Coming to Age as a Skeptic and a Believer

This week we visited Oxford were we went punting, Eltham Palace, and Hampton Court Palace.  We used those places to relate back to the novel this week called Brideshead Revisited. 

"'That fountain is a rather tender spot with the landlady.'" 

The fountain in the the novel was shut off at the end. When it was flowing, it represented life and the Roman Catholic faith blossoming.  When it was shut off, it was like the demise of the religion.  Charles Ryder comes of age as a believer and as a skeptic when he prays at the end, trying to return to his Roman Catholic roots. 

The novel was partly set around the University of Oxford.  On our visit, we learned that when a student was accepted, they officially joined the University of Oxford when they had recognized the Queen as the Queen and became a member of the Church of England.  This was almost a force of coming of age as a believer by the University of Oxford. 

The Great Hall at Christ Church, Oxford. Oh, this was also where parts of Harry Potter were filmed!!!!

Sebastian's father in Brideshead Revisited was a man of wealth, prestige, power, and influence. Sending Sebastion to Christ's church showed that he wanted and expected the same for his son, and he believed that is where he belonged. Whether Sebastian was a skeptic or not and believed in his own abilities about himself going there, we don't know.  But we do know that he did not stay, so maybe he was a skeptic about it all.  

Eltham Palace

Their huge hornbeam ceiling in the Great Hall. 

The Eltham Palace is what I thought of as "the time machine palace."  So many different eras were able to experienced here, as well as many different architecture styles including tudor and baroque.  The family that lived here was trying to communicate their new values. 

The different architecture styles represented different eras within the UK.  As far as religion goes, coming to age as a skeptic in a believer is seen in these styles because of the eras.  Each era is represented by a different leader and what they believed in, Protestantism or Catholicism. They also faced social and economic pressures of aristocratic people, believing in god and being associated with a church that is no longer aristocratic. 

Hampton Court Palace

"My summer in Brideshead was my conversion to the Baroque."

-Charles Ryder

This was actually a very small portion of the painting on the wall that stretched all around the room and up to the ceiling. What this painting says is that William had his army (pictured on the bottom) and the top is the nation trying to protect what they stood for.  What we learned is that this was William's way of saying "Protestantism is here to stay and I have the power to make it happen." This was something that Charles Ryder had to struggle with--choosing which faith to believe in when the nation believed in one thing and he another.  Also, the flip-flopping between the national faith.