10.2.4
Feminist Readings: Male & Female Sexuality
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Male Sexuality in Atonement: Paul Marshall
The plot of Atonement revolves around a sexual assault – Paul Marshall’s probable rape of the 15-year-old Lola Quincey.
Marshall's grooming of Lola
- Marshall is depicted as a predator, grooming the vulnerable teenager with attention, compliments and a chocolate Amo bar.
- Through the figure of Marshall, male sexuality is portrayed as something dark and sinister.
Marshall's arousal
- In Chapter 5, we learn that Marshall awakes “uncomfortably aroused” (p60) after a dream involving all four of “his young sisters”, a revelation which suggests a disturbing sexual interest in children.
Marshall's pleasure watching Lola
- Marshall also takes an unhealthy pleasure in watching Lola eat the chocolate bar and uses language which is inappropriately sexualised and suggestive of violence: “You’ve got to bite it” (p62).
- Throughout, Marshall is in control, directing Lola’s actions.
Male & Female Sexuality: Robbie & Library Scene
The characterisation of Robbie provides a more positive representation of male sexuality.
Robbie's obscene note
- Although Lola and Briony condemn Robbie as a “maniac” after reading his obscene note to Cecilia sees and Emily shuns him because the moment is told from Robbie’s perspective, the reader knows that there is nothing sinister about it.
- Instead, we probably share Robbie’s “horror” at the realisation that he has given the obscene version to Briony.
Briony's perspective: library scene
- The scene in the library in which Robbie and Cecilia make love is viewed from two perspectives: Briony’s and then Robbie’s.
- Briony interprets the act as “an attack, a hand-to-hand fight” (p123), with the choice of verbs conveying her impression of Robbie using his superior strength to force Cecilia into submission: “pushed… trapped her… gripping”.
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Awkwardness from Robbie's perspective
- However, when the scene is re-told from Robbie’s perspective, we see the awkward tentativeness of their first touches and kisses (“There was some inexpert fumbling” p135) before the moment of shared “stillness” after “the moment itself” (p137).
Cecilia in the library scene
- It is implied that, before the encounter in the library, Cecilia is a virgin: “She had no experience at all” (p136).
- However, Cecilia’s sexual desires are described in intimate detail. It is she who leads Robbie to the darkest corner in the library and, during their first moments of contact, it is Cecilia who is the most assertive: “she was pulling at his clothes… she bit him hard on his lower lip… she pulled his hair and pushed his face down against her breasts” (p135).
Portrayal of female seuxality
- Throughout the library scene, McEwan avoids the cliché of the male as dominant sexual partner and provides a sensitive portrayal of female sexuality.
1Introduction to Atonement
1.1Introduction & Background to Atonement
1.2Focus of Your Exam: Crime Texts
2Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part One
2.6Chapter 6
2.10Chapter 10
2.11Chapter 11
2.12Chapter 12
2.13Chapter 13
2.14Chapter 14
3Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part Two
3.1Pages 191-201: To the Farmhouse
3.2Pages 202-213: The Night in the Barn
3.3Pages 214-226: The Attack
3.4Pages 226-234: Robbie's Reflections
3.5Pages 234-246: To the Bridge over the Canal
3.6Pages 246-254: Arrival at Dunkirk
3.7Pages 254-265: To the Cellar
4Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part Three
4.1Pages 269-277: London, 1940
4.2Pages 277-286: Briony as Writer
4.3Pages 287-315: Victims of War
4.4Pages 315-327: Lola & Paul Marshall’s Wedding
4.5Pages 328-349: The Visit
5Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part Four
5.1Epilogue: London, 1999 - Pages 353-371
6Key Character Profiles
6.1Briony Tallis
6.2Robbie Turner
6.3Cecilia Tallis
6.5Paul Marshall
6.6Emily Tallis
7Key Themes
7.1Introduction to Crime Texts
7.2Crimes in Atonement
7.3Criminals in Atonement
7.4Victims in Atonement
7.5Detection in Atonement
7.6Settings in Atonement
7.7Guilt & Punishment in Atonement
8Writing Techniques
9Context
9.1Historical Context
9.2Social Context
9.3Literary Context
10Critical Debates
10.1Marxist Literary Criticism
Jump to other topics
1Introduction to Atonement
1.1Introduction & Background to Atonement
1.2Focus of Your Exam: Crime Texts
2Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part One
2.6Chapter 6
2.10Chapter 10
2.11Chapter 11
2.12Chapter 12
2.13Chapter 13
2.14Chapter 14
3Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part Two
3.1Pages 191-201: To the Farmhouse
3.2Pages 202-213: The Night in the Barn
3.3Pages 214-226: The Attack
3.4Pages 226-234: Robbie's Reflections
3.5Pages 234-246: To the Bridge over the Canal
3.6Pages 246-254: Arrival at Dunkirk
3.7Pages 254-265: To the Cellar
4Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part Three
4.1Pages 269-277: London, 1940
4.2Pages 277-286: Briony as Writer
4.3Pages 287-315: Victims of War
4.4Pages 315-327: Lola & Paul Marshall’s Wedding
4.5Pages 328-349: The Visit
5Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part Four
5.1Epilogue: London, 1999 - Pages 353-371
6Key Character Profiles
6.1Briony Tallis
6.2Robbie Turner
6.3Cecilia Tallis
6.5Paul Marshall
6.6Emily Tallis
7Key Themes
7.1Introduction to Crime Texts
7.2Crimes in Atonement
7.3Criminals in Atonement
7.4Victims in Atonement
7.5Detection in Atonement
7.6Settings in Atonement
7.7Guilt & Punishment in Atonement
8Writing Techniques
9Context
9.1Historical Context
9.2Social Context
9.3Literary Context
10Critical Debates
10.1Marxist Literary Criticism
Practice questions on Feminist Readings: Male & Female Sexuality
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- 3How is Cecilia described before the library scene? Multiple choice
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