How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Here I am, I thought, back from the jungle, back from the ruins. Here, where wealth is no longer gorgeous and power has no dignity. Quomodo sedet sola civitas (for I had heard that great lament, which Cordelia once quoted to me in the drawing-room of Marchmain House, sung by a half-caste choif in Guatemala, nearly a year ago). (2.1.101)
Charles has come back to England to discover the "charm" which Anthony claimed so devastated him and his art.
Quote #8
In token of her appreciation the chief purser had been asked to our party and he, in token of his appreciation, had sent before him the life-size effigy of a swan, moulded in ice and filled with caviar. This chilly piece of magnificence now dominated the room, standing on a table in the centre, thawing gently, dripping at the beak into its silver dish. The flowers of the morning delivery hid as much as possible of the panelling (for this room was a miniature of the monstrous hall above). (2.1.137)
Just like Rex’s diamond-encrusted tortoise, the ice swan filled with caviar is the perfect picture of vulgar extravagance. To Charles, who has just returned from the jungles of South America, this must seem a particularly despicable display of wealth.
Quote #9
"‘He is quite sane and quite in earnest. He wanted to go to the bush, as far away as he could get, among the simplest people, to the cannibals. The Superior said: 'We have no cannibals in our missions.' He said, well, pygmies would do, or just a primitive village somewhere on a river; or lepers – lepers would do best of anything.’" (2.4.75)
Sebastian’s desires are similar to Charles’s reasons for heading to South America: he wants to escape "British charm."