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Definition of Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the story. Foreshadowing can be achieved directly or indirectly, by making... read full definition
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the story. Foreshadowing can be achieved... read full definition
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the... read full definition
Part 1, Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Family:
In the following example of foreshadowing from Part 1, Chapter 1, Sebastian uses peculiar phrasing to describe Brideshead, causing Charles to feel an "ominous chill" of premonition:
“You must see the garden front and the fountain.” He leaned forward and put the car into gear. “It’s where my family live”; and even then, rapt in the vision, I felt, momentarily, an ominous chill at the words he used—not, “that is my house,” but “it’s where my family live.”
The above passage alludes to the strained relationship between Sebastian and the rest of the Flyte family—a relationship Charles does not yet fully comprehend but is acutely attuned to. The phrase "it's where my family live" suggests an unconventional level of emotional distance between Sebastian and the family in question. In fact, he feels so distant from his parents and siblings that he does not even call Brideshead his "home." The storied estate is no place of welcome for the youngest Flyte son. This emotional distance does not bode well for Charles. Out of love for Sebastian, he naturally becomes intimate with the Flyte family; ironically, it is this familial intimacy that causes Sebastian to distance himself from Charles. Even in the beginning, then, Sebastian appears primed to make a martyr of himself.
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Part 1, Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Narcissus:
In Part 1, Chapter 2, Anthony alludes to Greek mythology when conversing with Charles, referring to an adolescent Sebastian as “Narcissus, with one pustule”:
"He never had spots you know; all the other boys were spotty. Boy Mulcaster was positively scrofulous. But not Sebastian. Or did he have one, rather a stubborn one at the back of his neck? I think, now, that he did. Narcissus, with one pustule."
In Greek myth, Narcissus—a storied, infamous beauty—became so entranced by his own reflection in a pool that he refused food, held captive by his own image. In this manner, Narcissus wasted away until death. It is from the name “Narcissus” that the English language derives “narcissistic,” an adjective implying detrimental self-centeredness.
Anthony's choice to compare Sebastian to Narcissus foreshadows Sebastian's ill-spirit and convalescence. Like Narcissus, Sebastian is obsessed with fleeting human qualities: youth, beauty, and all the irresponsibility that accompanies them. He is attractive, intelligent, and wealthy—every quality a person could hope for—but remains disenchanted with the realm of adulthood, refusing to enter it. Consequently, the narrative of Brideshead Revisited punishes Sebastian as its Narcissus.
It is also worth noting that traditional, conservative perspectives on masculinity often posit war as a catalyst for maturity. Sebastian is an antithesis to traditional masculinity in Brideshead Revisited. Rejecting this vision of masculinity, along with war and violence, may hold Sebastian back from "development" as defined by the social conventions he eschews.
Related Themes:
Part 1, Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Sebastian's Ruin:
In Chapter 1, Part 5, Charles uses foreshadowing to allude to Sebastian’s future fall from grace, in the eyes of Lady Marchmain, the Flyte family, and "polite" English society:
Sebastian got very drunk before dinner in his mother’s house, and thus marked the beginning of a new epoch in his melancholy record, another stride in the flight from his family which brought him to ruin.
The young aesthete’s tragic isolation and flight appears foretold, even in Sebastian's name ("Flyte" sounds like "flight"). His drunkenness is another stride in his headlong run towards alcoholism and social exile.
It is important to note that Sebastian’s ruin is not necessarily a moral failing, but rather an inability (or unwillingness) to participate in so-called polite society. Sebastian despises tradition, spurning convention and religion and propriety. He hates his family for the restraints they place on him. Sebastian particularly loathes his mother, who, despite wanting the best for her son, fixes the chains of religious compliance and social duty tight around his neck.
It is a tall order to blame society for Sebastian’s ills. He is not faultless, but neither is he entirely at fault. Sebastian is a man searching for liberation in a world that offers constraint at every turn. Many in similar circumstances do not foster addiction—but is it any wonder that he does?
Related Themes:
Part 2, Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Julia:
At the beginning of Part 2, Chapter 2, Charles begins his narration with foreshadowing, alluding to the fact that Julia will play a far greater role in the events of Brideshead Revisited than she has thus far:
It is time to speak of Julia, who till now has played an intermittent and somewhat enigmatic part in Sebastian’s drama. It was thus she appeared to me at the time, and I to her. [....] She told me later that she had made a kind of note of me in her mind, as, scanning the shelf for a particular book, one will sometimes have one’s attention caught by another, take it down, glance at the title page and, saying “I must read that, too, when I’ve the time,” replace it, and continue the search.
Charles’s choice of phrasing is noteworthy: he states that “it is time to speak of Julia,” using a tone that verges on begrudging. Though she is undoubtedly a significant part of the story, her role in Charles’s life appears difficult for him to broach. This reluctance foreshadows Charles’s complicated relationship with Julia, and the no-doubt tumultuous emotions associated with their affair.
In the above passage, Charles also recalls a simile Julia once used to describe their relationship. She likened him to a book—one she’d always intended to read but chose to save for later. Julia’s phrasing, as Charles recalls it, comes across as slightly too intimate for simple friends or acquaintances. While her choice of words does not explicitly foreshadow the affair, the passage does allude to a deeper relationship than the reader has yet been shown.
Related Themes:
