What Is Brideshead Revisited About?

Recusant Catholicism in Brideshead Revisited Gives Us a Clue to Internal Struggles in the Characters

Thanks to Amazon Prime, I recently watched the 1981 BBC version of Brideshead Revisited. It was my second time watching the show. This time, however, I also read the book alongside the show. No point really. The tv series captures the book so well. Only every now and again does the book give more context to what’s in the show. But only a tiny bit more context. Otherwise, everything that occurs in the show is almost word for word from the book. Indeed, the creators directly quote the novel whenever possible. And usually they quote the most important, impactful lines – with Jeremy Irons as the narrator. The book is also so filled with rich, sometimes over-the-top language that it makes me feel like my sad attempts at blog posts, or anything I write for that matter, aren’t worthy of the English language.  But here it is. My attempt at helping you understand the book in a way you can’t on Shmoop.

Joe’s Quick Rundown of the Story

Basically, a lonely young man of the British middle class meets a rich young lord who introduces him into a world of beauty, religion and secret, familial dysfunction. 

Catholicism Is The Central Theme

Ah, yes. Can’t get around this one. For some strange reason (or was it strange?), Brideshead revolves around religion. And not just any religion, for that matter, but around Catholicism. Awesome. In fact, the central nature of Catholicism to this novel has caused quite a bit of debate. Because it is portrayed so colorfully and from so many different viewpoints, people usually divide into two different camps: those who see the book as pro-Catholic, and those that see it as anti-Catholic. 

I’d argue, however, that that question isn’t really the point. 

The thing is, being Catholic is as much a part of the Flytes’ identity as it is a part of their being English. As much as being rich, being part of the nobility, and representing something of an older England is a glimpse into another world for Charles, so equally is their Catholicism a glimpse into the low door in the wall. To understand this fully, we must take a look at the incredibly unique and pertinent history of Catholicism in England. 

The Flytes Must Have Been a Recusant Catholic Family

See, the thing is, England was once, not so long ago (some six hundred years ago?) a Catholic country. Bridey draws out this reality of what he calls “old Catholics” when he says “it’s not as if we were old Catholics.” 

This is an interesting point that I think is easy to overlook. While religion may play a central part in the book, the Flytes themselves are only really half Catholic. That’s because while the mother may be a Catholic, and it’s possible her family was Catholic since before the reformation, the Father, Lord Marchmain, was certainly not a Catholic very far back. Hence the distinction that they are not “old" Catholics”.

Indeed, Lord Marchmain himself also highlights the fact that the original religion of England was Catholicism when he says that his wife has brought him back to the religion of his ancestors. And yet, Catholicism has not taken root deep enough in the father. It’s apparently from him that this mistrust in Catholicism seen in Sebastian and Julia comes. 

Indeed, it’s rather strange, difficult, even, to be English, and of the English Nobility, and also Catholic. It’s as if the Flytes represent more than just a look back at the gentility of English nobility. They are also remnants of a world much longer forgotten – a world of English Catholics. 

Many struggle with the traditions of their families. But this struggle is deeper – it is a struggle between English identity and religious affiliation. 

You can see this struggle manifest no better than in Julia. While Sebastian likes the things of lords, and obviously relishes in riches, he is ultimately uncomfortable with his position, and also uncomfortable with wealth in general. In the end, he chooses poverty, and suffering, because he is at core, a holy fellow. 

Juila is not nearly as good as Sebastian – ultimately, she is the farthest “from God” of all the children. She covets the things her position should give her. However, those things are out of reach thanks to her Catholicism. For her, Catholicism is wholly inconvenient. No wonder she chooses against it and lives apart from it for as long as she can stand. 

In some ways, Julia’s “conversion” is the least believable to me. It seems strange that her whole faith hinges on her father’s deathbed conversion. However, this would tie in with the problem of her having an English hang up. She must respect her father’s side – his title, his claim to the good things of life that someone of their station should have. But when she sees his ultimate conversion, she realizes that she herself also cannot escape her Catholic “half” as Sebastian phrases it earlier in the book. 

Catholicism Has a Dark History in England

This is a little known fact – probably because the English really don’t like talking about it. But Catholics were horribly, horribly persecuted in England. They were killed in the tower of London. In fact, you can see the etchings from famous Catholic martyrs and Saints there. The Catholic Cathedral in London also has a Saint Martyr’s remains there on display, shrouded delicately in clothing and masked. 

In a way, the struggle to uproot the Catholicism in their lives, indeed in their veins, is the same struggle of England trying to uproot the faith from its lands. And yet, there’s something different here. The faith remains with the children. As it has remained in England, despite all odds. I think this is what the book is ultimately about, alongside a bunch of other things. The things, the relics, of the Catholic past might have been repurposed and taken over by the modern person, and yet, the thing the builders threw aside have become the cornerstone. The Catholic faith remains and will remain, the last hope of many, including the Flyte Children.

What’s more, Brideshead, the house, may signify the Catholic Church, as many great scholars have pointed out. But more specifically, it points to the Catholic church in England. Despite England’s best efforts, Brideshead remains, and in it, its chapel. It’s a symbol for the old recusant families, whose shrines and houses have some how miraculously survived great persecution on all fronts. It’s an ode to not only youth for the author, but a more innocent age, when another faith was professed across the land. 

You get the feeling at the end of the book that the faith of Brideshead is about to go through another great hurtle – modernism. The modernism of characters like Rex Motram, and Hooper. Ultimately, modernism is heralded by the arrival of the military. As we know, World War II was the final nail in the coffin for Britain's reign as the empire of the world. Today, however, we face the total collapse of Western civilization. Yet, we get the feeling that no matter what happens, Brideshead will still be there, waiting for you, a familiar face amidst an increasingly unfamiliar world.