Paul Marshall & Lola as Criminals

Paul Marshall is the true criminal in *Atonement*, although he evades all responsibility for his crimes.

*Atonement* devotes much more time to the causes and consequences of Briony’s crime of accusing Robbie of being Lola’s rapist.

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Criminals in Atonement - Paul Marshall

Paul Marshall is the true criminal in Atonement, although he evades all responsibility for his crimes.

McEwan keeps Marshall on the margins of the narrative. As a result, he is a rather shadowy character.
We only see from his perspective in one brief moment (his waking from a dream on p60) but this is enough to make him appear a rather suspect, and possibly dangerous, character.
The narrative describes how Marshall awoke in a state of sexual excitement (“uncomfortably aroused”) from a dream involving his four young sisters.

Immediately after this, Marshall begins to ‘groom’ Lola, complimenting her on her clothes and telling her that she reminds him of his “favourite sister” (p61), a remark which carries uncomfortably sexual overtones when we recall his dream on the previous page.

Marshall’s sexual urges are also shown at the end of Chapter 5.
He gives Lola one of his chocolate Amo bars, using it to indulge in some inappropriately sexualised language (“You’ve got to bite it” p62).

There is a clear suggestion that Marshall takes a voyeuristic pleasure in watching Lola eat the Amo bar (he is described as “watching her closely”) with his excitement suggested by his “deep breath” and he way he “crossed and uncrossed his legs”.
Above all, Marshall seems to enjoy the element of control over Lola, shown by the commands he gives her (“Bite it”).

As well as the (probable) rape of a minor, and allowing an innocent man to go to prison, Marshall is guilty of other moral crimes.
- His Amo bars become a part of the standard-issue rations for every British soldier, something which makes him enormously wealthy when World War 2 breaks out and general conscription is introduced. The brief reference to the remains of an Amo bar in Briony’s hospital is a bitter reminder of how Marshall profits from the unimaginable suffering of others.

Atonement devotes much more time to the causes and consequences of Briony’s crime of accusing Robbie of being Lola’s rapist.

The motives behind Briony’s false accusation are complex.
Our knowledge that the entire narrative has been shaped by Briony as ‘author’ further complicates our understanding of her behaviour.

The older Briony’s description of her 13-year-old self as “that busy, priggish, conceited little girl” (p367) suggests that she sees her crime as stemming from a need to impose an order (or story) on events, a childish naivety around sex and a desire to be the centre of attention.

Part One of the novel certainly makes the case for each of these factors.
We see Briony’s perception of Robbie gradually change from hero (the figures of the “humble woodcutter” and “medical prince” are almost certainly based on Robbie) to “maniac” due to a series of tragic misinterpretations.

But Briony as author may not be completely honest with us.
She discounts Robbie’s “theory” that her accusation against him has its roots in her infatuation with him and her feelings of rejection when she sees his relationship with Cecilia develop.
Joanne Watkiss has suggested that Briony’s crime stems from “her repressed desires, in particular her love for her sister’s lover, Robbie” (The Trials of Briony: Gothic Desire in Ian McEwan’s ‘Atonement’, 2016)