The Snuffed Critique of Modernity: Adapting Brideshead Revisited for the Twenty-First Century

Caitlin G. Spicer1,2,3

University of Dayton

300 College Park, Dayton, OH 45469

1. Department of English

2. Berry Summer Thesis Institute

3. University Honors Program

Thesis

Mentor: David J. Fine, Ph.D.

Department of English

Abstract

This thesis is an effort to understand the operation of divine grace in Evelyn Waugh’s famous queer and Catholic novel, Brideshead Revisited. I focus on the final pages and scenes of the original novel and the 2008 film adaptation, and I argue that they take different approaches to the final moments. I examine how each portrays divine grace in the lives of the characters in connection to Catholicism and the contrast of romance and religion at the center of each work. I argue that the novel holds the flame of faith at its center while the film ignites the spark of romance at the core: this difference matters because the film loses Waugh’s essential critique of the movement toward secularism in the modern world. This research fits into the critical conversation surrounding Brideshead Revisited and its 2008 film adaptation in that my argument takes on the sentiment of Gallagher and Colebatch in their criticism of the film—particularly of the treatment of God as the villain and the overarching theme of guilt that is not prevalent in the novel—while considering the question of conversion that Mooneyham presents. I claim that the 2008 film deviates significantly from the original novel, becoming a representation of the modern and secular world which is exactly what Waugh was afraid of.

Overview

Evelyn Waugh is an English author who created Catholic, queer, journalistic, and satirical works during his lifetime, eventually becoming one of the best authors of his time. In 1930, Waugh converted to Roman Catholicism, which influenced his work and made faith a strong theme in what he wrote. Waugh lived during World War I and World War II, so much of his work reflects the nostalgia he harbors for the past in light of the changing world. This is particularly evident in one of his most famous works, Brideshead Revisited, in which Waugh holds a candle burning for the past while acknowledging and critiquing secularization through his writing.

Waugh had struggles in his life including rocky relationships with most of his family members. In particular, he did not like his father and was often rude to him even when company was present: “friends Evelyn took home were often horrified by the way he spoke to his father. One of them shuddered to recall Arthur asking Evelyn how he could be so charming to his friends and yet so unkind to his father. ‘Because I can choose my friends,’ says Evelyn, ‘but I cannot choose my father’” (Eade 80). When he did have children with his second wife, Laura, he only really showed that he cared about his wife and one of his daughters, Meg, while his other children seemed unimportant to him. In Eade’s Evelyn Waugh A Life Revisited, when writing about Laura and Evelyn, “Their son Bron later recalled his mother as having scarcely featured in his early life at Pixton and being unaware that motherhood involved ‘any particular emotional proximity’. His father he remembered ‘featured not at all’” (254). Waugh also did have an unhealthy relationship with alcohol; his first wife, “Shevelyn knew he was an alcoholic, but ‘in my immature way I imagined I could cure him’”

(Eade 116). This unhealthy dependency on alcohol seemed to begin in his days at Oxford University and continued through the remainder of his years.

In Brideshead Revisited, the novel written in 1945, the distinct critique of modernity and its encroachment upon Waugh’s so-loved world is weaved into his work. Waugh believes the modern world is distancing itself from religion, ultimately becoming shallow and less concerned with the moral implications of the way the inhabitants live their lives. Against this backdrop, the novel follows Charles Ryder and the Flyte family, both intertwined together by faith, love, and addiction. Charles, as the narrator, guides the reader through the story of his life and the trials and difficulties with the Flyte family. The structure of the novel is unique in that the novel starts with Charles during his years in the army which occur after he has met and left the Flyte family. The novel begins the prologue with Charles as an officer in the Second World War, where his company is posted at the Brideshead Homestead, the home of the Flytes. By revisiting their home, he is taken back in memory to all the interactions with the family.

The reader is drawn through Charles’ years at Oxford College where he first meets one of the sons of the family, Sebastian. After they have known each other for some time, Sebastian takes Charles to where his family—Lady Marchmain, Brideshead, Julia, and Cordelia—lives at Brideshead. Charles over time then becomes very familiar and acquainted with the rest of the family, which begins to sever his relationship with Sebastian. The reader also learns that Sebastian has problems with alcohol that are getting progressively worse as the novel goes on. With this, Sebastian and Charles have a falling out because Sebastian believes that Charles is acting as a spy for his mother regarding his drinking. Charles then leaves Brideshead, and years later sees Julia Flyte, Sebastian’s sister, on a trip where they begin an affair together, taking them back to Brideshead again. During their time together, there is another fallout between Julia and Charles regarding religion and the final wishes of Julia’s father, causing Charles to flee Brideshead once again. The novel ends where it began, with Charles during the war and alone.

Within Brideshead Revisited and its 2008 film adaptation, each takes a varied approach as to what the audience connects to and walks away with after experiencing the art. In the novel, there is a palpable sense of faith and the divine throughout the book, and it is structured in a way that the climactic events that take place are tied to faith. This is in direct contrast to the film in which the climactic events are romantic rather than religious. In light of these concentrations, the film and the novel leave different impressions and change what the audience thinks is important about the work. Because of the way that Waugh writes in Brideshead Revisited, the reader pays greater attention to the faith with the structure of the story aiding greatly in that effort; impactful moments in the novel include the deathbed conversion of Lord Marchmain, and Charles praying in the chapel. In opposition, looking at the way that Julian Jarrold directs the film, viewers are left with the impression that love had the greatest impact on Charles, as the climactic events are Charles and Julia kissing in Italy, and Charles reminiscing about his past loves in the chapel.

Analysis

In the novel, approximately one page and, in the film, about two minutes are spent with Charles inside the Brideshead chapel during the epilogue scenes. Although such a small amount of time is spent in this moment and this place, it is one of the most influential pieces of Brideshead Revisited the film and the novel because of the material and the adaptation. In the novel, there is a clear focus on Catholicism in connection with Charles. Waugh writes that Charles walks into the chapel and begins to pray, something that the reader might not expect based on Charles’ hesitancy and, in some cases, downright anger and dislike in regards to religion in the past. The moments in the chapel are described as,

There was one part of the house I had not yet visited, and I went there now. The chapel showed no ill-effects of its long neglect; the art-nouveau paint was as fresh and bright as ever, the art-nouveau lamp burned once more before the altar. I said a prayer, an ancient, newly-learned form of words, and left, turning towards the camp; and as I walked back, and the cook-house bugle sounded ahead of me.

(Waugh 401-402)

Charles stops and prays in the chapel, and, as written, it is a prayer he recently learned. Based on these words alone, the reader can conclude that Charles has become religious, but that can still be clouded with doubt based on his past behavior. No matter what the reader believes in regards to the conversion or, as Mooneyham examines, the possible non-conversion of Charles, there is no question that religion is what permeates the epilogue of the novel.

When looking at this paragraph there are a few key lines to pay attention to. First, the line “The chapel showed no ill-effects of its long neglect” is particularly important because it reflects that, even though the chapel has been out of service for years, there are no remaining effects from that and it is like no time has passed, possibly meaning that Charles’ connection to Catholicism is still very tangible. The next important piece is in this connection to the scene from the film. In the novel, the lamp near the altar is barely mentioned, but a light is of significance in the film. The last line of note in this paragraph is from Charles saying, “I said a prayer, an ancient, newly-learned form of words, and left” (Waugh 402). This line shares with the reader that Charles is praying, meaning that there is a possibility of his conversion to Catholicism. The word newly-learned is also of interest because it shows how recent the connection to religion is. The way that Waugh draws the story to a close, religion and divine grace are the lasting impressions the reader walks away with. Every single moment that led Charles to pray in the Brideshead Chapel during the epilogue was divine grace. The string of how Charles was pulled repeatedly back to Brideshead no matter what had happened on his previous visits and the affair with Julia was all timed perfectly and orchestrated by something greater than the human beings in this narrative.

In comparison with the 2008 film adaptation of Brideshead Revisited, there are a few differences worthy of note. In the film, Charles walks into the chapel, dips his fingers in the holy water font, and begins to walk to the front of the room near the altar where a singular candle is lit. While Charles is looking at the candle the camera cuts to a shot of Sebastian at the hospital in Morocco, back to Charles’ face, then to Julia in the mirror at Brideshead, and finally back to Charles’ face once again. Charles then hovers his fingers over the flame of the candle as if he is going to snuff the flame, then he finally lowers his hand and walks out of the chapel and into the light of the day. In the way that this epilogue is filmed and structured, it is vastly different from the epilogue written by Waugh himself.

To interpret this scene, there were a few pieces that stuck out to me. First, Charles uses holy water. Technically he does dip his fingers in the holy water, but then he does not bless himself or genuflect, meaning that he does not kneel and bless himself when entering the chapel, which is normal for a Catholic person entering a chapel. But also, if the viewer is going off of what Cordelia, the youngest sister, said earlier in the novel (Waugh 253), then there would be no need to genuflect since the blessed sacrament is gone and it is no longer a functioning chapel. This is important because I feel it emphasizes the fact that Charles does not pray at all which is quite different from the Charles we are presented with in Waugh’s epilogue. Next, I looked at the flame that Charles walks up to in conjunction with the frame placement of Charles before, after, and in-between frames of Sebastian and Julia. I believe the flame represents the unextinguished flame of love between Charles and Sebastian and between Charles and Julia. After all, Charles thinks about them before he is about to extinguish the flame but instead walks away. This leaves the possibility open that he still loves them both. Lastly, I would like to mention that, from analyzing this scene, it could have happened in any other room in the house instead of the chapel, and the chapel does not necessarily matter in the traditional way. That does not mean that the chapel adds nothing; rather, it could imply that human relationships are divine elements rather than any religion. There is barely any religious connection in this scene because the romance and relationships are what are being pushed to the forefront.

Evelyn Waugh brings up the concept of divine grace in the preface of the novel, “Its theme — the operation of divine grace on a group of diverse but closely connected characters” (Waugh iv). Divine grace is essentially a bigger force, and, in the case of Waugh, God is acting on these characters and guiding them through their lives. Throughout the novel, the reader will be able to pick up on a force greater than the characters working. Every single interaction between characters is guided by something other than fate and guides Charles, pulling him repeatedly back to Brideshead. Charles is brought back to Brideshead by different characters, whether it be Sebastian or Julia. Brideshead has caused Charles so many feelings: longing, or pain, it is difficult to distinguish, that even the mention of the name stirs something in him.

It was not till I reached the door that I asked the second-in-command, ‘What’s this place called?’ He told me and, on the instant, it was as though someone had switched off the wireless, and a voice that had been bawling in my ears, incessantly, fatuously, for days beyond number, had been suddenly cut short; an immense silence followed, empty at first, but gradually, as my outraged sense regained authority, full of a multitude of sweet and natural and long forgotten sounds: for he had spoken a name that was so familiar to me, a conjuror’s name of such ancient power, that, at its mere sound, the phantoms of those haunted late years began to take flight. (Waugh 17)

Charles has been brought back to Brideshead multiple times, and the thread that ties him to the Flyte family is pulling him. Since the same person is not calling him back to Brideshead every time, something greater than humanity is pulling Charles, as the section title– “A Twitch Upon the Thread”–suggests. (Waugh 257). In this case, that thing is divine grace. Faith is what permeates the novel, and the relationships between characters, and, frankly, it is the only piece that survives until the end of the novel or immediately preceding the epilogue.

It is evident that even if Charles is skeptical of faith—and its effects on the lives of the faithful, specifically Sebastian—he is still curious as to how it constantly comes up in the lives of the Flytes even if it seems to be hurting them, as shown in this conversation between Brideshead and Charles,

“I believe God prefers drunkards to a lot of respectable people.”

“For God’s sake,” I said, for I was near to tears that morning, “why bring God into everything?”

“I’m sorry. I forgot. But you know that’s an extremely funny question.”

“Is it?”

“To me. Not to you.”

“No, not to me. It seems to me that without your religion Sebastian would have the chance to be a happy and healthy man.”

“It’s arguable,” said Brideshead. (Waugh 164)

With Sebastian and Charles being tangled together in their relationship, they are being pulled apart by religion, and Charles is beginning to feel that God is brought into everything and that religion is affecting the way Sebastian lives through his addiction. With this documentation of Charles’ hesitancy and even anger towards religion, Mooneyham’s question of Charles’ conversion comes to light. There are doubts surrounding the fact that Charles converts to Catholicism given his cautious and reluctant attitude towards religion for the majority of the novel, but, with the concept of Waugh’s divine grace, anything is possible, even the deathbed conversion of Lord Marchmain and the conversion of the reluctant Charles, but is that what occurs? Divine grace fuels every action and event that takes place in the novel, and Waugh beautifully crafts the story in a way that it feels as if the events are all orchestrated by something bigger than the author himself. For Waugh, God is the author of everyone’s lives, and Waugh effortlessly weaves the presence of God and divine grace into the novel while the 2008 film adaptation lacks the presence of a loving God.

In reading criticisms of the 2008 film adaptation of Brideshead Revisited, the authors Gallagher and Colebatch had strong opinions on how the film twists the pure form of the novel. In particular, Gallagher writes about the villainization of God and how the directors of the film still follow Waugh’s wishes of having God and religion be the center of the adaptation: they simply change the way that they are presented. Colebatch has similar sentiments to Gallagher but appears to have a stronger opinion, critiquing the fact that there is too much material from the novel to be condensed into a film. There was also a reference to a new theme of guilt that was brought into the film that wasn’t as prevalent in the novel. It is important to examine the criticism of the film in comparison to the novel to see how reviewers have reacted to the changes made by the director.

Conclusion

By analyzing the film and the novel in parallel, one can begin to connect the dots as to why these analyses matter. Viewers can see that, through the emphasis on relationships and romance, the film loses the connection to Catholicism. With this, Waugh’s Catholic critique of modernity is lost. In the novel, the different relationships act as stepping stones or paving stones for Charles, with Sebastian and Julia acting as forerunners (Waugh 295, 348) to get to a relationship with God, but, when the film treats God as the villain (Gallagher 102), there is no end for Charles to achieve. Instead, there are broken relationships following him with no end goal leaving him feeling empty. Therefore, the film is becoming secular in exactly the way that Waugh was afraid of. The secularity of the film comes to mean living in the here and now, that this world is the only one that matters, meaning that there is no eternity for the characters to work for, creating shallow people with superficial meaning in their lives.

In my research process this summer, I have done a great deal of reading and annotating. I reread Brideshead Revisited, and I also read additional works by Waugh including The Loved One, and Helena which were written after Brideshead Revisited, and A Little Order which is a collection of essays written by Waugh that concern his thoughts, especially on critiques of Hollywood and journalism. Additionally, I read some biography-centered books with details about Waugh’s life and a book on Catholicism in literature. I read secondary articles, historical background, and film criticism, and I screened the 2008 version of Brideshead Revisited and the 1981 miniseries of Brideshead Revisited. I then focused on writing, and I wrote an annotated bibliography, cataloging all of my sources and why they are useful. I also wrote the abstract and created this paper. In the future, I hope to continue to work on this thesis, further developing my argument and bringing in new materials to read and annotate. I hope to explore additional reading material such as queer theory from Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, specifically “The Beast in the Closet”, Father Brown stories that inspired titles inside of Brideshead Revisited, and more work concerning Catholic theology of Grace, historical background, and non-academic film criticism. Also, I will read Charles Taylor’s “A Catholic Modernity?” and Simone Weil’s Gravity and Grace. Lastly, I hope to explore additional works by Waugh to further my research–including Vile Bodies and A Handful of Dust–and read various essays in A Little Order

Acknowledgments

Thank you to the Berry Summer Thesis Institute, The Berry Family, and The Berry Foundation for making this opportunity possible for me. I would like to thank my mentor, Dr. David Fine, for his constant support, encouragement, and guidance throughout this process. I would also like to thank the University of Dayton Honors Program and Staff, particularly Dr. Samuel Dorf, whose unwavering kindness, positivity, and advice carried us through the summer. Thank you to the University of Dayton English Department for allowing me to represent them. I would like to thank the members of my cohort for an amazing summer. Lastly, thank you to my friends and family for their love and for listening to my constant rambles about research.

Works Cited

1. Brideshead Revisited. Directed by Charles Sturridge and Michael Lindsay-Hogg, ITV Granada, 1981.

2. Brideshead Revisited. Directed by Julian Jarrold, Ecosse Films, 2008.

3. Colebatch, Hal G. P. “Waugh Turned Upside-Down: The New Movie of Brideshead Revisited.” Quadrant, vol. 52, no. 12, Dec. 2008, pp. 100–01. EBSCOhost, https://search-ebscohost-com.libproxy.udayton.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mzh&AN =201915938039&login.asp&site=ehost-live.

4. Eade, Philip. Evelyn Waugh A Life Revisited. Henry Holt and Company, 2016.

5. Gallagher, Donat. “Telling It like It Wasn’t.” Quadrant, vol. 52, no. 12, Dec. 2008, pp. 101–05. EBSCOhost, https://search-ebscohost-com.libproxy.udayton.edu/login.aspx? direct=true&db=mzh&AN=201915938045&login.asp&site=ehost-live.

6. Mooneyham, Laura. “The Triple Conversions of Brideshead Revisited.” Renascence: Essays on Values in Literature, vol. 45, no. 4, 1993, pp. 225–36. EBSCOhost, https://doi-org.libproxy.udayton.edu/10.5840/renascence19934547.

7. Waugh, Evelyn. Brideshead Revisited. Back Bay Books, 1945.