Et in Arcadia Ego story
In the spring of 1943, disillusioned Army captain Charles Ryder is moving his company to a new Brigade headquarters at a secret location - which he discovers is Brideshead, once home to the Marchmain family and the scene of both pleasant and anguished visits for the younger Charles. Seeing the house for the first time in several years prompts a recollection of Charles's first meeting with Lord Sebastian Flyte, the Marchmains' younger son, at the University of Oxford in 1922, and the rest of the narrative moves from that time forward. At Oxford, the two young men quickly bond and although his cousin warns him to avoid Sebastian and his circle of friends, Charles is fascinated by them, particularly the flamboyant and openly gay aesthete Anthony Blanche. Short on funds, Charles finds himself fitfully spending the summer holidays in London with his indifferent and rigid father Edward until an urgent message from Sebastian takes him to Brideshead. There, Charles briefly meets Sebastian's sister Julia, and is introduced to a world of wealth and privilege dominated by a powerful devotion to Catholicism.
22 total · 1 choice · 8 major · 13 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| friendship | choice | A point of the story is to portray the inception and early development of an intimate friendship between Charles and Sebastian. |
| human characters in contrast | major | A point of the story is arguably to compare and contrast the wealthy and ennobled Marchmain family with various well-to-do middle class people in Britain during the interwar period. |
| life in late modern Britain | major | The story portrays life for a variety of people across the social strata, in Britain during the interwar period as well as during the Second World War. |
| male homosexuality | major | Comments were made about the reputation of Anthony Blanche, who was flamboyantly homosexual and had been subjected to such treatments as being dunked in a pond. Sebastian was probably homosexual (as seen in his interactions with Anthony Blanche) though nothing romantic was explicitly made clear about his relationship with Charles. |
| military related work | major | A part of the story is set in future Charles' time during the Second World War where he served as captain in the British armed army. By chance he found himself posted at Brideshead where he would reminisced about bygone days. |
| the importance of reputation | major | Charles was guided by his older cousin at university, and was admonished to care for his reputation. He gleefully let himself fall in with a "disreputable" clique. There were many remarks made about different peoples' reputation, including that of Sebastian, Charles, Anthony Blanche, and Charles' cousin. |
| what it is like in university | major | This episode is to a large extend centered on Charles' and Sebastian's days in the University of Oxford. |
| World War II | major | While far removed from the fighting, the opening part of the story is set in England during the days of the Second World War. A point of the story was to show how life in England changed because of it. |
| youth rebellion | major | The story follows Charles as he enters the University of Oxford and is admonished by his older relatives. He decides to go against all their advice, fall in with a "disreputable" crowd, and eventually drops out. |
| alcohol abuse | minor | Charles and Sebastian first met after Sebastian drank too much wine and barfed while leaning in through Charles' window. Other scenes of drunken antics followed, foreshadowing Sebastian's ultimate fate. |