7.7.1

Marshall & Briony Escaping Punishment

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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.

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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.
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Social commentary: Marshall's reward

  • Paul Marshall is never held accountable for his actions and is instead rewarded by the British establishment when he and his wife are made Lord and Lady Marshall.
  • McEwan may be offering some pointed social commentary here, illustrating the corruption at the heart of British society which, in 1999, may have thought it was free from the rigid class divisions of the first half of the twentieth century but which was, in reality, just as susceptible to the influence of great wealth as the world of Part One.
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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.
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"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.

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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.

Jump to other topics

1Introduction to Atonement

2Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part One

3Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part Two

4Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part Three

5Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part Four

5.1Epilogue: London, 1999 - Pages 353-371

6Key Character Profiles

7Key Themes

8Writing Techniques

9Context

10Critical Debates

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