Brideshead Revisited: Part 2, Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis

The slideshow is clearly very awkward, and Mr. Samgrass’s stories are tedious and unimpressive. Cordelia recognizes this and struggles to maintain a façade of politeness, suggesting that she, like Sebastian, struggles to maintain the strict public persona that Lady Marchmain demands. Sebastian deliberately separates himself from the family—he is in shadow to represent his separateness, his isolation, and his position as an outsider. 

Sebastian’s absence in the photos is suspicious, but Mr. Samgrass quickly dismisses Cordelia and Charles’s concerns. It seems strange that Mr. Samgrass has not told the family that he and Sebastian met Anthony on their trip. This suggests that he has something to hide and that, if this secret was revealed, it would compromise his position inside the family’s inner circle.

Charles knows that something has delayed Mr. Samgrass and Sebastian’s arrival at Brideshead, and that Mr. Samgrass does not want Lady Marchmain to know what it is. Lady Marchmain clearly suspects something, too, and takes Mr. Samgrass away to question him. This places Lady Marchmain is the role of interrogator and authority, not dissimilar to a Catholic priest who asks for confessions, or even an inquisitionist.

Charles is afraid to hear about Sebastian’s life since he last saw him—he can tell that Sebastian has been unhappy but feels too awkward to bring this up, not wanting to acknowledge that they have grown apart. Charles prefers art from the past to modern art because he believes that modernity is shallow and soulless, and that the past is superior to the present.

Everything is done secretively in the Marchmain family, and issues are not openly spoken about. This clearly plays a role in Sebastian’s substance abuse, since he feels he must cope with his problems in secret rather than being open about them with his family. Sebastian struggles to wait even a short time for a drink, implying that he has now fully become an alcoholic. His drinking, which was once used as an escape from unhappiness, has now made him even more unhappy.

Having coaxed the truth out of Mr. Samgrass, Lady Marchmain’s decision that Sebastian must not be allowed to drink while he is at Brideshead does not effectively address Sebastian’s problems. Rather, it simply cuts him off from the thing he is dependent on. Charles feels that he cannot drink with Brideshead behind Sebastian’s back, because this would be a betrayal to his friend.

The secrecy and caution in the house make Sebastian even less likely to open up and be honest. This atmosphere also make him more likely to rebel because it makes him feel trapped and restricted. This suggests that, although she is motivated by love for Sebastian, Lady Marchmain’s prohibitive actions only worsen his behavior.

Julia also finds Lady Marchmain’s methods controlling, yet she similarly views Sebastian’s problem selfishly and is only worried about how it affects her and her family’s reputation. She is also jealous because Sebastian gets all the attention. She wants Charles to know that she, too, is interesting and rebellious. This suggests that there is a glamor in being seen as a rebel and that forbidden things are associated with bravery, character, and adult experience, which Julia wishes to emulate. Her interest in Charles here also foreshadows a potential relationship between the two of them in the future.

Lady Marchmain will not directly address the issue of Sebastian’s alcoholism, although it is obvious to everyone what is going on. Sebastian and Lady Marchmain are locked in a silent, emotional battle in which Lady Marchmain sets the rules and Sebastian pointedly defies them.

Fox hunting was a common pastime among the British upper classes. The family is pleased that Sebastian wants to join in, as they see this conformity as a sign that he will soon return to normal. This suggests that his family is in denial and wishes to pretend that there is not a problem, rather than to face up to it.

Charles learns the truth from Sebastian: he has no desire to fit in with his family, and instead will use this opportunity to spite them and have revenge. Lady Marchmain has done all she can to remove Sebastian’s freedom, but this does not stop him from trying to shake off her authority.

Mr. Samgrass takes advantage of Lady Marchmain. He is paid to take Sebastian around Europe, but he does not tell Lady Marchmain when Sebastian runs off, and continues to use her money to fund his own travel and research. This demonstrates that, because Lady Marchmain has such high expectations of people, and sets such high standards of behavior, they go to great lengths to avoid her knowledge of their transgressions. However, this does not mean that they behave; they simply rebel in secret. This suggests that people cannot be perfect, because they are predisposed to make mistakes, and that Lady Marchmain is wrong to expect perfection of people.

Sebastian views himself as a prisoner and constantly tries to escape, suggesting that the more his family try to control him, the worse his behavior will become. Unlike Sebastian and Charles, who are only implied to have romantic feelings for each other, Anthony seems to live an openly gay life abroad with the young Jewish man.

Mr. Samgrass is pleased to get rid of Sebastian and does not care if something happens to him. He uses the opportunity to please himself and to have an all-expenses-paid trip. This suggests he is shallow and self-interested, like modern society, and that he is unwise despite his interest in learning about the past. Anthony, who once tried to lead Charles astray, has become a voice of reason for Sebastian, suggesting that he, unlike Sebastian, has become more mature and level-headed in his time away from Oxford.

Charles wants to show Sebastian that he is still on his side. Mr. Samgrass is parasitic and wants to be entertained by Charles and to gossip about Sebastian, which is particularly unsavory given that he, like Lady Marchmain, is supposed to be a strict Catholic. Instead of exhibiting Christlike behavior, he is callous and does not care about any of the Marchmains, but only about himself, which exposes the underlying hypocrisy and self-interest that can befall even those who purport to be devoutly religious.

Mr. Samgrass wants to bring Charles into his confidence, as though they are on the same side because they are both outsiders. But he does not genuinely care about what happens to Sebastian, only about his own comfort and pleasure. Mr. Samgrass represents the downfalls of modernity, which Charles is skeptical of throughout the novel, in the sense that Samgrass’s shallow, conventional side will sacrifice morals and decency in order to get ahead.

Charles taking refuge in his art  suggests that he uses it as an escape from real life, just as Sebastian uses alcohol. His changing style and skill-level over time reflects art and architecture’s ability to capture fleeting emotions and states in people’s lives. It also parallels the fact that he and Sebastian’s have changed significantly (both in their relationship and as individuals) since their first summer together at Brideshead.

Julia implies that her mother will make a family secret of Sebastian: a skeleton in the closet. This associates Sebastian’s decline with a symbol of death, and thus with a loss of youth and life itself, which is how Charles views Sebastian’s breakdown. However, although Julia complains about this, she  thinks it is best if Sebastian goes abroad where he will not embarrass them or create a scandal. This reflects Lord Marchmain’s own shame-ridden escape abroad, and Lady Marchmain’s subsequent ostracization of him from the family.

The Marchmains are so used to keeping up a public front and burying their internal issues that they almost believe that, if everything looks alright on the surface, then it is alright underneath. Their attitude to the hunt epitomizes this. Lady Marchmain does not trust Charles and cannot see that freedom makes Sebastian better, whereas distrust and surveillance make him worse. Charles refers to Lord Marchmain and suggests that Lady Marchmain drove her husband away because she tried to control him, implying that the same thing will happen with Sebastian if Lady Marchmain continues to infringe on his freedom.

Brideshead thinks that it is better to drink because one has a disease, rather than to drink for fun. He sees alcohol as sinful and feels that, if one drinks for no reason, then one chooses deliberately to sin. Brideshead can only think about things in terms of religion and moral purpose. He does not see that Sebastian might like to be happy just for the sake of happiness. This reflects the difference between Charles and Brideshead: Charles believes that things like happiness, art, and beauty can exist purely for their own sake, whereas Brideshead can only see the purpose in things which relate directly to Catholicism.

Rex and Mr. Samgrass are both very unempathetic and shallow, and thus associated with the negative side of modernity. Rex likes the tortoise because it shows off his wealth, and Mr. Samgrass likes the spectacle of it. Charles and Cordelia, who are both empathetic, immediately feel sorry for the creature because they understand that it is a living thing that can feel pain. They have a general respect for life, which, Charles believes, the modern world lacks.

Lady Marchmain believes that she needs to restrict Sebastian’s drinking in order to control him and to help him to control himself. She cannot see that the more she tries to control his behavior, the more he will rebel against her and damage himself in the process.

Lady Marchmain sees Charles’s act as spiteful and deliberately intended to hurt her. She takes Sebastian’s behavior personally and feels persecuted by him. This supports the idea that she sees herself as a martyr and a victim. This shows, however, that she does not think about Sebastian’s wellbeing as much as she thinks about how the situation affects her.

Cordelia loves Sebastian in the same unconditional way that Charles does. Although Sebastian is an alcoholic, Cordelia allows him to indulge in his vice because it brings him peace, whereas trying to monitor and control his behavior will drive him to act out and drink to excess. Cordelia realizes that sending Sebastian abroad will not help him and will only allow the family to feel better because it will protect them from public embarrassment.

The more restraints are put on Sebastian, the better he becomes at lying to escape and evade them. Although the family thinks they want to help Sebastian, Charles does not want them to succeed because he knows that their controlling methods will not make Sebastian happy.

Charles has picked a refined, unfashionable place because he knows that Rex, whom he considers vulgar and uncultured, will not have heard of it. He even imitates Anthony: his comment about pigeon pie is reminiscent of Anthony’s language on the night that he took Charles to dinner. This shows that Charles is still rebellious at heart and wishes to flout social expectations.

Rex likes to get his own way. This is typical of Rex’s brash, boisterous personality, which Charles sees as explicitly modern. Rex feels that he has won, or ground Lady Marchmain down. He sees everything in terms of dominance and competition, like a war. War, therefore, is explicitly linked to modernity and reflects the fact that, in the early phase of the 20th century, the main focus of society was on the major global conflicts of World War I and World War II. Lady Marchmain intends to die like a martyr: without protest and with complete surrender to her fate.

Rex prefers crass things to subtle ones, and is heavily focused on money and advancing his business prospects. In contrast, the Marchmains, who have always been rich and have not had to think about wealth, have not adapted to modern capitalism. Rex’s obsession with wealth is indicative of “new money” rather than “old money,” which aligns him more with modernity than with tradition. Charles views Rex as distasteful, and therefore implies that modernity itself equally corrupt and shallow. He revels in the idea that money is not everything.

Rex is determined to win Julia through his competitive and dominant attitude. He views Catholicism as a means to an end, and not as a spiritual pursuit. Rex intends to go over Lady Marchmain’s head and marry Julia with Lord Marchmain’s permission, because he knows that she dislikes him.

Charles is a snob and enjoys the fact that, although Rex thinks he is being refined, the waiters look down on him because of his tastes. The brandy Charles drinks is older and more expensive, but Rex is taken in by the appearance of the other bottle and the façade of refinement and age, rather than the real thing. Charles believes that Rex’s attitude represents the limitations and shallowness of modernity in general.