Moral Stupidity in Ian McEwan’s Atonement
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1308.08Keywords:
Atonement, McEwan, moral stupidity, foolishness, MiddlemarchAbstract
This paper argues that the major catalyst behind Briony Tallis’ rape accusation in Atonement is due to the ethical issue of moral stupidity. The paper examines why Briony Tallis, the protagonist of Atonement, accuses Robbie Hunter for the rape of her sixteen- year-old cousin, Lola. For much of the scholarship on Atonement, debates on the moral implications of Briony’s accusation have dominated, but none of these studies have examined why Briony indicts Robbie for Lola’s rape, destroying the lives of both Robbie and Cecelia. Therefore, this paper offers a nuanced explanation of Briony’s allegation and actions afterwards. Consequently, Briony is consistently described as stupid both as a child and as an adult and the word 'stupid' is repeated fourteen times in the text, while 'stupidity,' repeated five times. Briony’s behavior early in the text is represented as a serious ethical shortcoming that impedes her own moral compass which is also based on class prejudice, jealousy, and irresponsibility. McEwan embeds Briony’s moral shortcoming in a general atmosphere within the novel of youthful foolishness and naïveté. Unfortunately, it is because of the lack of moral direction that the rape takes place and Briony, out of her blinded ego, indicts an innocent young man.
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