#boy mulcaster

[seekerofthemuse]

Thoughts?😶

[bridesheadcastle]

An unflattering portrayal of a brother-in-law [Auberon Herbert], 'Boy' Mulcaster, featuring some of his characteristics appears in Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited.

[bridesheadcastle]

We are The Happy People. We are from Stockholm and play pop music. We play it with our guitars and our moog and what have you... Sometimes we play it in front of people and sometimes we record it. When we don't we just sit in our slippers drinking coffee or tea, hoping that those hearing our songs will think we're as good as we think ourselves...

[bridesheadcastle]

Boy Mulcaster

Boy Mulcaster's role in the novel is often underrated. I see him as a force of circumstances which drives Charles to his destination: faith. Just look at the most obvious points:

it was Boy who took them to Old Hundreth and it was boy who insisted on taking a car - which led to Sebastian's disaster;

it was Boy who convinced Charles to be "good chaps like the dead chaps" - which led to Julia learning about Charles being in England, and Charles going to Fez;

it was Boy's sister Charles married and it was Boy who arranged the divorce.

There are subtler issues, like Boy's part in the story of Anthony Blanche's warning against charm. Charles becomes less convinced with what Antoin told him the night before when Sebastian breaks his spell – and then:

"Did he? How silly. Aloysius wouldn't approve of that at all, would you, you pompous old bear?"

Exactly as Antoin told Charles. Chapter I.2 ends here in the first edition, but the second edition has one additional sentence:

And then Boy Mulcaster came into the room.

[bridesheadcastle]

Viscount Mulcaster and Lady Celia

From the comments:

Wilson is wrong, Waugh correct. Early in Book 2 (page 221 in my 2/6 Penguin)Lady Celia says "father and mother were terribly upset" about Boy's engagement. So Viscount Mulcaster has a living father, therefore the father is at least an earl.

...

I have just checked my DeBrett and if Lady Celia Ryder's father was an earl, which made her brother, Boy a Viscount, then Waugh was correct to give her the courtesy title of Lady.