Anthony Blanche
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Anthony Blanche is a fictional character in the novel Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh.
[edit] Profile
Anthony Blanche appears as a non-central character of great importance in what has perhaps become Waugh’s most famous novel. In the enclosed worlds of the English aristocracy and Oxford University, he is an interloper. Prior to Oxford, he had spent two years at Eton College and, after being expelled for sexual misconduct, spent the rest of his adolescence globe-trotting with his mother, her two chauffeurs and her pekinese. He is of small build, not handsome and appears to be of Southern European background (he describes himself as a dago) as well as perhaps Jewish. He is sexually ambiguous, describing himself as ‘an invert’ and appearing to be both homosexual and flamboyantly camp, he nevertheless claims an illicit affair with at least one European noblewoman. He is a raconteur, a gossip and a critic.
Anthony Blanche appears just three times in the course of the novel. Each of his appearances is a virtual monologue in which, under the guise of lively gossip, he subjects the other characters to searching criticism and issues warnings to Charles Ryder, the novel's protagonist on the nature of the English personality, its charm and its (pernicious) relation to Art.
At the first meeting, Anthony and Charles have dinner together. Anthony tells the tale of how he was debagged and ducked in the fountain at Oxford by Boy Mulcaster and his friends, whom Anthony regards as the last word in aristocratic English oafishness. We learn that he has had illicit affairs, has been challenged to a duel, has traveled widely in Europe, reads the latest fashionable novels, collects objets d’art and is wholly brave and self-possessed. He goes on to discuss the Marchmain family and their son Sebastian Flyte, with whom Charles is becoming entangled. He seems indirectly to be poisoning Charles against one whom he loves.
A long interval passes during which Anthony is mentioned as having been encountered by Sebastian and his chaperone whilst travelling in the Mediterranean and Morocco. Anthony reappears briefly to confirm that Sebastian is becoming steadily more alcoholic and has taken a disreputable companion.
When Anthony makes his final appearance close to the end of the story, most of the early relationships have collapsed. Charles has become a successful painter, first of English country houses, later of foreign subjects and landscapes. Anthony has seen Charles’ latest exhibition of ‘barbaric’ and ‘unhealthy’ pictures from South America and is disappointed; they are “charm again, my dear, simple creamy English charm, playing tigers”. He makes his final, chilling statement:
“I took you out to dinner to warn you of charm. I warned you expressly and in great detail about the Flyte family. Charm is the great English blight. It does not exist outside these damp islands. It spots and kills anything it touches. It kills love, it kills art; I greatly fear, my dear Charles, it has killed you.”
Waugh juxtaposes the clean, sterile ‘charm’ of England against Anthony’s vibrant degeneracy, his ambiguity, his ruthless and joyful self-expression. He is a queen, a crossbreed, a parvenu, a commentator and a product of flamboyant self-invention.
[edit] Modern portrayal
Anthony Blanche was portrayed by British actor Nickolas Grace in the acclaimed 1981 television adaptation of Brideshead Revisited. His relatively short performance is perhaps one of the most memorable in the history of British television drama.
