Taylor answers “Why did Briony lie about the rape? She had...”

Tammy Simms asked this question about Atonement:

Why did Briony lie about the rape? She had to know it was Paul Marshall because when she attends Lola's and Paul's wedding she has a flash back to where they both had scratches and figures out it was paul. So she had to know before that it was paul and not Robbie? Was it jealously because she does tell Robbie she loves him and remembers this moment when she is seventy. Why do you think Briony lied?

Taylor It wasn’t out of jealousy. When she’s remembering at the wedding, she thinks about the day she told Robbie she loved him, and she said she promptly fo…moreIt wasn’t out of jealousy. When she’s remembering at the wedding, she thinks about the day she told Robbie she loved him, and she said she promptly forgot about it a day later. Showing that it was just a childish crush and not any kind of motive (which Robbie suspects at one point).

I think it became very clear to her sometime in those five years that it was Paul, but it wasn’t right away. I’m her head, everything that was going on between Robbie and Cecilia was sinister. She had to “protect” her sister. She couldn’t fathom her sister “disgracing” herself by undressing in front of a man or tolerating the things he wrote in his letter. So to Briony, Robbie must have been sexually obsessed and had some kind of evil power that her sister was powerless against (as was evident, to her, by findin them in the library).

At first, I think I’m her head she honestly was protecting her sister. I think it becomes clear in the description of the legal proceedings that she starts to doubt herself then.

I agree that she didn’t begin to understand the consequences of that she was doing. (less)

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