Readalong of Brideshead Revisited

[Charbel]

Terry wrote: "Yes, you can see why her husband wanted to get as far as possible from her. She controls through guilt, using her religion to make her so pious. Like when everyone is sitting around talking after d..."

I agree Terry. Guilt and religion seem to be her weapons of choice.

[LauraT]

Terry wrote: "Yes, you can see why her husband wanted to get as far as possible from her. She controls through guilt, using her religion to make her so pious. Like when everyone is sitting around talking after d..."

And in the end she doesn't control her life; only her children's!

[Leslie]

Terry wrote: "Yes, you can see why her husband wanted to get as far as possible from her. She controls through guilt, using her religion to make her so pious. Like when everyone is sitting around talking after d..."

Guilt is a common weapon used on and by Catholics & Lady Marchmain surely was a master at wielding it.

But this reading of the book made me wonder how much it was being used on her as well - by her own conscience and/or her priest & Catholic family. I suspect that she got a fair amount of "well, you would marry outside the faith" attitude from her relatives (I imagine them similar to Bridey - pious and pompous). I think that this was part of why she was so against Julia marrying Rex at the beginning.

Her biggest problem seemed to me was an inability to recognise that her children were not her; that they were their own selves. She was so convinced that, because she had experience X, they would have the same experience X in similar circumstances. She was unable to envision the possibility of them having experience Y... Her attempts to handle Sebastian for example -- she never understood Charles' fumbling attempts to tell her that spying on Sebastian would make things worse.

[LauraT]

But in the end she was right, wasn't she? The final decisions they made were exactly those she would have taken herself! That I found terrible

[Leslie]

LauraT wrote: "But in the end she was right, wasn't she? The final decisions they made were exactly those she would have taken herself! That I found terrible"

Yes me too. Especially Julia. Though I don't think that Lady Marchmain would have liked Bridey's widow -- she sounded terribly vulgar!

[Leslie]

I am watching the final episode of the miniseries. A few remarks -- first, I had forgotten that Lord Marchmain was played by Laurence Olivier (such a marvelous actor!). Olivier's performance of when Marchmain first arrives in England was a little reminiscent of Anthony Blanche; his catty remarks about Brideshead & his wife etc.

Watching the episode reminded me of a question I had during reading: Why is Charles so set against Lord Marchmain receiving the last rites? If he was truly agnostic, then he should be indifferent to it rather than against it, don't you think?

[Charbel]

Leslie wrote: "I am watching the final episode of the miniseries. A few remarks -- first, I had forgotten that Lord Marchmain was played by Laurence Olivier (such a marvelous actor!). Olivier's performance of whe..."

Interesting question Leslie. Maybe Charles blames Catholicism for everything the Flytes went through. I personally didn't understand it either.

[Leslie]

It does seem like he blames their religion during the last few chapters. I suppose that in regards to Julia, that feeling is justified.

[Terry ~ Huntress of Erudition]

I think Charles felt that instead of lifting them up, the family's religion made them unnecessarily miserable and he didn't want the father's last hours being spent that way. What he didn't understand was that the father may have turned away from religion, but he was not an atheist. Most people seem to turn back to their religion during times of crisis and at the end of their lives.