Character Analysis

Briony Versus Briony

Briony has a hard time with herself. Because she avoids opening up to anyone else, Briony is her only true friend, her own biggest critic, and her biggest source of both protection and frustration. This isn't just the case of your average confused teenage identity—this is a seriously disturbed girl. How she thinks about herself, how she treats herself, and what she believes to be true herself all propel Briony forward through a tangled mess of bad decisions and dangerous consequences.

Sometimes, in her mind, she is Briony the wolfgirl. When she marvels at her own strength and abilities she talks about herself in the third person, "I'd forgotten how wolfgirl could change direction mid-stride, how within the space of a heartbeat, she could turn" (12.65). Other times she is intent on reminding herself that she is an evil witch. For example, when Mr. Drury dies Briony thinks:

Don't pretend you're interested in doing good. How long can a clever girl trick her own self? […] Perhaps you didn't kill Stepmother, not technically, but that doesn't mean St. Peter's going to wave you through the pearly gates. (6.126)

Whether wolfgirl or wicked witch, though, in both instances she is fighting herself, resisting the good parts of herself in favor of the bad. This internal struggle builds to a point where it only makes sense for things to fall apart, and like a parent who yells I can't hear myself think when their kids keep fighting, Briony's internal fighting begins to affect her ability to function.

Briony the Reluctant and Unreliable

To the reader (that's us, Shmoopsters), Briony is a pretty confusing tour guide. How are we supposed to trust anything she says? One minute she's warning us, "don't let my face fool you; it tells the worst lies" (1.5)—and the next she's showing off her bravery, wit, and swamp skills for us (okay, more like Eldric) to fall in love with. As a narrator, Briony is what we call unreliable—who knows what the truth is when it comes to her story.

And as a hero, Briony is what we call a reluctant or antihero, which means she doesn't have the expected positive qualities of a hero, and she doesn't think of herself as the hero at all. Instead she spends most of her time trying to convince us of her evil, guilty, wicked ways. In fact, if it weren't for the revelations of her stepmother's abuse and manipulation, Briony might even be impossible to feel bad for—and then she'd be an unsympathetic hero. Luckily, she stays on the likable side… barely.

Family Matters

To Rose, Briony is more an attentive caretaker than a loving sister. She is consistently reminding herself things like, "I'd promised. I'd promised Stepmother I'd take care of Rose" (2.18), and focusing on how to keep Rose safe and alive—and while this is absolutely loving in its own way, Briony fails to show Rose the respect, friendship, and love she really desires.

Just like their father ignores his daughters in an attempt to protect them, Briony continually ignores Rose's attempts at conversation and bonding. Briony sees nothing wrong with judging her father, but we think she should point the finger back at herself—as much as she thinks she is focusing on caring for Rose, she is really underestimating her sister. Shame on Briony, because Rose is the one trying to tell her the truth the whole time.

And then there's Briony and Reverend Larkin's relationship. Talk about difficult, right? Regardless though, to Briony's pops she is still his daughter whom he loves and wants to protect, so he ignores Briony's best attempts to push him away. His love for her still manages to shine through in moments like the one where he admits he checks on his daughters as they sleep. He explains:

Father drew his palms down his cheeks. "It takes me back to the days when we'd sing together at night." (18.12)

Aw… looks like somebody's a little nostalgic for when his daughters were still little kiddies. While Briony might not appreciate his love at the time, her dad's love eventually helps her to win her internal struggle and rebuild a positive identity.

While we're on the topic of who Briony is to her family, we might as well include Stepmother. While ultimately we think this witch doesn't deserve to be considered family, Briony thinks of her as a mother for most of the book. To Stepmother though, Briony was simply someone to be manipulated and used for her own evil survival. Briony finally accepts this in the end when she says, "Stepmother was a Dark Muse. She fed on me, she fed on Rose" (31.186), but before this, she thought of Stepmother as someone who supported and encouraged her to be true to herself.

Briony even thought Stepmother was doing her a selfless favor by telling Briony she was a witch and helping her hide the "truth" from others. Eventually though, the many problems Briony has (remember those unending internal fights and struggles with loving her family) are revealed to be almost one hundred percent Stepmother's fault. Great parenting, lady.

Most Popular Kid in the Swamp

To the spiritual world of swamp creatures, Briony is pretty popular. Like, picture the most popular girl in school—that's Briony, just in the swamp instead of the halls of a high school. Everywhere she goes it's mistress this, mistress that, so even though she mostly ignores the creatures—and is even pretty rude to them—they constantly ask her to tell them stories, saying things like:

"Make us our story, mistress! Our story, it need must be telled. The story o' the dark earth, o' the roots, the roots what us tends all the spring long that you fo'ak might have victuals an' beer." (12.112)

It seems that in Briony, the spirits of nature see an opportunity to be heard, understood, and even loved. This is a pretty important role to play in a time where the modern world is threatening the very life of the natural world, and Briony's reluctance to step into it is just another example of how conflicted she is about accepting who she is.

Lusty Lady

The way Briony is seen by the young men in her life says a lot about who she is and who she isn't. While super-rich Cecil has been planning on marrying Briony for years—and even helped her murder her own stepmother (a fact Briony conveniently forgets until the end)—she has little interest in him at all. Maybe it's his arsenic addiction, or perhaps it's his neediness, or his lustful and aggressive advances.

More likely, though, it's the fact that he doesn't really know Briony at all—more than once Briony comments on him liking the idea of her or the image of her, but not really her at all. To Cecil, Briony is just a pretty face making him work to earn her love—he doesn't know about wolfgirl or the wicked witch, nor does he know about her softer side.

Eldric, on the other hand, gets to know the real Briony quickly and easily because he befriends her first (what a concept). Through their fraternity, some insightful questions, and their romps through the swamp, Eldric comes to understand Briony as the deeply complex person that she is, and he proves to her that he not only understands who she is, but that he truly likes her. His patience and earnestness enable Briony to feel what it's like for someone to be truly interested in who she really is, so though it takes her a bit, it's no surprise that in the end, Eldric's the one for her.