Innocence, Experience, and Redemption
Many of the characters in Brideshead Revisited are nostalgic for a time in their lives when they felt they were truly happy. The novel is narrated by Charles Ryder, a Captain in the British Army during World War II, who believes the happiest period in his life was his time spent at Brideshead, a large country house which has been turned into an army barracks during the war and which Charles rediscovers by…
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Suffering, Persecution, and Martyrdom
The Catholic belief that suffering and persecution lead to godliness is a major aspect of Brideshead Revisited. The novel centers around the experiences of Charles Ryder and his interactions with the Marchmain family, an aristocratic family of English Catholics who view themselves as outsiders because of the historical persecution of Catholics in Britain. Brideshead Revisited suggests both that Catholics are legitimately persecuted, because they do not conform, and that they deliberately seek out suffering…
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Authority, Rebellion, and Love
There are many different types of worldly authority in Brideshead Revisited and the characters rebel against these societal, familial, and emotional restrictions in a variety of ways. Although these forces may succeed in gaining a temporary hold over the characters, ultimately, they always lose their grip. Waugh, who was a Catholic, suggests that the only true authority in the world is God but that God does not control people—even though he easily could—and, instead, allows…
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War and Peace
Brideshead Revisited is set in the period between World War I and World War II, and these wars frame the action of the novel. Charles’s perception of war changes throughout his life, and he thinks of war both in terms of literal battle and as a state of misunderstanding and miscommunication between people. Although war often seems like a glorious pursuit, the novel reveals that it is, really, a dull—if pervasive—facet of everyday life.
As…
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Globalization, Culture, and Modernity
Brideshead Revisited spans the 1920s to the early 1940s and reflects a period of intense cultural change in Europe. The impact of two World Wars, increased social mobility, and the influence of new global powers such as the United States, led to a feeling of instability in Europe. Although Brideshead Revisited is told from the perspective of Charles Ryder, a deeply conservative man who believes that British society is in decline, Waugh’s novel makes…
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