By David Bittner I

EVELYN WAUGH NEWSLETTER AND STUDIES

Volume 24, Number 2 Autumn, 1990

SEBASTIAN AND CHARLES-MORE THAN FRIENDS? By David Bittner I stand by my original statement, quoted by John Osborne in the winter 1989 issue of EWN, that many-but not all-students of Brideshead Revisited consider Sebastian to be a homosexual (7). The conclusion "many students" of the novel draw about Sebastian's sexuality would seem to be based on a kind of new critical approach to the text of Brides head Revisited, which never mentions the words "homosexual" or "homosexuality" but certainly provides the kind of subtle cues that make it tempting to interpret Sebastian-and Charles-in such a light. In my own essay of autumn 1987 I made such an interpretation of Sebastian based on his appearing to harbor an "inverted Oedipus complex," including warm feelings toward his father and hostility toward his mother (2). I originally wrote the paper for the religion in literature course of a liberal professor who interpreted Charles and Sebastian as homosexuals, and I believe it was under his influence that I made this passing observation in my essay on Lady Marchmain. Doubtless such an interpretation owes a debt to the prominence of the contemporary gay liberation movement, which was surely also, for instance, what led to the presentation of Charles and Sebastian as homosexuals in the 1982 PBS production of Brides head Revisited. The TV series includes scenes-none of which are in the novel-of Sebastian being kissed by Anthony Blanche at his Oxford luncheon party, Charles and Sebastian dancing with each other at Lord March main's palace in Venice, and the two young men practically snuggling together in a gondola. There is much in the text that gay liberationists or their sympathizers would doubtless use to try to identify homosexuality as the source of Sebastian's problems. It is well-known, for instance, from studies of alcoholism and drug abuse among various segments of the population, that homosexual men have a particular tendency to drown their frustrations in liquor, as Sebastian does. Sebastian's alcoholism is "obscurely motivated," says David Lodge (32), and homosexuality might strike some scholars as just the thing to explain his sickness. The facts that Sebastian is "ashamed" and "unhappy" (136) and is bothered by his "conscience" (127) are really never explained either, and no doubt for some scholars these all are signs which might seem to point to what psychiatrists today call a "sexual orientation disturbance." When Sebastian complains that all his life people have been "taking things away" from him (27), it is tempting to conclude that, among other things, he is referring to a deprivation of his masculinity. It is also true, of course; that men like Sebastian, who are of much above average appearance, frequently are characterized-or are thought to be characterized-by same-sex preferences. But I would like to point out that while a new critical approach to the text certainly thus permits this interpretation of Sebastian and Charles, it would also seem to be the case that authorial intention-that is, the aim of Waugh himself-is notto present the two boys as overt homosexuals. If we acknowledge the author's own implicit purpose, as well as the view of anyone who accepts the novel's meaning on its face, we cannot make the blanket statement that "everyone" makes a homosexual interpretation of the story. Certainly, as far as I am concerned, the preponderance of the evidence points to the presentation of Sebastian as a heterosexual. For one thing, it requires a greater leap of reason than I am prepared to make to assert that he could practice homosexuality without setting his family on edge about the fact. Lady March main is nobody's fool; if Sebastian were a homosexual she would know it, and if she knew it, would have to disapprove because of her strict Catholic principle. I cannot believe that Waugh would introduce Sebastian as a homosexual character and then not deal with the issue, as, for instance, by having Lady March main add this to "the sorrows she took with her daily to church" (189). Besides, if Waugh wanted to present Sebastian as a homosexual character, why doesn't he drawn him in the full lineaments of the role, as he does Anthony Blanche, "the aesthete par excellence" (32)? It is surely not Sebastian but Anthony, like Ambrose Silk in Put Out More Flags, whom Waugh intends in the tradition of the flamboyant, artistic homosexual. Anthony's homosexuality is established in the clearest terms. He makes a reference to his "English habits" (53), says he would enjoy being "manhandled" by the "meaty boys" who put him in Mercury (50), is reputed to have "dined with Proust and Gide" (French homosexual writers) (46), and frequents homosexual bars and houses of prostitution. (As Osborne points out-in lines which I must admit I never noticed previously-Anthony brags to Charles about having taken Sebastian to a homosexual prostitute in Marseilles [203], but we must remember that Anthony tells many lies about Sebastian,