Content Warning: This section of the guide contains references to anti-gay attitudes typical of the period, alcohol misuse, religious intolerance, racism, and pregnancy loss.

Charles Ryder is the narrator and protagonist of Brideshead Revisited. Despite his father’s apparent wealth (Charles receives a higher-than-usual annual allowance as a student), Charles has been raised middle class. He initially undertakes a more practical degree in history before choosing to pursue art in Paris. Charles is scornful of social climbing in others (such as Rex Mottram) and often mimics the social mores of the aristocracy, as when he and Sebastian attempt to learn about wines together. Despite this, he longs to be part of Sebastian’s world (due to, the novel implies, his romantic and possibly sexual attraction to Sebastian). However, Charles grows frustrated with the upper class’s insistence on politeness and image over substance. He butts heads with Lady Marchmain over this issue when Sebastian’s alcohol misuse becomes problematic.

Charles is an agnostic who spends most of the novel baffled by his companions’ religious devotion. He frequently challenges the specific tenets of Catholicism as absurd. Charles is certain in the rightness of his own perspective, a matter that relates to his (ir)religious convictions and his patriotism.