A Twitch Upon the Thread story
Charles and Julia, awaiting their respective divorces, live together, unmarried, at Brideshead. When Bridey announces his engagement, Julia suggests he invite his fiancée to Brideshead. Bridey points out that such a highly moral and staunchly Catholic woman with middle-class values would never sleep under the same roof as a couple "living in sin". Bridey's comments stir extraordinary feelings of remorse and pain in Julia, revealing her long- standing Catholic guilt to Charles. Cordelia returns from ministering to the wounded in the Spanish Civil War with disturbing news about Sebastian's nomadic existence and steady decline over the past few years. She predicts he will die soon in the Tunisian monastery he has taken shelter in as his alcoholism consumes him.
26 total · 2 choice · 5 major · 19 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| love vs. faith | choice | At the heart of this story is Juila's internal conflict regarding her adulterous desire to be with Charles on the one hand, and her loyalty to the Catholic faith on the other. |
| romantic love | choice | The story concerns the trials and tribulations of the two illicit lovers, Charles and Julia, as they try to make up their minds about what to do regarding their respective marriages, peoples' judgmental opinions, and Julia's Catholic faith. |
| coping with having a bad reputation | major | Julia was deeply troubled because it was an open secret that she was having an affair with Charles. |
| divorce | major | Both Charles and Julia were seeking divorces so that they could marry each other instead. |
| extramarital affair | major | The center point of this story is Charles' and Julia's scandalous love affair with one another. |
| life in late modern Britain | major | The story portrays life for servants and the master class at Brideshead Castle, in Britain during the interwar period as well as during the Second World War. |
| shame | major | Julia was racked guilt over her living in sin with Charles. |
| alcohol abuse | minor | Cordelia spoke of Sebastian's continued struggles with alcohol. |
| atheism | minor | Charles once again demonstrated his own lack of faith when he reassured Julia that Catholicism was just bunch of "bosh" and "nonsense" as she was crying about the sinful state of her personal affairs. |
| beating one's self up | minor | Julia wallowed in self-pity late one night at the fountain. There she confided in Charles about how living in sin weighed heavy on her conscience. |