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Brideshead
Fountains are associated with the Catholic sacrament of baptism throughout Brideshead Revisited, and thus represent the characters’ spiritual proximity to God. Baptism is a Catholic practice in which infant children are anointed with water by a priest to symbolize their entry into the Church. Fountains are associated with redemption, and love throughout the novel. The fountain outside Brideshead was originally built in Italy and has been transported piece by piece and reconstructed in England. This symbolizes the idea that Catholicism has travelled from Rome, where the Pope resides, and has been transported all over the world by the teachings of the Church. Brideshead is an outpost of Catholicism in England, and the fountain symbolizes this. This also refers to the idea of missionaries teaching Catholicism abroad, a vocation that is taken up by many of the characters in the novel.
The fountain is first associated with the love between Charles and Sebastian. Although they are not religious, their love is framed as spiritual because they are innocent and love each other unconditionally. They spend many nights beside the fountain to symbolize their proximity to God through their love for each other. According to Brideshead Revisited, there are many different types of love and, if they are genuine, they all reflect God’s power in the world. Later, the fountain becomes an important spot in Charles’s love affair with Sebastian’s sister, Julia. Julia, like Sebastian, has also left the Church but, one night, at the side of this fountain, she has an emotional outburst which foreshadows her return to her faith. The fountain’s steady, unchanging presence despite the people who come and go from the house and the changing dynamics within suggests that faith is something constant and enduring that, like home, can always be returned to.
Fountain Quotes in Brideshead Revisited
The Brideshead Revisited quotes below all refer to the symbol of Fountain. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Part 1, Chapter 4
Quotes
Here under that high and insolent dome, under those coffered ceilings; here, as I passed through those arches and broken pediments to the pillared shade beyond and sat, hour by hour, before the fountain, probing its shadows, tracing its lingering echoes, rejoicing in all its clustered feats of daring and invention, I felt a whole new system of nerves alive within me, as though the water that spurted and bubbled among its stones, was indeed a life-giving spring.
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Get the entire Brideshead Revisited LitChart as a printable PDF.
Fountain Symbol Timeline in Brideshead Revisited
The timeline below shows where the symbol Fountain appears in Brideshead Revisited. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Prologue
...an old man is taking mass with a priest. Hooper says that there is a fountain outside the house and Charles tells him that he knows this: he has been here...
(full context)
Part 1, Chapter 2
...Mulcaster, arrived at his room the night before and tried to throw him in the fountain.
(full context)
Anthony explains that, before Boy and the others could grab him, he got into the fountain himself and posed provocatively for them. He overheard Boy say that, either way, they had...
(full context)
...they are at dinner, Anthony says that he cannot imagine Sebastian being thrown in a fountain. Anthony monologues spitefully at Charles throughout dinner and complains that, at Eton, Sebastian never got...
(full context)
Part 1, Chapter 4
...out over the lakes and the gardens, and from here Charles tries to sketch the fountain. The fountain is originally from Italy but was taken apart and relocated to Brideshead. Charles...
(full context)
...boys get very drunk together every evening and then go out and lie by the fountain under the stars. One night, Charles asks if they should get drunk every night, and...
(full context)
Part 3, Chapter 3
One night, two years into their relationship, Charles and Julia sit by the fountain outside Brideshead and reminisce about their meeting on the boat. Charles has been trying to...
(full context)
Charles follows Julia outside and finds her sitting on the edge of the fountain, still in tears. He tries to comfort her, but she cries that Brideshead is quite...
(full context)
...pulls a strip of stiff grass out of a hedge. They stop again by the fountain, and Charles thinks this is funny and that the fountain is like a prop in...
(full context)
Epilogue
...and shows him where a road has been built through the grounds. They reach the fountain, and the Commander says that the landlady loves this spot and will not have it...
(full context)
