‘the Eschatological Does Not Sit Well with the Sybaritic’

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‘The eschatological does not sit well with the sybaritic’ Rob Aherne In Brideshead Revisited, Waugh portrays a contrast between the luxurious and extravagant life of Sebastian (who drags Charles into it too) at the beginning of the novel and the serious nature of death that comes about at the end of the story. I disagree with Burgess’ criticism ‘The eschatological does not sit well with the sybaritic’ as I do not think Waugh attempts to make them ‘sit well’ but instead contrasts them with one another and portrays the effects they have on people and relationships. The eschatological ideas link with the potent religious themes in the novel, predominantly the conversion of Charles to Catholicism after being the agnostic throughout, Burgess says Charles’ conversion to God is ‘improbable’. The eschatological theme undermines the story as we see the changes in all the characters as certain relationships, life stages and characters die out. Every main character struggles with religion throughout Brideshead Revisited, all for different reasons. In Waugh’s memo he says ‘God has a separate plan for each individual by which he or she may find salvation’ which explains why he gives the characters different conflicts with God. Charles’ conflict with God is first seen when he starts painting in the drawing room and he narrates ‘I began to mourn the loss of something… the intensity and singleness and the belief that it was not all done by hand – in a word, the inspiration’. This inspiration is likely to be God’s influence on his painting. We find out later when Charles’ talks to Anthony at a gallery that Charles’ has been searching for inspiration. His inspiration from the drawing room was after the death of lady Marchmain so this relates the eschatological to God. The metaphor of the ‘ice fisherman’ being wiped out by the ‘avalanche’ that had been lurking is about Charles
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