Marshall & Briony Escaping Punishment

Q: Paul Marshall Escaping Punishment in *Atonement*

*Atonement* is unusual as a crime text in that the criminals escape punishment for their crimes. Instead, it is the innocent who suffer: Robbie Turner is imprisoned for a crime he does not commit.

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Paul Marshall Escaping Punishment in Atonement

Atonement is unusual as a crime text in that the criminals escape punishment for their crimes. Instead, it is the innocent who suffer: Robbie Turner is imprisoned for a crime he does not commit.

Going against crime conventions

This absence of appropriate punishment goes against the conventions of crime fiction.
While the crime genre offers readers the thrill of experiencing transgressions against society’s moral and legal codes, it largely upholds a conservative view of morality: by the end of the story, the guilty must be punished.
Atonement flouts this expectation.

Marshall's punishment for his guilt

Briony wonders whether Marshall has been punished by guilt (“Perhaps he’s spent a lifetime making amends” p357) and his charitable foundation which promotes medical research may suggest a need to atone for his sins.

"Mausoleum" metaphor

Briony’s description of the Marshalls’ marriage as a “mausoleum” may also indicate a form of punishment, as if it is a kind of living death.
However, there is no escaping the enormity of Marshall’s crimes (the rape of a minor and allowing an innocent man to go to jail) or the fact that he evades justice for them.

Briony Escaping Punishment in Atonement

Briony also evades justice for her crime while her ‘victims’, Robbie and Cecilia, both suffer.

Briony's success as a author

In Part Four, we see her as a successful novelist and an esteemed family matriarch (female head of the family), celebrated by her friends and extended family with a performance of The Trials of Arabella in her old home, now Tilney’s Hotel.

Briony's trauma as a nurse

However, you could make the case that Briony endures a form of punishment.
‘Her’ novel is a final act of atonement and points to her experiencing a lifetime of guilt, first indicated by her decision to follow in her sister’s footsteps and train as a nurse. The trauma she undergoes when caring for the critically wounded can be seen as a form of penance, although readers may well judge that her suffering at no point matches up to Robbie’s.

Briony's apology scene

Briony writes a scene in which she is able to apologise to Robbie and Cecilia for her actions: “I’m very very sorry. I’ve caused you such terrible distress” (p348).
But this scene, tragically, never happens, as both Robbie and Cecilia die before Briony has the courage to apologise.

Barrier to the truth: Lola

Her novel won't offer her the satisfaction of finally revealing the truth in her lifetime: she is well aware that Lola will outlive her and will prevent publication in her lifetime. The final word of the novel is “sleep” but readers will question how peaceful Briony’s rest will be.