The Mise-en-scène of Deception: A Dramaturgical Analysis of the Fountain Scene as the Stage for Briony Tallis's Fatal Misunderstanding in Atonement

Abstrak

This paper conducts a dramaturgical analysis of the pivotal fountain scene in Ian McEwan's novel Atonement, treating it as a theatrical performance that stages Briony Tallis's fatal misunderstanding. Using Erving Goffman's dramaturgical theory and principles of theatrical mise-en-scène, this research examines how the constituent elements of the scene the setting (the fountain), the props (the porcelain vase), the actors (Cecilia Tallis and Robbie Turner), and their performance are perceived and fundamentally misinterpreted by its primary audience, the thirteen-year-old Briony. The analysis argues that Briony is not a passive observer but an active, albeit flawed, director and playwright who imposes her own melodramatic narrative onto the events she witnesses. The setting of the fountain acts as a liminal stage where a private, ambiguous interaction is transformed into a public spectacle of perceived villainy and victimhood. This paper demonstrates that the “lie” is not born from malice alone, but from a catastrophic dramaturgical misreading, where the mise-en-scène provides the raw material for a story that ultimately leads to tragedy and a lifelong quest for atonement. The conclusion posits that the scene's power lies in its function as a mise-en-scène of deception, a stage upon which the objective reality is irrevocably replaced by a subjectively authored fiction.