Brideshead Revisited Characters

Charles and SebastianTalk about an enigmatic relationship. These two meet when Sebastian pukes into Charles’s bedroom window. Charles is vehemently warned against him and in fact the entire F...

Poor Sebastian. He goes from a beautiful, youthful, happy, and oblivious lad of nineteen to a depressed, alcoholic, self-loathing would-be caretaker of dying lepers. What happened? Let’s star...

First and foremost, Julia is beautiful. Everyone defines her this way, from Anthony’s mention of her "flawless Florentine Quattrocento beauty" to Charles’s succinct "unhurried, exquisit...

Lady Marchmain seems perfectly nice, doesn’t she? She’s pious, refined, concerned for her children’s well-being, and dealing quite wonderfully with the fact that her husband left...

Until he comes home to Brideshead Castle to die, most of what Charles (and we) knows about Lord Marchmain is second hand. It starts with Anthony early in the novel, who tells the story of Marchmain...

Everything is subtext with Charles’s father. Dry, sarcastic, and slightly mean subtext, but still. He’s not around for many scenes in the novel, but his interactions with Charles are so...

Anthony Blanche is one of the most colorful characters you’ll meet in Shmoop Literature. "A nomad of no nationality," "the aesthete par excellence," and a "fine piece of cookery," Anthony pra...

Brideshead is an unusual and unique individual with "a gravity and restraint" beyond his years. Anthony describes him as "something archaic, out of a cave that's been sealed for centuries." He does...

If you’ve read any of our other "Character Analyses," you know by now that Cordelia is one wise old bird – especially considering that she’s a child for the majority of Brideshead...

Samgrass is the fly in the Oxford ointment. He’s like long-distance parenting for Sebastian on behalf of Lady Marchmain. In short, he spoils all the good alcoholic fun while the boys are away...

It’s easy to see why Julia is drawn to Rex. He’s a bit older and more mature than the boys she’s dated, he’s well-off, he’s mysterious, politically connected, lavishes...

Boy Mulcaster is essentially an ill-mannered rich kid. When Anthony tells the story of him and his friends in colored tailcoats threatening to throw him in Mercury, we know that Boy has just come f...

Charles keeps us in the dark for ages about the identity of his wife. He doesn’t even officially clue his reader into the fact that he's married; he just casually mentions that he has a wife...

Kurt is Sebastian’s German friend whom he takes up with once he leaves England. We first hear of Kurt through Anthony (what else is new), who describes him as "a great clod of a German who'd...

Ryder’s new platoon commander.

Charles’s servant at Oxford.

The man from whom Sebastian borrows a car. Repeatedly.

Charles’s overbearing cousin, who attends Oxford and is a few years older than Charles.

Mr. Collins is one of Charles’s first term friends at Oxford.

Mr. Partridge is one of Charles’s first term Oxford friends.

Hobson is Sebastian’s servant at Oxford.

Duc de Vincennes is the man whose wife (Stefanie) Anthony claims to have had a thing with.

The Duchess Anthony claims to have had a thing with.

Sir Adrian Porson is a pet and an acquaintance of Lady Marchmain.

One of Lady Marchmain’s people at Oxford. Monsignor Bell terrorizes Sebastian.

Hayer is a servant at the Ryder home.

Charles’s cousin. Melchior once ran out of money and had to run to Australia, or so Mr. Ryder claims.

Mrs. Abel is the cook at the Ryder home.

Mr. Ryder’s sister. Phillipa lived with her brother and Charles after Charles’s mother died.

One of Charles’s boyhood friends.

An old friend and dinner guest of Mr. Ryder’s. His presence is designed specifically to torment Sebastian.

An old friend and dinner guest of Mr. Ryder’s. Her presence is designed specifically to torment Sebastian.

An old friend and dinner guest of Mr. Ryder’s. Her presence is designed specifically to torment Sebastian.

The butler at Brideshead Castle.

A priest that comes by Brideshead estate during the summer.

Cordelia’s pig.

Lord Marchmain’s valet in Venice.

Lady Marchmain’s deceased brother.

Lady Marchmain’s sister-in-law. Julia later refers to her as her aunt, Lady Rosscommon.

Borethus is the guy Rex knows in Zurich who can supposedly cure alcoholism.

Charlie Kilcartney is the guy that Borethus supposedly cured of alcoholism.

The neighboring family to the Flytes.

Rex’s bit o’ stuff (or mistress).

The priest who converts Rex to Catholicism so he can marry Julia.

One of Cordelia’s aunts.

Rex’s first wife.

The fake name of a "Belgian futurist" who hangs out with Charles and his friends during the spring of 1926 in London.

One of Anthony’s friends in Marseilles, who provides something "more intoxicating" than alcohol. Maybe a male prostitute, maybe a drug dealer…

One of Anthony’s friends who visits this Alopov character.

Charles and Boy join Meadow’s flying squad in London.

Celia and Charles’s son.

Celia and Charles’s daughter.

Caroline Ryder's godmother.

The architect commissioned by Celia to turn the barn into a studio for Charles.

One of the guests at Celia’s party aboard the ship. Later Mrs. Stuyvesant Oglander turns out to be a friend of Anthony Blanche’s mother.

The Hollywood man at Celia’s party.

The Senator sits with Charles and Celia at the Captain’s table at dinner aboard the ship.

A friend of Celia’s who throws a party after Charles’s private exhibition.

The man who hits on Charles and/or Anthony at the seedy bar.

A woman who keeps company with Rex and his crowd; Charles calls her a "rake."

Brideshead’s eventual wife.

Celia’s rebound boyfriend after her separation from Charles.

The head monk at the monastery in Tunis which takes in Sebastian.

The priest Brideshead gets to give his father the last rites.

The army officer who shows Charles around Brideshead estate in the novel’s epilogue.