Behind all of this desertion and heartbreak is the sin of drunkenness. The Bible warns: Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging; whoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Proverbs 20:1 The strong drink imprisons Sebastian, chaining him with a bondage he cannot break. For all the Marchmains' religiosity no one knows the Bible, and the result is chaos. Sadly ,there is no one in the book who can lead him to deliverance and the Deliverer.

By the time love begins to take clearer shape in Brideshead Revisited, it has already been announced, tested, and wounded. That preparation has a name. Sebastian Flyte. Before Julia becomes the object of Charles Ryder’s desire, Sebastian is the one who opens the world of Brideshead, the one through whom Charles first learns what it means to love — and what it costs to love something fragile. If Julia will later represent love resisted,Sebastian is love given — and broken