Story Skeleton—Brideshead Revisited

Story structure relates to the psychological appeal of narrative, that which engages readers and builds in them a sense of anticipation—a desire to know what happens next. This blog series is meant to demonstrate the universality of story structure with plot breakdowns of award-winning and classic novels.

 

By Michelle Barker 

Amazing Grace?

In December 1943, Evelyn Waugh had a parachuting accident and was laid up for six months on “soya beans and Basic English.” What does an author do in those circumstances? Write a novel about the age of nobility, of course, and fill it with all the decadent meals they’re missing. Years later, Waugh found such details distasteful, but the novel still makes the Top 100 lists of best work in world literature. 

According to Waugh, a convert to Catholicism, this is a book about grace. In 1967, literary critic Roland Barthes wrote an essay in which he argued that just because an author claims that the novel they wrote means X doesn’t mean we have to believe it means X. What an author thinks they accomplished is not always the same as what they actually accomplished. I held onto that notion for a while as I thought about this novel, but in the end, the structure didn’t make sense until I embraced Waugh’s intentions. 

Waugh wrote Brideshead Revisited in the middle of World War Two, in Europe, when death and destruction were everywhere and there was no end in sight. The motif of empty houses, the elegiac tone of loss, the notion that life doesn’t end up the way you expect and things tend to go to shit—it’s no wonder he reaches for grace as an answer. In a religious worldview, human beings will always let us down. God does not.

Narrative Goal and a Venn Diagram Structure

The protagonist, Charles Ryder, states: “My theme is memory, that winged host that soared about me one grey morning of war-time.” This would have been an especially powerful theme in the early 1940s in Europe. The desire for the idyllic parts of our lives to never end. For people not to turn into alcoholics and get sick and die. For marriages not to end in divorce. For peacetime not to descend into war. It’s no accident that Charles becomes an artist—and that his subject is houses slated for destruction. Not only is this a way of preserving the past, but it’s also his way of making time stand still. 

But that is just the theme. What Charles seeks is love. He states his goal clearly early in the book, and when he meets Sebastian, he believes he has achieved it. All he has to do now is hold onto it. 

That turns out to be easier said than done. Charles thinks he wants the love of Sebastian, but this is a fundamentally religious novel. No human being will ever satisfy the need for true love, which is divine. When Charles’ relationship with Sebastian fails, as it is destined to do, he looks for substitutes to replicate it—art, and then Sebastian’s sister Julia. But he cannot get what he wants, no matter how many ways he tries. He can only get what he needs, which is the love of God. Waugh calls it grace, the “twitch upon the thread.” After a lifetime of agnosticism, Charles ends up on his knees in prayer. 

The story is bookended by a prologue and epilogue, thus employing a frame narrative with three sections in the middle. Each of Charles’ four storylines centers on an attempt at love: his love of Sebastian, his love of art, his love of Julia, and his eventual love of God. But these arcs are not self-contained. They overlap each other much like a series of Venn diagrams, and they all exist within the larger spiritual context. 

To put the main structure and narrative goal into its simplest form: when Charles Ryder falls in love with Sebastian, he believes he has entered Eden and wants nothing more than to remain there. But Sebastian is human and therefore flawed. When temptation arrives in the form of alcoholism, Charles loses Sebastian. He tries to regain that love first by becoming an artist and then through his relationship with Julia, but he’s (yes, I’m going to say it) looking for love in all the wrong places, and both attempts end in failure. True love can only be achieved through the love of God, and unless Charles finds it, he will remain a cynical and unhappy man.

PLOT POINTS

Beginning With the All is Lost Moment

The novel opens with a prologue set in the 1940s. Captain Charles Ryder is an army officer, and the Marchmain family is firmly in the rearview mirror of his life. At thirty-nine, Charles has grown disillusioned with his army position—and really, with his life. World War Two is dragging on. The company is stationed next to an asylum, and the joke is that everyone in there seems happier than they are in the army. When a transfer comes, the soldiers expect to see action in the Middle East, but this is just another in a series of random transfers to somewhere in rural England. 

But for Charles it turns out to be grace in action. And Charles is someone who has not believed in grace his entire life. 

The company arrives at their new headquarters in the dark, so Charles is unaware of where they are. As soon as he hears the name Brideshead, memories flood in of this grand home and the family who owns it: the Marchmains. As in Proust’s In Search of Lost Time when Marcel dips his madeleine into the tea, this is the catalyst for Charles to tell his story. In the chronology of the story itself, however, we are at the all is lost moment, on the edge of his climax. 

Love #1: Sebastian

Stasis and Inciting Incident

Sebastian Flyte represents Charles’ first attempt to find love in the fallible human world. The story shifts back over twenty years to when Charles first saw Brideshead Castle. He was with Sebastian, whom he’d met at Oxford. We flash back to the stasis of this first story arc, when Charles receives advice from his cousin never to take ground-floor rooms at Oxford. But had he not taken a ground-floor room, he would never have met Sebastian. 

At the time, it seems funny that Sebastian wanders drunk into Charles’ flat while he’s having a party and throws up in the middle of it. That’s their meet-cute moment, and it’s the inciting incident of this arc. But as the story proceeds, it will become uncomfortably prophetic. 

The narrative in this section centers on Charles’ time at Oxford, his relationship with Sebastian—and Sebastian’s descent into alcoholism which at this point still falls on the side of casual drinking. While Waugh never states that this is a homosexual relationship (unlike with Sebastian’s friend Anthony Blanche who is flamboyantly gay), it seems clear that it is. Charles is “in search of love,” and when he meets Sebastian, it’s like finding “that low door in the wall… which opened on an enclosed and enchanted garden.” 

Charles thinks he has entered an Eden-like garden. He even says, when looking back, “I… believed myself very near heaven, during those languid days at Brideshead.” He thinks he’s found true love with Sebastian, but Sebastian (like all humans) is destined to let him down because… Et in Arcadia Ego. The phrase is written on a skull Charles buys and places in a bowl of roses. Death exists even in paradise—but Charles doesn’t see this yet. He is bewitched by Sebastian and by the idea that Sebastian can fulfill his need. He doesn’t see that this need is spiritual—and how could he? He’s a staunch agnostic. Even when surrounded by the Catholic Marchmains, he refuses to embrace the faith.

Rising Action

Sebastian and Charles go to Brideshead and meet Nanny, but Sebastian doesn’t want Charles to meet his family. 

Though many of the Marchmains are devout Catholics, they are far from perfect. Lord Marchmain lives in Venice with another woman and has rejected his faith. Lady Marchmain won’t grant him a divorce. She is described as a saint but is pushy and evangelistic. Brideshead (Bridey), the eldest son, is a gloomy rule-bound Catholic. Julia wrestles with her faith in a materialistic and superficial world. Only Cordelia (age ten) has a true spirit of joy. 

When Sebastian breaks his ankle and calls Charles down to Brideshead Castle to keep him from getting bored, the two other love arcs are introduced as inciting incidents: Julia, who resembles Sebastian physically but not emotionally (she’s more mature); and art. When Julia picks up Charles at the train station, there’s a spark of attraction between them, but she doesn’t stay. Sebastian, who has brought beauty into Charles’ world, encourages his artistic talent and Charles begins to paint. Both these threads—Julia and art—will become arcs in their own right as substitutes for Sebastian after he fades from Charles’ life. 

Sebastian takes Charles to Venice to meet his father who is “living in sin,” and Lord Marchmain’s girlfriend warns Charles that Sebastian is childish and drinks too much—and in a dangerous way. It’s another prophetic moment.

Midpoint

Charles and Sebastian return to Oxford for another term but things have changed. Charles begins a serious study of art. Sebastian, however, remains in party mode. He drives drunk and he, Charles, and another friend are arrested. They wrangle a reduced sentence thanks to the intervention of Julia’s boyfriend Rex, but this is the beginning of the downward slide for Sebastian. While Charles takes a step toward maturity, Sebastian starts drinking more seriously, and alone.

Rising Action

Charles decides to leave Oxford to pursue his passion for painting. In an effort to control Sebastian, Lady Marchmain enlists Mr. Samgrass, a history don, to take him on a tour of orthodox monasteries, but the trip is a disaster. Sebastian sneaks away and gallivants around Europe with Anthony Blanche. After Christmas, when Charles comes to visit Brideshead, the mood in the house is tense and there is a marked reduction in the availability of alcohol. Lady Marchmain is in damage-control mode, but Sebastian finds ways to get alcohol and drinks in secret.

False Victory

When Sebastian declares he will join Cordelia and Bridey to go hunting, everyone jumps on it as a victory. But Sebastian is already beyond hope and Lady Marchmain’s pushiness backfires. Sebastian asks Charles to give him money, and he relents, thus aiding in his fall. The day ends disastrously. Sebastian needs to be picked up from a hotel and ends up getting hammered.

Climax

Sebastian tells Charles to leave Brideshead. The low door in the wall shuts. Charles has been kicked out of Eden. In an attempt to hold onto love in some form, he moves to Paris to study art.

Resolution

At Lady Marchmain’s request on her deathbed, Charles tracks down Sebastian. He is in Morocco drinking his life away with a down and out German from the Foreign Legion named Kurt. There’s no doubt Kurt is taking advantage of him, but Sebastian enjoys caring for him and refuses to return to England. His relationship with Charles is officially over.

Love #2: Art

Because there are overlaps between these storylines, the first few structural elements of the art arc have already been planted. The catalyst was Sebastian’s introduction of beauty into Charles’ life and the inciting incident was his encouragement of Charles’ talent.

Rising Action

As mentioned, Charles becomes more serious about his studies and realizes he’s wasting his time at Oxford. If he wants to become an artist, he must go to Paris, which is what he does after his relationship with Sebastian falls apart.

Midpoint

Lord Marchmain’s debts are so onerous he must sell the London home. Since it’s slated for destruction, Bridey hires Charles to paint four paintings so that they can remember it. This commission seals Charles’ vocation as an architectural painter, particularly of structures in decline. Not only does his vocation strike an elegiac tone, but there is also a wonderful spiritual symbolism of the impermanence of manmade structures.

Rising Action

Ten years go by. Charles finds success as an artist specializing in painting pictures of condemned buildings. He spends two years on his own in Latin America painting abandoned structures that have been overcome by nature. His marriage to a woman named Celia is loveless. He only married her because he misses Sebastian. He has two children, one of whom he’s never met, and neither of whom he appears to care for. Whatever love he has for art, it doesn’t spill over into his human relationships.

Climax

Anthony Blanche attends Charles’ exhibition in London and suggests that his work is essentially crap. “English charm” is what he calls it—meaning, it’s superficial. The love Charles thought he’d found as a substitute for Sebastian is nothing but a sham.

Resolution

Charles has been using art to hide from political reality but he accepts that war is on the horizon and signs up to aid the war effort.

Love #3: Julia

This arc also has a lot of overlap with the art arc. As mentioned, Charles met Julia long ago (the catalyst) and was attracted to her, particularly as she physically resembles Sebastian. She marries Rex, a non-Catholic, a cynic, and a politician—and the marriage is a disaster. 

On his way back from Latin America, Charles meets up with his wife Celia in New York and they take the ship back to England together. It turns out Julia and Rex are also on the boat. A storm erupts (the inciting incident), and most people on the boat are seasick, but Charles and Julia are not—which means they spend lots of time together.

Rising Action

Charles and Julia sleep together on the ship. When they arrive in London, Charles stays on without Celia—ostensibly for the exhibition of his artwork but also so that he can spend time with Julia. Celia figures out Charles is cheating on her, but she has also cheated on him, so the breakdown of their marriage is expected. 

Julia’s situation is complicated by her religion. She believes her poor marriage is a punishment for marrying outside the Church, and she only capitulates to adultery because she assumes she is beyond saving.

Midpoint

After two years, she and Charles are still together but haven’t married because neither is divorced yet. Julia wants to get married because war is coming, but when Bridey describes her relationship with Charles as “living in sin,” she gets upset. Her guilt is accruing. Charles says religion is foolish, but she realizes she doesn’t want to turn her back on God anymore.

Rising Action

Lord Marchmain arrives from Venice very ill, wanting to spend his last days at Brideshead. Cordelia arrives with news of Sebastian, and Julia is concerned that Charles has forgotten him. Charles calls Sebastian “the forerunner” to Julia. She says, “…perhaps I am only a forerunner, too.” In a key moment, Charles says, “…perhaps all our loves are merely hints and symbols.” Humans are bound to be disappointed in their search for love because the thing they’re really looking for is “always a pace or two ahead of us.”

Climax

As Lord Marchmain nears death, Bridey wants to call a priest to deliver the last rites, even though Lord Marchmain has rejected Catholicism most of his life. Charles is appalled, calling the priest a witch doctor and religion mumbo-jumbo—which causes an argument between him and Julia. Sure enough, when the priest arrives the first time, Lord Marchmain orders him out. But the second time he comes, Charles prays for God to forgive Lord Marchmain’s sins—if only for Julia’s sake. Lord Marchmain finally makes a sign of the cross and is saved. His salvation seals Julia’s decision: she cannot marry Charles. The marriage would put her too far away from God.

Resolution

Both Julia and Charles sign up to help the war effort. They do not marry. Charles joins the army, entering the lowest (and most loveless) part of his life. That leads us into the prologue/epilogue where we began—but not where we’ll end.

Love #4: God

Inciting Incident

Charles’ love of Sebastian introduces him to paradise, the Garden of Eden, but it cannot last.

Rising Action

Charles meets the Marchmain family, each a representative of a different way of being Catholic, but he remains insistent on his agnosticism.

All is Lost

The relationship between Charles and Sebastian breaks down, signifying the Fall. The door to the garden slams shut. Charles must navigate the real world, where Sebastian is an alcoholic, Lady Marchmain dies, and Lord Marchmain is in debt. All he can do is turn to art.

Midpoint

With Julia, Charles realizes that perhaps all human love is merely a hint of something greater.

Rising Action

Cordelia talks about grace, quoting a line from a G.K. Chesterton novel that describes how anyone can be brought back to God no matter how far they’ve strayed. All He has to do is give a twitch on the thread. Nevertheless, Charles fights the idea of a priest coming to give last rites to Lord Marchmain, but he prays for Julia’s sake, and when Lord Marchmain makes the sign of the cross, “the veil of the temple [is] rent from top to bottom.”

Climax

Back in Brideshead as an army officer, Charles visits the chapel, which has been reopened because of the army’s presence there, and prays. He finds a small lamp, still lit—a symbol of hope in a dark world.

Resolution

Charles comes away from the moment with a new feeling of happiness—having finally found what he’s been looking for all along.

The Motif of Home

Home is one of the key motifs of the novel. The Prologue presents us with the asylum, an appropriate choice in the middle of war. Nothing that’s happening around Charles makes sense. The company is moved for no apparent reason, jobs are assigned that aren’t important. War is inherently nuts. 

Book One of the novel centers on Brideshead Castle, an enchanted place. When Charles speaks of the low door in the wall, it’s not only Sebastian who is the enchanted garden behind it; it’s also Brideshead. This is the Garden of Eden and Brideshead is paradise. For a while. 

Book Two moves the reader to the Marchmains’ London home. This is the Fall, when everything is in decline. Charles loses Sebastian and embraces his vocation as a painter of architecture—manmade homes that are set to be destroyed. 

In Book Three, there is a sense of homelessness. Much of this section takes place in a storm on board a ship, and then with all the various marriages, divorces, and deaths, the notion of a stable home becomes uncertain. The essence of life is change. The movement of the ocean is echoed by movement on land. Everyone is changing houses. 

Charles has a dream about a home destroyed by avalanche which points to the parable of building a house on a strong foundation. Because Charles has built his house on human love, it is destined to fail. In the end, when Lord Marchmain, who had rejected Catholicism, returns to the fold upon his death, it seems Waugh is suggesting another home: heaven. 

The Epilogue takes us back to wartime. Brideshead has been transformed into barracks. But this time, the building that becomes the focus is the reopened chapel, a place Charles ignored during his earlier time at Brideshead.

Why is Brideshead Revisited a classic?

Aside from an impressively complex structure, Waugh presents us with strong memorable characters and a theme that is disconcertingly relatable: how to stop time from passing, how to stop life from changing—and how to find love. Is faith possible in a superficial world? Is hope possible? These are questions we will continue to ask. Brideshead Revisited provides us with one possible answer.

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Michelle Barker is an award-winning author and poet. Her most recent publication, co-authored with David Brown, is Immersion and Emotion: The Two Pillars of Storytelling. Her fiction, non-fiction, and poetry have appeared in literary reviews worldwide. She has published three YA novels (one fantasy and two historical fiction), a historical picture book, and a chapbook of poetry. Michelle holds a BA in English literature (UBC) and an MFA in creative writing (UBC). Many of the writers she’s worked with have gone on to win publishing contracts and honours for their work. Michelle lives and writes in Vancouver, Canada.