Lavengro · Chapter
The Elder Brother's Departure explained
The narrator reflects on his elder brother's character, his artistic talent, and his decision to leave home for London and eventually Rome to see Raphael's Transfiguration.
What happens
The narrator reflects on his elder brother's character, his artistic talent, and his decision to leave home for London and eventually Rome to see Raphael's Transfiguration. The chapter contrasts the brother's bold, generous nature with the narrator's own, and includes a meditation on perseverance in one's calling.
Themes in this chapter
Adventure and Roving
The elder brother's restless desire to travel to London and Rome to see the great picture exemplifies the theme of adventure and the call of the unknown.
Honor and Morality
The brother's selfless act of saving a drowning man and the father's pride in his son's courage highlight themes of honor and moral duty.
Characters to notice
- Lavengro
The narrator reflects on his elder brother and his own feelings of admiration and longing.
- Captain Thomas Borrow
The father who gives his elder son a hundred and fifty pounds and his blessing, and is proud of his son's brave deed.
Key passages
“Of all human beings that I have ever known, that elder brother was the most frank and generous, ay, and the quickest and readiest, and the best adapted to do a great thing needful at the critical time, when the delay of a moment would be fatal.”
The narrator declares his elder brother the most open-hearted and decisive person he has ever met, always ready to act when immediate action is crucial.
High praise of the brother's character and quickness in emergencies.
“O ye gifted ones, follow your calling, for, however various your talents may be, ye can have but one calling capable of leading ye to eminence and renown; follow resolutely the one straight path before you, it is that of your good angel, let neither obstacles nor temptations induce ye to leave it; bound along if you can; if not on hands and knees follow it, perish in it, if needful; but ye need not fear that; no one ever yet died in the true path of his calling before he had attained the pinnacle.”
The narrator exhorts talented individuals to steadfastly pursue their true vocation, warning that straying from it forfeits lasting fame, and assuring them that perseverance leads to ultimate success.
A moral reflection on the necessity of dogged perseverance in one's chosen art or profession.