Charlotte Corrigan
‘Plotting and calculation are central ingredients of crime
Atonement’. Explore the significance of plotting and calculation
as they are presented in the text.
‘Atonement’ is a complex post-modern crime novel conducted by an
omniscient narrator, McEwan’s guise, who deliberately manipulates the
reader consciously whilst deviating from the archetypal crime fiction
novel. Whilst it does indeed uphold some of the features of the crime
genre, the perpetrator seems to escape punishment and the resolution
arguably fails to satisfy the contemporary reader. McEwan carefully crafts
the ‘plotting and calculation’ to portray the importance of these
components in the novel and successfully lays down the foundations for
the crime novel. ‘Plotting and calculation’ seem to allude to the fact that
the central crime, which Briony commits, is premeditated, which cultivates
a sinister and uneasy tone which typifies crime genre. ‘Plotting and
calculation’ occupy significance within the text in varying ways, however,
the perpetrator of the novel, as a child, seems to be bound up in
circumstances that ultimately lead her to commit the crime of deception.
Circumstances, such as the absence of her father and her ailing mother,
are used to present her both as the criminal and the victim. Where the
novel deviates from traditional crime fiction is through the postmodernist
perspective that denies any order and unity to the plot, which can distract
from truth and reality.
The use of the narrator is an integral part of the novel which highlights the
scheming and planning of the protagonist, Briony. We see, through the
use of the third person, an account of the events that led to the wrongful
arrest and conviction of Robbie, an innocent, working-class young men.
The use of the fragmented narrative is used to control and challenge the
perspective of the reader and McEwan, through the assumed narrator of
Briony, manipulates the way we seen the event. Perhaps, Briony, uses her
position to prove that she has atoned for her crime and subsequently the
reader may be able to forgive her, ‘So in the book, I wanted to give Robbie
and Cecilia what they lost out on in life. I’d like to think this isn’t weakness
or ... evasion … but a final act of kindness’. Using the noun ‘act’ gives a
circular structure to the novel which links back to her original performance
in ‘The Trials of Arabella’. Furthermore, the abstract noun ‘kindness’
perhaps captures that this is Briony’s final attempt to completely atone for
her sins and possibly suggests that this guilt has plagued her throughout
her life. In the same way, the use of structural features in the poem
‘Porphyria’s Lover’ controls the systematic revelation of the events of the
murder of his lover. Through the poem, the Victorian reader can witness
Porphyria’s lover relive the events of the night in which he murders
Porphyria and sits with her dead body in the narrative present. This
therefore emphasises the ‘plotting and calculating’ response to his
actions. Deception seems to be a significant element of crime fiction and
in the play of ‘Hamlet’, the eponymous hero uses the court scene to feign
madness as he seems to disguise the fact that he is attempting to entrap
Claudius and prove that he was responsible for the murder of his father.
‘Plotting and calculation are central ingredients of crime
Atonement’. Explore the significance of plotting and calculation
as they are presented in the text.
‘Atonement’ is a complex post-modern crime novel conducted by an
omniscient narrator, McEwan’s guise, who deliberately manipulates the
reader consciously whilst deviating from the archetypal crime fiction
novel. Whilst it does indeed uphold some of the features of the crime
genre, the perpetrator seems to escape punishment and the resolution
arguably fails to satisfy the contemporary reader. McEwan carefully crafts
the ‘plotting and calculation’ to portray the importance of these
components in the novel and successfully lays down the foundations for
the crime novel. ‘Plotting and calculation’ seem to allude to the fact that
the central crime, which Briony commits, is premeditated, which cultivates
a sinister and uneasy tone which typifies crime genre. ‘Plotting and
calculation’ occupy significance within the text in varying ways, however,
the perpetrator of the novel, as a child, seems to be bound up in
circumstances that ultimately lead her to commit the crime of deception.
Circumstances, such as the absence of her father and her ailing mother,
are used to present her both as the criminal and the victim. Where the
novel deviates from traditional crime fiction is through the postmodernist
perspective that denies any order and unity to the plot, which can distract
from truth and reality.
The use of the narrator is an integral part of the novel which highlights the
scheming and planning of the protagonist, Briony. We see, through the
use of the third person, an account of the events that led to the wrongful
arrest and conviction of Robbie, an innocent, working-class young men.
The use of the fragmented narrative is used to control and challenge the
perspective of the reader and McEwan, through the assumed narrator of
Briony, manipulates the way we seen the event. Perhaps, Briony, uses her
position to prove that she has atoned for her crime and subsequently the
reader may be able to forgive her, ‘So in the book, I wanted to give Robbie
and Cecilia what they lost out on in life. I’d like to think this isn’t weakness
or ... evasion … but a final act of kindness’. Using the noun ‘act’ gives a
circular structure to the novel which links back to her original performance
in ‘The Trials of Arabella’. Furthermore, the abstract noun ‘kindness’
perhaps captures that this is Briony’s final attempt to completely atone for
her sins and possibly suggests that this guilt has plagued her throughout
her life. In the same way, the use of structural features in the poem
‘Porphyria’s Lover’ controls the systematic revelation of the events of the
murder of his lover. Through the poem, the Victorian reader can witness
Porphyria’s lover relive the events of the night in which he murders
Porphyria and sits with her dead body in the narrative present. This
therefore emphasises the ‘plotting and calculating’ response to his
actions. Deception seems to be a significant element of crime fiction and
in the play of ‘Hamlet’, the eponymous hero uses the court scene to feign
madness as he seems to disguise the fact that he is attempting to entrap
Claudius and prove that he was responsible for the murder of his father.
