Brideshead Revisited

Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred & Profane Memoirs of Captain Charles Ryder (1945) is the ninth published novel by British novelist Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh, who published under “Evelyn Waugh.” It chronicles the life and relationships of Charles Ryder, particularly his complex friendship with the aristocratic Flyte family, during the interwar period in England. The novel was an immediate success, and, despite his later dislike, Waugh referred to it as his “magnum opus.” It has been included on numerous lists of the best books of the 20th century, including Modern Library’s 1998 list, Time magazine’s 2005 list, and Newsweek magazine’s 2009 list.

This guide references the 1962 Penguin Modern Classics print edition.

Note: This guide uses the label “queer” to describe the subtextual and unlabeled LGBTQ+ relationship and desire present in the text. Traditionally, this word is used by LGBTQ+ scholars and historians where LGBTQ+ labels are either undefined, insufficient in their specificity, or anachronistic. Note that “queer” is a reclaimed slur and should be used with caution, particularly if one is not part of the LGBTQ+ community.

Content Warning: This novel contains anti-gay attitudes typical of the period, depiction of alcohol misuse, religious intolerance, racism, and pregnancy loss.

Plot Summary

The novel begins in the mid-1940s, when narrator Charles Ryder prepares to depart the camp where his army company has been stationed for months. He thinks of his disillusionment with army life and how he sees modernity encroaching on the England he once loved. He plans for departure with his immediate subordinate, Hooper, and the two commiserate over the struggles of being beholden both to one’s servants and to one’s commanding officers. They take a long train ride and arrive at Brideshead, which evokes to Charles the peace of the past. He looks around, struck by both how changed and how unchanged it is.

Book 1, “Et in Arcadia Ego,” travels backward in time to Charles’s first year at Oxford, when he goes with his friend Sebastian Flyte to Brideshead, Sebastian’s ancestral home. He then travels even further back in his memory to the first time he met Sebastian, which occurred when Sebastian, drunk, vomited through Charles’s first-floor window. The two become fast friends, and Charles becomes familiar with the rest of Sebastian’s “set,” including openly gay Anthony Blanche. They arrive at Brideshead, where Sebastian introduces Charles to his old nanny, Nanny Hawkins, who now lives in the attic. They avoid Sebastian’s sister, Julia Flyte, as Sebastian jealously believes Charles will prefer Julia to him.

Charles’s cousin, Jasper, dislikes Charles’s friendship with Sebastian, citing the Flytes’ Catholicism. He shows further intolerance for Anthony, though he does not outright cite Anthony’s sexuality as the reason. Anthony invites Charles to dinner, where he is open about his own sexuality and implies that Sebastian, too, is gay. When Anthony recounts an instance of being threatened with anti-gay violence, he suggests that Sebastian enjoys a safety that Anthony does not (and that Charles would not) due to his status as a member of the aristocracy. He warns Charles that Sebastian doesn’t really care about him; Charles tells Sebastian immediately. Sebastian is unconcerned, as Anthony predicted.

Charles returns to his father’s house for the summer, having spent his generous allowance. Edward Ryder does not want his son to be there, and the two enter a war of attrition where they attempt to annoy one another without admitting to what they’re doing. Charles gets a telegram from Sebastian, citing a serious injury, and rushes off to Brideshead. When he gets there, he meets Julia, who reports that Sebastian merely fractured his ankle.

Despite his annoyance with Sebastian for worrying him over nothing, Charles remains with his friend while he convalesces. They spend an idyllic few weeks painting and drinking the contents of Sebastian’s father Lord Marchmain’s wine cellar (Marchmain lives in Italy with his mistress). Sebastian speaks of the family members’ different relationships to Catholicism, and Cordelia Flyte, Sebastian’s youngest sister, quizzes Charles about his agnosticism. When Sebastian’s ankle heals, he and Charles to go Venice to visit Marchmain and his mistress, Cara. Cara warns Charles that the “romantic” friendship he enjoys with Sebastian must one day end, as these friendships only serve to prepare men for later heterosexual relationships. She also warns Charles that Sebastian drinks too much.

Charles and Sebastian return to Oxford, where they learn that Sebastian will be expelled if his academic performance does not improve and that Anthony has left Oxford. The two grow increasingly insular and morose. Julia visits them with Rex Mottram, a Canadian; she, Charles, and Sebastian host a party for Rex. After, Charles and Sebastian attend an illegal nightclub with their friend “Boy” Mulcaster. On their way home, they are arrested for public intoxication (Charles and Boy) and driving under the influence (Sebastian). Sebastian resents the inconvenience of this even though he gets off easily, annoyed that he now must be grateful to Mr. Samgrass, a young Oxford don who is friends with Sebastian’s mother, Lady Marchmain. When they return to school, Sebastian’s alcohol misuse increases as his moods decline. He eventually leaves Oxford to travel abroad for several months with Samgrass.

In Book 2, “Brideshead Deserted,” Sebastian and Samgrass return from their travels. Sebastian’s alcohol misuse continues, and he confesses to having escaped Samgrass’s care for several weeks during their trip, during which time he met up with Anthony and drank to excess. The Flytes are more concerned with potential awkwardness than they are with Sebastian’s health. Arguments between the family members become more pronounced and Charles leaves, returning to art school in Paris. There, he is visited by Rex, who was supposed to watching Sebastian but has lost him. Rex is eager to get a lucrative marriage settlement to Julia and so wants to find Sebastian quickly. He plans to ask Marchmain for his permission to marry Julia, as Lady Marchmain does not approve of him.

The narrative then backtracks to when Charles and Julia first met in 1923, discussing how Julia and Rex met and fell in love (though Rex’s motives are more financial than romantic). When they become engaged, Rex offers to convert to Catholicism and takes lessons from a priest who finds his lack of religious curiosity distressing. Still, he is granted the conversion. Three weeks before the wedding, however, Brideshead, the eldest Flyte brother, reveals that Rex is divorced and his ex-wife is still alive, which prohibits him from getting married in a Catholic church. After some debate, Julia insists on still marrying Rex, and they do so in a Protestant chapel. Later, Julia regrets this wedding and marriage; she and Rex eventually separate.

In 1926, Charles briefly returns to England to support the police during the General Strike. While in England he visits an ailing Lady Marchmain, who asks him to contact Sebastian. Charles finds Sebastian in Morocco, where he has been living with a German ex-soldier named Kurt. Sebastian is in the hospital, too ill to travel. Lady Marchmain dies while he convalesces. Sebastian refuses to return to England, claiming that he likes taking care of Kurt. When Charles goes to Marchmain House, the family’s house in town, to report Sebastian’s status, he is commissioned by Brideshead to paint a portrait of Marchmain House before it is sold and demolished.

In Book 3, “A Twitch Upon the Thread,” 10 years have passed, and Charles is a successful painter of English country houses. He returns to England with his wife, Celia, after two years traveling Central America in search of inspiration. On the Atlantic crossing, he encounters Julia, whom he hasn’t seen in years. When Charles and Julia are among the few passengers unaffected by seasickness during a multi-day storm, they begin an affair that lasts multiple years.

Despite both remaining married, Julia and Charles find peace in their affair. When Brideshead announces his intent to marry a widow, however, Julia begins to feel guilty over the “sin” of their continued affair. Julia wishes to marry Charles and have a child with him, so they begin divorce proceedings with their spouses. Charles’s divorce goes smoothly, as Celia also wishes to marry someone else, but Rex wishes for things to continue as they are, with Charles and Julia unmarried but having an affair. Rex wants to avoid divorce for political reasons.

Cordelia returns to England, where she reports that Sebastian is now a “hanger-on” at a monastic order in Morocco. Kurt died attempting to flee Nazi Germany. Sebastian still misuses alcohol, but Cordelia frames his life as a happy one where he is accepted for who he is. Charles finds himself unable to stop considering Cordelia’s religious devotion, which he does not share, and continually returns to the mental image of a house being covered by snow.

Lord Marchmain returns to England, as he is dying. Cara and Cordelia oversee his care, and a family debate breaks out over whether he should receive last rites (he has not practiced Catholicism in two decades). Charles is highly opposed to the idea. Marchmain plans to leave the house not to Brideshead, as custom would dictate, but to Julia and Charles, whose marriage is imminent. Marchmain dies, and Julia tells Charles she cannot marry him. She has returned to Catholicism and believes divorce is a sin.

In the Epilogue, Charles doesn’t tell the rest of his company that he is familiar with Brideshead. He encounters Nanny Hawkins, who reports that Julia is still married and serving in a women’s corps abroad, as are Cordelia and Brideshead. Julia owns the house. Charles feels bitter loss over his family, whom he abandoned. Charles prays in the Brideshead chapel and finds peace in the act.