Just reread the book, which is one of my favorites. Regrettably, I have not seen the miniseries yet.
But on my second reading, one question puzzles me in particular. Can anyone picture a spark of romance between Lady Marchmain and Big Bridey during their courtship, or in the early years of their marriage? Their characters are just so incredibly different. I don't see it.
Approximate number of movies I've seen in the theater: 83.
Good question.
Personally I imagine their marriage to have been not one of love but a strategic match by their families in order to preserve the family wealth within the aristocracy.
Well that makes a whole lot more sense. Hadn't even thought of it.
Approximate number of movies I've seen in the theater: 83.
I think it's important to keep in mind that the people they became were probably not at all the people they were when they first married. Cara, Lord Marchmain's mistress, remarks on the innocent, boyish love Charles has for Sebastian and says that Marchmain had it for Lady Marchmain, and she attributes that boyish love to his extreme hate for her now. One of the unsung themes of this novel is how people and love change and evolve, even if it's for the worse. Sebastian is certainly not the bright, happy young man he was at the beginning of the novel by the time the novel is through. Their friendship and love for each other certainly isn't the same either. I think that even if we can't see it, Lord Brideshead was definitely in love or loved his wife when he married her. No way a man hates a woman the way he hated his wife if he hadn't felt something for her first. If it was an arranged marriage, then I think he would be rather indifferent to her. But he's not.
I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.
No way a man hates a woman the way he hated his wife if he hadn't felt something for her first.
And the interesting thing here is what happened with that love? Who chased who away? Why did they fall out of love? What was it that caused the loss? The Marchmain relationship really was another look at the manifestation of dissolution and loss coursing through the film and novel.
I think Waugh wants us to believe that Lord Marchmain's loss of love is inseparable from his loss of faith.
By 1914 he had both fallen out of love with his wife and with her religion which he willingly joined (more out of love for her than a deep faith).
He had difficulty separating the two. If he hated one (his wife) had had to hate the other as well (her religion).
"And take that filthy dog out of here!"
It was a love match. Cara says that Lord M had been in love with his wife wehn he was young and immature, and then when he became disilluisoned wiht her he fell out of love and began to hate her. Ie he found that she was a normlal woman with faults and problems not an angel and in his immaturity and disillusion his feelings turned to hate. And Lady M was not that well off so it was not a marriage for material reasons. She tells Charles that her family werent very well off though of course not really poor, but by the stnadards of hte upper classes they didn't have that much wealth.
I think that yes when he fell out of love with her, he turned against her religion sicne he had converted to please her...
hmmm...and the sign of the cross on the Marchmain deathbed? I've got to believe there has to be something going on there and "tying" some things up.
shareI am not sure what you mean. The whole end of the book is about Lord Marchmain's deathbed and how he comes back to the church... and how that affects teh relationship between Julia & Charles
shareI was just wondering what would be going on his head at that particular time as he thought about his relationship with his wife.
shareI dont see that he's thinking about his wife at all. Eearlier, he says to Cordelia that he found his own freedom, when he went to war, and decided to leave her. Cord says that she thinks he was wrong, but there's no definite indicaiton that he thinks much more about it. I would say that he regrets leaving her ina general sense, as one of his sins....
shareI dont see that he's thinking about his wife at all.
It's very possible. But I'd like to entertain that he did since Death concentrates the mind wonderfully with a "retro" look so to speak on one's life.
I know Marchmain threw his wife off but that "twitch on a thread" could have been operating in the background.
He was very close to death and wehn he heard the prayers for the dying, he crossed himself. It was a sign (in hte context of hte book) that he was aware of what was happening, and that he recognised the prayers for his soul and was giving a sign that he was sorry for his sins. I doubt if he was "thinking"....
The "twitch upon the thread" was not specifically abot his deserting his wife, but about the return of his soul to God....
I doubt if he was "thinking"....
hmmmm...just for thought.....what do we really know when men confer with their souls at the hour of their death about the life that they've led within themselves and with the world?
Of course in RL we dont. but in this novel, I think that Waugh intended us to beleive that Lord M responded to the prayers, and gave a sign that he was (as the priest put it) sorry for his past sins...
shareYes and from the looks of it, accepting God most probably got Marchmain through that proverbial 'eye of the needle'.
share@nachohater et cetera
Good comments, but there's really no way to tell from the TV serial whether their marriage was a love match or not. That's because viewers do not see the marriage per se: Lord and Lady Marchmain have separated before the series opens. We know only how Cara DESCRIBES the marriage, which is different from knowing what the marriage was actually like. Cara tells Charles that Lord Marchmain's misfortune was to fall in love with a woman first instead of a man [she's commenting on the young Charles's relationship with Sebastian and commending it].
Since Lord Marchmain was not a Catholic by birth but converted in order to marry his wife, it could hardly have been an arranged marriage. Neither family would have wanted a child to marry into another religion, particularly an heir.
share