The Trials of Robbie and Cecilia: Intertextuality in 'Atonement,' from Shakespeare to Richardson Amy Hale 11th Grade

Woven throughout Ian McEwan’s ‘Atonement’ are intertextual references, used to not only enrich the reader’s experience but to present the love affair between Robbie and Cecilia as indeed, all too familiar, classic and timeless in its predictability. McEwan utilises characters and themes from texts such ‘Twelfth Night’ (William Shakespeare) and ‘Clarissa’ (Samuel Richardson) to draw parallels between their respective love stories, but additionally to portray Cecilia and Robbie’s as another classic case of two forlornly hopeful lovers. Moreover, McEwan incorporates the notion of a ‘book within a book,’ with the “Trials of Arabella,” (as written by Briony Tallis) to illustrate the gleaming idea of possibility and fate, in reference to romance.

Thought the metafictive reference to Malvolio from ‘Twelfth Night,’ McEwan is demonstrating the remarkable similarities between these two tortured lovers who both forget their ways and act foolishly in love. During the scene where Robbie’s desk is described in minute detail, McEwan implores the reader to see Robbie as Malvolio; and foreshadows the tragic events to come. In fact, McEwan writes that there was a photo of “the cast of Twelfth night on the college lawn, [Robbie] as Malvolio,...