Brideshead Revisited story
In 1939, World War II is imminent. After years of self-imposed exile in Venice, the terminally ill Lord Marchmain decides to return home to die. Appalled by Bridey's choice of a wife, he announces he plans to leave Brideshead to Julia and Charles. When Bridey brings a priest to visit his very weak father and perform the last rites, Charles objects vocally, and offends Julia by harping on the question of what the sacrament actually accomplishes and what rationale there could be for performing it, especially knowing Marchmain's aversion to Catholicism. Lord Marchmain sends the priest away, then meets with his lawyers to change his will. But as Lord Marchmain weakens to the point of semi-consciousness, he finally accepts the absolution conditionally pronounced by the priest by making the sign of the Cross. Tearfully, Julia calls off her marriage to Charles, because she does not wish "to set up a rival good to God’s". She explains to him "that if I give up this one thing I want so much, however bad I am, He won't quite despair of me in the end". Charles, who has been moved by Lord Marchmain's final re-conversion, understands, but it breaks his heart, too. The narrative returns to Brideshead in 1944. Charles, apparently now a believer, genuflects and prays in the reopened chapel which had been closed since Lady Marchmain's death in 1926. A twitch upon the thread has brought him to the Faith. The sanctuary lamp, its symbol, burns anew.
19 total · 2 choice · 6 major · 11 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| coping with the death of a parent | choice | The story concerns the Marchmain children, and Julia in particular, handling the slow demise and passing of their esteemed patriarch, Lord Marchmain. |
| love vs. faith | choice | At the heart of this story is Julia'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. At the denouement she chose her faith over Charles and told him they would never meet again. |
| Catholicism | major | Lord Marchmain, who had not been a practicing member of the Catholic Church for 25 years, ultimately accepted the last rights, making the sign of the cross before expiring. |
| coming to terms with one's own death | major | Lord Marchmain struggled with the fact that he was probably going to die soon. His family members made efforts to reacquaint him with his Catholic faith and accept the last rights of the Church. |
| coping with a terminal illness | major | The story concerns Lord Marchmain returning to Brideshead Castle in order to spend his last few months in life there, as he was elderly and suffering from a terminal heart condition. |
| finding religion | major | Lord Marchmain, who had not been a practicing member of the Catholic Church for 25 years, ultimately accepted the last rights, making the sign of the cross before expiring. |
| gold digging | major | Charles disingenuously defended reason and the supposed well-being of the dying Lord Marchmain against the encroachments of Father Mackay who wished to performed the last rites. Narrator Charles made it clear that his younger self was also concerned about keeping Julia and the the tenuous hold on the Marchmain fortune he had come so close to grasping. |
| paramour and paramour | major | Central to the story is the somewhat unorthodox relationship between the divorced Catholic Julia and the outspoken atheist, Charles. The two intended to get married but knew deep inside that Julia's faith would come between them. |
| brother and sister | minor | Bridey interacted with his sisters, Julia and Cordelia. |
| collecting objects | minor | Mention was made of Bridey's matchbox collection. [matchboxes] |