Nanny Hawkins Character Analysis in Brideshead Revisited

Nanny Hawkins is a servant for the Marchmains and was the nanny of Brideshead, Julia, Sebastian, and Cordelia when they were young children. Sebastian introduces Charles to Nanny on his first visit to Brideshead, and the Marchmain children are still very attached to her. Nanny is a mother figure for the Marchmain children and is the opposite of Lady Marchmain, who is extremely religiously devout and controlling. Nanny Hawkins is straightforwardly loving and maternal, and does not try to involve herself in the children’s lives. She is always pleased to see them, however, and listens patiently to whatever they tell her. Their relationship with Nanny is uncomplicated compared with their relationship with their mother. When Charles returns to Brideshead and goes to see Nanny at the end of the novel, he notes that she does not seem to change and that everything in her room stays the same. Nanny symbolizes childhood experience in the novel, and the nursery she lives in represents a place of innocence and carelessness to which Charles and Sebastian, as well as many of the other characters, wish to return.

Nanny Hawkins Character Timeline in Brideshead Revisited

The timeline below shows where the character Nanny Hawkins appears in Brideshead Revisited. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Innocence, Experience, and Redemption Theme Icon

Globalization, Culture, and Modernity Theme Icon

...go on a day out, to stay “out of danger,” and visit a friend named Hawkins, whom Charles has never met. Sebastian has borrowed a motorcar from a “gloomy” man named... (full context)

Suffering, Persecution, and Martyrdom Theme Icon

Authority, Rebellion, and Love Theme Icon

...house through the servant’s corridor. Sebastian takes Charles upstairs to his old nursery to meet Nanny Hawkins, who raised Sebastian when he was a boy. They find the old lady asleep,... (full context)

Nanny shows Charles and Sebastian a newspaper cutting which announces Julia’s “coming out ball,” and Charles... (full context)

...he was that summer. They have free reign of the house and spend time with Nanny Hawkins up in the nursery, where they play with Sebastian’s old toys. Nanny is pleased... (full context)

...he should give it to Lady Marchmain, but Sebastian tells him to give it to Nanny. Although Charles has always loved medieval architecture, he finds, living in Brideshead, that he begins... (full context)

Charles asks Sebastian where he has been, and Sebastian says that he has been with Nanny and that he has a cold. Sebastian pours himself a drink and leaves the room.... (full context)

...day, Charles, Sebastian, and Cordelia visit the nursery, and Cordelia remarks that Sebastian seems unhappy. Nanny Hawkins thinks he looks thin. Charles also thinks that Sebastian looks ill and notices that... (full context)

...are coarse because of her time spent away. Charles, Julia, and Cordelia go to visit Nanny, and Cordelia tells them that she recently saw Sebastian. She says that he is ill... (full context)

...the house. He bumps into a servant who recognizes him. She is carrying tea for Nanny and Charles offers to take it up for her. Nanny is very surprised to see... (full context)

Nanny asks Charles if he heard Rex’s speech on the radio: he was very unpleasant about... (full context)