Briony Tallis Characterisation Flashcards
“Written by her in a two day tempest of composition.”
Metaphor- signifies the passion and creative power that went into the crafting of the melodrama. Her imagination can be productive but also destructive
Allusion to The Tempest- Antonio’s attempt to kill Prospero was both political treason and brotherly betray, foreshadowing Briony’s betrayal and crime.
Tempest- metaphor for Briony as she causes the destruction of her family but also the approaching war that will equally fracture this nuclear family’s upper middle class lifestyle.
“Briony had arranged three stools in a row, while she herself jammed her rump into an ancient baby’s high chair- a bohemian touch that gave her an tennis umpires advantage of height”
High chair- B positions herself as physically higher than her cousins to create a sense of power and control. Metaphorically views herself as higher/pathological desire to disavow her innocence.
Arranged (verb)- meticulous planning/constructed persona
“Tennis umpire”- responsible for imposing the rules of tennis signifying B needs for control, regulation and rules.
“Ancient Baby’s high chair” - oxymoronic/ridiculousness and impracticality of an ancient baby’s chair that has outlived its utility.Narrative voice undercuts any attempt at pretence, reminder of her age as it was most likely for her/she cannot rise above her station.
“Briony’s [bedroom] was a shrine to her controlling demon.”
Shrine (noun)- signifies a holy place as foisted with a divine/sacred figure. Her room is a physical manifestation of her controlling nature. Self worshiping/childish notion of being the centre of one’s world. B contemplates this power she has.
Demon (noun)- ominous connotations/suggesting an existence of a darker underlying persona.
Juxtaposition of shrine/demon- suggestive of a internal dilemma. B wants to be good but her actions are always destructive and problematic because of this demon (filter)
“Her wish for a harmonious organised world denied her of the reckless possibilities of wrongdoing”
The juxtaposition between “harmonious” and “reckless”- express B desire for chaos and excitement within her otherwise dull world (linked with her privilege) She consumes and creates thrilling, gripping literature however her life lacks fantasy and excitement causing dissatisfaction.
The verb wish/denied further accentuates this conflict between wanting chaos but being firmly rooted in stability. This conflict manifests in what Cecilia pathologises as “self destruction” (Irony- This harmony is ephemeral and is absent in adulthood/war)
“Was everyone really as alive as she was? For example, did her sister really matter to herself, was she as valuable to herself as Briony was? Was being Cecelia just as vivid an affair as being Briony?”
Rhetorical questions- B wrestles with her own mind and the mind of others, unable to connect the two. She delves deeper into character creation which culminates in her telling the fountain scene from 3 diff perspectives. Unfortunately this does not lead to deeper introspection but a writing exercise.
B philosophising other peoples consciousness is a contemplation of the theory of the mind.
The neat and tidy world that B constructs is disrupted by others again actions this prompts her reflection signifying her need to mature. (Childish egotism)
“How can a novelist achieve atonement when, with her absolute power of deciding outcomes she is also God?”
McEwan invites readers to consider the role of omniscient narrator in constructing character and event. Briony’s admits she holds power in the way the story is told but grapples with this power and the need for atonement. The rhetorical questions highlights her uncertainty at her choices. The assignment of the female gender to god is postmodern choice, as old certainties of beliefs are constantly challenged.
“The sequence was illogical- the drowning scene, followed by a rescue, should have preceded the marriage proposal?”
Briony’s understanding of the world is completely shaped by the narratives, values and morality of her childhood fairy tales.
The modal verb/ noun sequence highlights how she sees the world as a story and casts Robbie and Cecelia into archetypes of “princes and “woodcutter”.
When her expectations are upended, she is confused by the illogical behaviour. When Robbie cannot fit into his archetype he becomes a maniac.
McEwan disavows ideas of moral absolutism and presents B as limited. There is a darker suggesting B will misinterpret reality to fit in with her ongoing mental narrative.
“It was temptation for her to be magical and dramatic and to regard what she had witnessed as a tableau mounted for her alone, a special moral for her wrapped in a mystery”
“Temptation” negative connotations she realises her impulses to be
“Magical and dramatic” can be harmful. This negotiation between realism and “mystery” highlight her childishness.
“Tableau mounted for her alone” - represents her childish egotism.
“A special moral for her wrapped in a mystery” ironically this moment does serve as “moral” but her egotism and naiveity bars her from seeing this, the syntax of the sentence- mystery as the final world would rather focus on enigma rather than morality.
“She could write the scene 3 times over, from three points of view, her excitement was in in the prospect of freedom, of being delivered from the combrous struggle between good and evil, heroes and villains”
Meta textual technique as the novel draws attention to its own composition and methods. Postmodernism embraces metatextuality but also rejects the universal validity of binary oppositions.
Power of writing- deep excitement at this prospect of control.
“The truth had become as ghostly as invention.”
Simile
Ghostly- mythological element suggesting that the truth is not real and is invention of the mind instead of something rooted in reality.
“Briony had crossed the bride to the island.. and beginning to disappear among the lakeshore trees.”
The motif reoccurs throughout the novel. Once when Briony is delivering Robbie letter, when she stumbles across the assault, Paul and Lola’s wedding. This motif comes to represent Briony’s in once and the ways in which it is destroyed but also retained. This image could represent a retrospective desire to return to innocence.
“This was not the first time she had rescued Briony from self destruction.”
Cecelia pathologises the reckless, selfish and maladaptive behaviours of Briony as self destructive. Sympathetic portrayal as this destruction is directed at the self/ symptomatic of neglect. The verb “rescued”- binary hero villain- B is a victim of her own behaviour.
“She had vanished into an inner world of which writing was no more the protective crust which even a loving mother could penetrate.”
Diction “vanished” suggests absence, disappearance, loss of oneself. Revaluation of Briony’s maladaptive behaviour- what is she sheltering herself from “insignificance”.
