very shallow relationship for them both really. And it falls apart quickly, the supernatural uniting of two in the Holy Sacrament dissolving as quickly as the physical reality of their wedding. What was once to be celebrated by a large fashionable guest list in a huge church with a Bishop, crumbles until it is a simple family gathering in a small country chapel officiated by the local priest. And this is the beginning of the end for Rex and Julia and when we meet up with her again later we hear just how awful it has been - the estrangement, the loss of her child - the one true light and hope for her happiness in this mess of a marriage. And so of course, she goes from bad to worse by beginning her own love affair with Charles. Even to the point of moving him into her home while he himself is still married and she still married to Rex. She always seems quite on the verge of understanding that none of this can be tolerated in her soul. When, towards the end of the book, her brother Bridey announces his upcoming nuptials, and points out that Julia and Charles are living in sin, Julia has a breakdown, unable to ignore any longer the incompatibility of the longing of her soul for God and the way she has conducted her life. This is one of the greatest moments in the book, full of symbology, theology, confession and repentance.
We know her life cannot really ever be the same after this. Of course, it does go on, just as people do, but we are nearing the climax in the form of Lord Marchmain's return home to die. And this is why, as Julia prays for any sign that her father might accept absolution on his deathbed, and be welcomed back into the arms of Christ, Charles stands anxiously by, fervently not wanting it but wanting it as well. He knows that if Christ is real he will have to amend his own life, but he also knows by the fervency of her prayers that Julia is already amending hers. He knows that their relationship is over. In his love for her he too ends up praying for the sign.
Lord Brideshead (Bridey) -
Lady Marchmain -Lord Marchmain -
I still plan to watch the BBC miniseries soon, recommended by Fr. Lauder over at "The Catholic Novel." That will probably jog my memory.
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