Attending the Wedding

Briony takes a day off from the hospital and travels to Clapham to attend the wedding of Lola Quincey and Paul Marshall. She hides at the back of the church, watching the ceremony. She is filled with a mixture of guilt and horror, knowing that she helped make this marriage possible by falsely accusing Robbie. She considers interrupting the service to confess, but she lacks the courage. The wedding is a mockery of justice, a public celebration of a union built on a lie. Briony's presence is a silent protest, but it is also a testament to her own cowardice.