Research Paper On Atonement

Based on the title of this movie, Atonement, we know this film sets out to tell the story of redemption. Throughout this movie we see Briony seeking atonement for her actions done as a young girl. The plot centers around a 13-year-old girl, Briony Tallis, who misunderstands several events and wrongly accuses Robbie, her older sister’s lover, of rape. Several reasonable misunderstandings confuse the young girl’s perspective on the romance forming between her older sister, Cecilia, and Robbie. Briony takes Robbie’s strong liking for her sister to be that of a ‘sex maniac’ which leads to the mistaken identification of a rapist she catches in the act. When she testifies to the Police she says, ‘I know who it was’, believing it to be Robbie. The police ask her,

This atonement Briony is seeking relates to the atonement we see in the Gospels of the New Testament. Christian Theology defines atonement as the reconciliation of God and humankind through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. The New Testament makes it abundantly clear that it is Christ who made atonement for us, and that we cannot make atonement for our sins in and of ourselves. Briony is unable to receive forgiveness and grace from earthly beings even after repeated repentance. We see her longing for an eternal atonement or forgiveness for her actions, but as Christians we know that can only come from God through Jesus Christ. While this movie doesn’t portray that Briony receives eternal atonement, it does show that she feels she has reached some level of atonement for her actions in the final scene when she appears to be vindicated by this “final act of kindness.” The movie revealed the great depth of our hopelessness in which there is no atonement; however, the love of Christ reaches down to us regardless and offers us the hope of reconciliation and grace we so long