Fountain Symbol Analysis

Fountains are associated with the Catholic sacrament of baptism throughout Brideshead Revisited, and thus represent the characters’ spiritual proximity to God. Baptism is a Catholic practice in which infant children are anointed with water by a priest to symbolize their entry into the Church. Fountains are associated with redemption, and love throughout the novel. The fountain outside Brideshead was originally built in Italy and has been transported piece by piece and reconstructed in England. This symbolizes the idea that Catholicism has travelled from Rome, where the Pope resides, and has been transported all over the world by the teachings of the Church. Brideshead is an outpost of Catholicism in England, and the fountain symbolizes this. This also refers to the idea of missionaries teaching Catholicism abroad, a vocation that is taken up by many of the characters in the novel.

The fountain is first associated with the love between Charles and Sebastian. Although they are not religious, their love is framed as spiritual because they are innocent and love each other unconditionally. They spend many nights beside the fountain to symbolize their proximity to God through their love for each other. According to Brideshead Revisited, there are many different types of love and, if they are genuine, they all reflect God’s power in the world. Later, the fountain becomes an important spot in Charles’s love affair with Sebastian’s sister, Julia. Julia, like Sebastian, has also left the Church but, one night, at the side of this fountain, she has an emotional outburst which foreshadows her return to her faith. The fountain’s steady, unchanging presence despite the people who come and go from the house and the changing dynamics within suggests that faith is something constant and enduring that, like home, can always be returned to.