# VI: A Hitch in the Wedding Preparations explained — Decline and Fall

> Chapter companion for Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh.

## What happens

As Paul prepares for his wedding to Margot, the public and press celebrate the union, but society is divided. Paul chooses Sir Alastair as his best man and moves into the Ritz. Three days before the wedding, Margot informs Paul of a problem with the passports of three young women (including Mrs. Grimes) who are to be stewardesses on a ship. Paul travels to Marseilles to resolve the issue, bribing officials and signing them on as stewardesses. He returns to London on the morning of the wedding, tired and unshaven. At the Ritz, Inspector Bruce of Scotland Yard arrives with a warrant for Paul's arrest, leaving Paul, Sir Alastair, and Peter in shock.

## Themes in this chapter

### Social Class and Snobbery

Society is divided over Margot's wedding: the lower orders romanticize it, while aristocrats like Lady Circumference disdain it as ostentatious. Paul's rise from schoolmaster to millionaire is noted.

### Hypocrisy and Corruption

Paul bribes officials in Marseilles to resolve the passport issue, and the officials wink and make innuendos, showing corruption in bureaucracy.

### Marriage as Transaction

The wedding is treated as a social and financial transaction, with Paul's allowance set at two thousand a year and the public viewing it as a romantic elevation.

## Character check-ins

### Paul Pennyfeather

Paul is busy with wedding preparations, moves into the Ritz, and travels to Marseilles to fix passport issues for Margot's young women. He returns exhausted on his wedding morning and is arrested by Inspector Bruce.

### Margot Beste-Chetwynde

Margot is shopping for the wedding and manages the preparations. She calls Paul about the passport problem with the young women and remains loyal to her old acquaintances.

### Sir Alastair Digby-Vaine-Trumpington

Sir Alastair accepts the role of best man and borrows money for a new tall hat. He is present when Paul is arrested and tries to intervene.

### Peter Beste-Chetwynde

Peter visits Paul at the Ritz on the wedding morning, smartly dressed in his first morning-coat. He is shocked and turns pale when Paul is arrested.

### Arthur Potts

Potts declines being best man via letter from Geneva. He later meets Paul in Marseilles, but Paul avoids discussing the League of Nations with him.

### Lady Circumference

Lady Circumference disapproves of Margot's ostentatious second marriage and refuses to attend, lamenting the death of her son Tangent.

### Flossie Fagan

Now Mrs. Grimes, she and her two friends have passport issues in Marseilles. Paul helps them sign on as stewardesses.

### Inspector Bruce

Inspector Bruce arrives at the Ritz with a warrant for Paul's arrest, interrupting the wedding preparations.

## Key lines

> Perhaps they admired the enterprise and gallantry with which Margot, after ten years of widowhood, voluntarily exposed herself to a repetition of the hundred and one horrors of a fashionable wedding, or perhaps Paul's sudden elevation from schoolmaster to millionaire struck a still vibrant chord of optimism in each of them

The public may have admired Margot's courage in remarrying after ten years, or they may have been inspired by Paul's rapid rise from teacher to wealthy man.

_Reflects the theme of social mobility and public fascination with class ascent._

> It's maddenin' Tangent having died just at this time. People may think that that's my reason for refusin'. I can't imagine that anyone will go.

Lady Circumference complains that Tangent's death might be seen as her excuse for not attending the wedding, but she thinks no one will go anyway.

_Highlights Lady Circumference's snobbery and disdain for Margot's wedding._

> What an absurd thing the League of Nations seems to be! They seem to make it harder to get about instead of easier.

Paul criticizes the League of Nations for complicating travel rather than simplifying it.

_Shows Paul's frustration with bureaucracy and the League's perceived inefficacy._

> The warrant for your arrest has only this minute been issued.

Inspector Bruce informs Paul that a warrant for his arrest was just issued.

_Climactic moment that disrupts the wedding preparations._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/decline_and_fall_se/chapters/part-ii-vi-a-hitch-in-the-wedding-preparations
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/decline_and_fall_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/decline_and_fall_se/chapters