Vyvyan Ayrs

Featured in

Letters from Zedelghem
(Chapters 2, 10)

Portrayed by

Jim Broadbent

Vyvyan Ayrs is an aged and infirmed composer whose works have been played and praised throughout Europe. He is the master of Chateau Zedelghem, and is featured in Letters from Zedelghem - which consists of chapters 2 and 10.

BiographyEdit

Vyvyan Ayrs lives as the master of Chateau Zedelghem with his wife, Jocasta, and his daughter, Eva. Robert Frobisher, in "Letters from Zedelghem," arrives at his door one summer and is taken on as a musical assistant. He accepts Frobisher into his household and together they compose a critically acclaimed concerto. Ayrs is initially portrayed as a senile, old fool, but the reader realizes towards the end of the second portion of the story that Ayrs has been manipulating the situation with Frobisher from the very beginning. When Frobisher refuses to continue to play Ayrs' games, he is banished from the Chateau.

QuotesEdit

"Any society's upper crust is riddled with immorality, how else d'you think they keep their power?"

—Vyvyan Ayrs

Film portrayalEdit

In the film adaptation, Vyvyan Ayrs is portrayed by actor Jim Broadbent.

Image GalleryEdit