Category: Betrayal

William Shakespeare is one of the most influential writers of his time. His ability to make a connection to the real world through the themes of his plays, is what makes him a master of literature. Throughout many of William Shakespeare’s plays there is a strong theme of betrayal. Characters often manipulate and take advantage of others. Characters start to break relationships and become more independent after betrayal has taken place in the plays. After a character has been betrayed we can see the true nature and intentions of those involved. When a betrayal is made public all characters in the plays become on edge not knowing who is trustworthy and who is truly deceptive. In William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, the theme of betrayal develops plot, reveals a character’s true nature, and affects the atmosphere of the play.

To begin, a deceptive act of betrayal never ends well for any of the characters, an act of betrayal will always leave one of the characters with a loss of trust. In the play many relationships are destroyed by the multiple betrayals because of the need for power and the need for revenge. The initial betrayal that leads to the downfall of the royal family and the members of the castle is built on Claudius’s desire for power and ambition to take it from his own brother King Hamlet. When Claudius admits to committing the murder of his brother King Hamlet to take over his throne it is revealed to the reader how far Claudius is willing to go to gain power from his brother. Claudius admits to committing the murder of his brother King Hamlet to take over his throne. Claudius admits he could not resist the urge to take his brother’s throne and Power because it was natural jealousy, “It hath the primal eldest curse upont a brothers murder. Pray I cannot” (3.3.36-37). This quote from Claudius’ soliloquy shows that he didn’t resist his natural desire for power and has now brought the primal eldest curse to himself by murdering his brother. Through his desire and determination Claudius has now brought the primal eldest curse to himself but cannot beg or pray for forgiveness because he would have to give up his new role as king “forgive me my foul murder? that cannot be, since I am still possessed of those effects for which I did the murder. My crown, mine own ambition and my queen”(3.3.53-55). When Claudius says this statement he knows the curse now cannot be removed until he steps down and gives away his crown. Claudius’ betrayal of King Hamlet leads to the destruction of the relationship between Hamlet and Claudius. Hamlet is visited by his father’s ghost and is informed that someone had been murdered with poison in his ear, Hamlet replies with “ I doubt foul play would the night were come. Till then sit still, foul deeds will rise through all earth o’erwhelm them, to mens eyes” (1.3.256-258). Hamlet’s new suspicion leads him to be untrusting of others, while also leaving him with the need to avenge his father. Anyone could be a suspect in the castle but one person sticks out, his uncle who has now taken over the throne and married his mother, the queen. With the anger Hamlet has against his mother and uncle for their new marriage, Hamlet’s relationship to both characters is destroyed.

In addition to the destruction of relationships, the theme of betrayal reveals the true nature of characters. Within the play the betrayal of King Hamlet reveals the true nature of Gertrude and her love for King Hamlet which was not for the man wearing the crown but for the crown itself “ Would have mourned longer – married with my uncle, my father’s brother – but no more like my father than I to Hercules”(1.2.151-153). Hamlet expresses his feelings about his mother and her new marriage. Hamlet realizes she did not love his father, but loved the throne he sat on. Hamlet compares his relationship with his uncle, now stepfather, to his relationship to the mythical god Hercules. This means that he will never see him as his father and will not have anything to do with him. Queen Gertrude is not the only character whose true nature is revealed through the betrayals Claudius’ prayers for King Hamlet are revealed as only being act, “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below. Words without thoughts never to Heaven go” (3.3.97-98). This statement reveals to us that Claudius is only concerned with power and has no regret for killing King Hamlet; his own blood, and is now putting on an act of remorse. Claudius and Gertrude have a selfish love for power and royalty. Gertrude is in love with the royalty and the throne itself while Claudius is in love with the power and control that comes with the title of King.

Lastly, as a result of the theme of betrayal, there is a change in the atmosphere where the characters are full of anger and want revenge. The characters also do not know who they can trust anymore or what devious plans may be going on. In the play Hamlet has a plan in the works to avenge his father, “a villain kills my father, and for that I, his sole son, do this villian send to heaven”(3.3.76-79). Hamlet is ready to avenge his father and has some suspicion of his uncle but is waiting for the right time and better proof that he is the killer before he takes action and avenges his father. Hamlet feels the need to avenge his father because he is his only son and feels he has to honour his father by taking revenge on the man who murdered him. Hamlet has lost trust in people around him and does not know who may be working with Claudius or what other schemes Claudius may be working on. Hamlet knows how manipulative Claudius is and has lost trust in even his closest childhood friends; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Hamlet is no longer friends with either Rosencrantz and Guildenstern because of their willingness to betray him just to stay loyal to the king. “Importing Denmark’s health, and England’s too, with ho! Such bugs and goblins in my life, that on the supervise no leisure bated, no, not to stay grinding axe, my head should be struck off” (5.2.21-25). Hamlet tells Horatio how he has almost no one left to trust and that even his closest friends are willing to betray him for nothing more but to be loyal to the new King. Hamlet compares his old friends to nothing more than bugs and goblins because the theme of betrayal has consumed him. He believes he is above everyone for not dropping to their level where he would betray people to better himself. The only friend he can still trust is Horatio because he has not taken part in any action of betrayal and has always remained loyal to Hamlet.

To conclude, in William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, the theme of betrayal develops plot, reveals characters’ true natures and intentions, and changes the atmosphere of the entire play.

The theme of betrayal affects relationships leaving them broken and leads characters to become less trusting and more independent. The theme of betrayal brings out characters’ true intentions and reveals the worst side of them. Betrayal leaves characters suspicious and full of revenge, not knowing who to trust in fear of being betrayed and suffering the same fate as King Hamlet.

In the play Hamlet by Shakespeare,betrayal is recurring action between many characters. This play shows the audience different types of betrayal that are imaginable, from a husband betraying his wife, a boyfriend betraying his girlfriend and a mother betraying the son and father. These actions of betrayal hurt people that are most loved and destroys people in the end. Betrayal Is one of the songest and the most important themes. This play is mostly murder and betrayal.

Hamlet kills polonius and gertrude becomes scared as to what is going to happen to hamlet. Claudius solution to the problem is to have Hamlet sent to england,where he is going to be safe, and will not have to deal with his consequences for his actions. Claudius makes Gertrude believe he is setting up because he wants to protect hamlet. But even though the audience knows the real reason as to why he is doing this.He is sending Hamlet to england to be killed.In the final act of the play Claudius reveals he does not love Gertrude and his love had been dishonest the whole time. This is shown when gertrude picks up the poison wine glass. He knows she will die once she has drank from the glass. Yet claudius does nothing to stop her from drinking the poison. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were hamlets childhood friends,once they found out that hamlets actually crazy everything about their friendship doesn’t matter.they were requested by claudius to spy on their “childhood friend”. Hamlet seems to do nothing but get stuck in his head for almost the entire play until he’s finally faced with his own mortality and therefore must act or defy his father’s wishes.when hamlet is finally take action,in the middle of the play,he ends up killing the wrong person. Hamlet’s inaction throughout the plays the play is what sets the story in motion. The first thing that begins to frustrate hamlet is his learning on death of his his father as well as hearing instead of becoming king himself, his mother decided to marry his uncle.making him king. Hamlet began to question his sanity and proceeds to speak to himself.

Hamlet’s relationship with his mother was very close. Nonetheless,after his mother married his uncle only two months after his father’s death, Hamlet suspected that she was involved in his father’s death, Hamlet’s feeling and trust in his mother were greatly diminsished inscestuous actions by Hamlet’s mother, the most important women in his life, added the distrust of women to hamlet’s feelings. His words not only illustrated his disgust, frustration and disappointment towards his mother and women in general, but also established Hamlet’s sense of isolation. Hamlet’s feelings for ophelia shifted from passionate love,to resentful hatred.for her being the weak character that she is and listening to her father, therefore not returning his love. While at the same time,he was madly in love with her, and could not express his feelings any more than he already has. Not only is he immature in his actions towards her,but also very unpredictable. Hamlet’s behavior towards ophelia during the play that he created is immoral, and rude. His possessive and persistent behavior frightened Ophelia, for he continuously threatened her and attempted to persuade ophilia to return his love.

Though there are several passages that discuss-in many forms-the effects of black ignorance as a betrayal of blacks by other blacks (through dis-unity and actions based on circumstance) in David Walker’s “Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World.” Walker’s first example of betrayal of blacks by other blacks is through the ignorance of the strength of unity. Walker uses two examples to portray how unity (or dis-unity) affects the success of breaking free from oppression in America.

The first example used is that of the unexpected success of Hannibal in Carthage, “…had Carthage been well united and had given him good support, he would have carried that cruel and barbarous city by storm. But they were dis-united, as the coloured people are now, in the United States of America, the reason our natural enemies are enabled to keep their feet on our throats,” through this example, Walker elaborates on how unity creates power and fuels success for efforts of freedom, while remaining in dis-unity (ignorant to the power that unity holds), allows for the cycle of oppression to continue (127). Walker directly addresses his black audience by using this example to explain how the outcome could have been more successful if the people of Carthage came together and recognized the strength in unified numbers-similarly to how blacks must be enlightened enough to consider themselves as a unified group to create tangible change in America. This idea is best represented through the prediction, “…let twelve black men get well armed for battle, and they will kill and put to flight fifty whites,” here, Walker affirms the power enlightened, united black people could potentially have if they were no longer ignorant in the power of unity; and by remaining in dis-unity, the act of betrayal of black by other blacks (knowingly or not) occurs (130).

The second example of how Walker conceives blacks betraying other blacks is through ignorance of circumstance and incorrect action taken; this is elaborated on using the real-life “Affray and Murder” occurrence that took place in Portsmouth, Ohio in 1829 (129). In this passage, Walker criticizes the black men and one woman in this story for not recognizing the circumstance and acting accordingly. For the black men in the story, Walker critiques, “The black men acted like block-heads. Why did they not make sure of the wretch? He would have made sure of them, if he could,” to elaborate on how–by leaving Gordon alive after he has stripped them of their dignity and chained them like “brutes” with the intention of subjecting them to (and profiting from their) slavery for the entirety of their lives–they have betrayed their fellow black brothers and sisters by allowing him to live to perpetuate the cycle (and take them to an [unfair] trial) (130). When Walker writes, “…for we must remember that humanity, kindness and the fear of the Lord, does not consist in protecting devils,” he expects his audience to recognize the devilish behavior of the white man enough, to the point where when opportunity through “the help of God” presents itself, correct action must be taken and no mercy shown (130). In the same story, Walker openly labels the woman who helped Gordon as “ignorant and deceitful” because, through her actions of helping Gordon “escape” death, she has betrayed herself and her people in a similar manner by never being allowed to escape bondage in this situation (130).

Their “allowance” for perpetuation of oppression when the opportunity to act accordingly (i.e. seize the opportunity to show no mercy to those who have not and would not in a similar circumstance) presented itself–to end at least one cycle–is the ultimate betrayal of blacks by other blacks as a result of unenlightened black ignorance (130). It is through what Walker conceives as black ignorance (to the strength in unity and correct action) that he elaborates on the betrayal of blacks by other blacks in his Appeal.

Othello and Medea are two stories from different eras tied together by similar intertwining themes of death, betrayal, exile, and love. In both plays, the main characters, Medea and Othello, experience all of these. The betrayal felt by both came from the people they were both closest to. Othello was closest with his wife, Desdemona, and Medea with her husband, Jason. Another issue that pervades in the play is love, which is presented as strong in the beginning but fades away by the middle of each play. In Medea, Medea is exiled by everyone in every city around her, but the opposite is true for Othello, the main character who is not exiled but dies. Death is a given theme for both plays as there is at least a person who is murdered in both story plots at the end. Although Medea and Othello were written in two different eras hundreds of years apart, both share almost identical story lines and themes. While all of these themes are present in the two story lines, both have differences and similarities for each theme.

The people closest to the main characters in Othello and Medea die at the hands of the person they love the most. Othello kills his wife, Desdemona, whom he just married all due to the fear and lies put into his head by his closest advisor, Iago. She was the only person he trusted and told everything to. Othello’s perception of her changed as the play went on, first being head over heels in love as if she could never do anything wrong, then turning into she’s cheater, how dare she do this to not only her reputation, but to Othello’s. Eventually leading to Desdemona’s death by getting smothered by the hands of her husband. Her death symbolizes the ending of not only her life but the marriage ending, “she lies dead on the same bedding she uses on her wedding night”(Fernandez-Corugedo 85). In comparison Medea murders her children, Creon (the king), and Glauce (the princess) in order to get back at her husband, Jason, for abandoning her and their children. Medea kills more people in contrast to Othello with just his wife. She kills her children because she has to go into exile somewhere else far away and she won’t get to see her kids. They would have to stay in Corinth due to them being citizens there and their father wanting them to be raised in the castle with his new wife. She kills them in order to not miss any milestones they would have such as weddings or parties and she is not able to see or attend any of them. Medea is vengeful towards Jason that she even goes as far as killing his new wife, Glauce, by giving her a poisoned dress so he can’t have someone to love or have a way to move up in the world. And for good measure she kills the king, Creon, in order for Jason not to have any ties to the royals at all. Although she is vengeful her anger does not cancel out her ability to plan (Torrance 288). As the story unfolds we see that Medea is skilled at making sure she enflicks as much hurt on Jason as possible. She turns into a cold hearted person who only cares about making Jason hurt as much as he hurt her. Othello and Madea by the end of their stories are left with nothing as both accomplish their vengeful missions to correct the wrongs done to them.

Betrayal is often a common theme amongst plays or stories, Othello and Medea are no exceptions. The type of betrayal differs from each story. Sexual betrayal happens in Othello compared to emotional betrayal in Medea. In the instance of Othello the sexual betrayal stems from Iago planting thoughts of Desdemona and Cassio sneaking behind Othello’s back to be together. While Iago’s accusation of this is not true, Othello loves Desdemona so much that it pushes him over the edge into thinking about all the scenarios that could have happened between Cassio and His wife. The basis of Iago ‘s plan is to get Othello to imagine Cassio in his (Othello’s) place (Snow 394) to ensure he maximizes the amount of revenge Othello will want to get. The strategy Iago set in motion for his plan works on Othello as he starts to imagine Cassio and Desdemona making love and cheating. All this thinking of his wife in that way with his right hand man leads him to killing his wife to stop her from committing any other adultery. Before he kills Desdemona he hints to her that she’s going to die that night, and saying,”… I would not kill thy unprepared spirit…” (Shakespeare 5.2.237) him saying that shows his last bit of mercy towards Desdemona and some of the morals/standards he has for himself. He ultimately ends up smothering her to death after knowing she has prayed. On the opposite end of betrayal we have the story of Medea, a woman who was left by her husband for another woman. Her experience of betrayal was emotional instead of sexual. Jason, her used-to-be husband left her for Glauce, the princess Corinth, out of the blue one day. Not only did he leave his wife, but he left his two little boys at home with her. This pushes Medea to see Jason in a completely different light, she now sees him as a betrayer to her family. She wants to cause as much hurt on him as possible without killing him. This is a stark contrast to Othello in how she wants him to suffer a fate worse than death. By killing every person he loves she not only gets her revenge she’s been wanting on him, but tells Jason that she “… will not…” (Euripides 759) let Jason get to touch or say goodbye to his dead sons for a final time. Giving him the ultimate punishment for his betrayal of not only her, but his children as well. Similarly Othello and Medea are left with nothing at the end of their stories, no loved ones as both kill them to fix the betrayals they felt by Desdemona and Jason.

Works Cited

1. “Proceedings of the II Conference of the Spanish Society For English Renaissance Studies.” Edited by S.G. Fernandez-Corugedo, Google Books, Google, books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=G1vkauwmZHMC&oi=fnd&pg=PA83&dq=death+of+desdemona+in+shakespeare’s+othello&ots=_KviwiiOGC&sig=Bct0shv-u2G16fnSRsNLG4uWCRw#v=onepage&q=death of desdemona in shakespeare’s othello&f=false.
2. Snow, Edward A. “Sexual Anxiety and the Male Order of Things in Othello.” Othello, Oct. 2015, pp. 213–249., doi:10.4324/9781315722658-14.
3. Torrance, Isabelle. “The Princess’s Gruesome Death And Medea 1079.” The Classical Quarterly, vol. 57, no. 1, 2007, pp. 286–289., doi:10.1017/s0009838807000262.

Growing up, I thought I already have the perfect family I dreamed of. We’re not rich, but we’re that poor either. We lived in Masbate, moved here to Catbalogan, and moved again to Calbayog. I didn’t mind before why we were always moving places because what matters to me is we’re happy.

We may not be complete, but at least we are happy. That’s what I thought, not until I found out that my father has another girl, and to make matters worse, he has a child with that girl. I was 6 years old at that time when my father brought us to his mistress’s house in Calbayog, me, my older brother, and sister without our mother’s permission. I can’t recall all happenings that day, but I know my mother found out about it which became a reason for them to fight a lot and split ways. My mother brought the three of us back here in Catbalogan together with my other siblings. My oldest sister was forced to apply for a job in Quezon City as a babysitter, while my mother, my other older sister, and my brothers were forced to get a job at Crab Meat Company. Our life came back to normal without our father on our side. It wasn’t easy, I always hear my mother crying every night because of what my father did. It went well not until my father came back with his mistress. I was alone in our house at that time, I ignored my father because I was mad at him, I knew I was hurting him, but I still ignored him. Around 4:00 p.m. my mother together with my siblings arrived. I saw the pain in my mother’s eyes. I rushed towards her and embraced her. My parents talked with the mistress, and everything went well until the mistress slapped my mother in front of me, she grabbed my mother’s shoulder and hair. And what angered me was my father who didn’t do anything to protect my mom. From that day, at a very young age, I learned to hate my father. It pains me to see and hear my mother’s cries her heart out, walking while kneeling in front of the statue of God because of the pain and betrayal. It was our everyday scenario.

After a year, my father came back to us, asked my mother’s forgiveness, and to us, his children. My mother accepted him again because she loves him and in order to save our family. We also found out that my father was being what they called ‘Lumay’. My parents traveled going Masbate to treat my father’s illness, and thankfully he was treated. We became complete and normal again. But after that day I became distant from my father. This childhood story of mine made me realize that even the person you truly and fully trust can betray you, even the person whom you thought won’t hurt you will you, that’s how life work.

True friendship is when someone knows you better than yourself and takes a position for your best interests in a crisis. It goes beyond just sharing time together, and it is long lasting. The novel, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini demonstrates various themes that influence the development of the story including family, betrayal, violence, loyalty, regret, culture and many more that applies to the protagonist named Amir. Amir lives with Baba, his father, and two servants named Ali and his son, Hassan. Growing up in the same roof made Amir and Hassan closer to each other. They usually spend their free time together and made some unforgettable memories. Amir thinks highly of his father, Baba, who is a wealthy, well-respected businessman, and at the same time, he is terrified of Baba because Baba doesn’t appreciate his efforts towards him and his own interest which is writing. Overtime, Amir realized that Baba acknowledges Hassan more than him even though Hassan comes from a lower class family. Amir treated Hassan mischievously, but on the other hand, Hassan continues to treat him as his friend and remain lowly. This situation led Amir to do things for his own gain that he would eventually regret doing so in his whole life. The Kite Runner portrays how betrayal becomes a cyclical action that can result in redemption because of sense of guilt and regret.

Betraying someone for your own benefit can influence the decision that lies ahead in the future. Once you have done it, you will do it again and again. After the kite running competition, Amir reels in his kite and accepts everyone’s congratulations, then goes looking for Hassan, asking neighbors if they saw him. Eventually, Amir found Hassan in the alley in the Bazaar with Assef and his friends being sexually assaulted, Amir found himself running away instead of standing out for Hassan. He reasoned out, “ I ran because I was a coward. I was afraid of Assef and what he would do to me. I was afraid of getting hurt. I actually aspired to cowardice, because the alternative, the real reason I was running, was that Assef was right: Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba’s heart.”(77). In terms of Amir’s character growth, his desperation to please his father, which we have witnessed throughout the story, plays a significant part in the causing of this event. Although Amir feels paralyzed by fear when he sees what is happening, he admits that his main reason for not intervening is selfish. To finally please Baba, Amir feels he must show Baba that he is like him by winning the tournament and bringing home the kite of his final opponent, only then Baba will forgive him for killing Baba’s wife and his mother. Amir did not stop Assef from raping Hassan because first and foremost, he wants the kite to bring to Baba, and Hassan is the price he has to pay not because he is afraid of what Assef can do to him. Furthermore, Amir was guilt-ridden of what he had done to Hassan, for not standing out for him in front of Assef which he is clearly capable of doing so if he has only conscience towards how it would affect and devastate Hassan. It was Amir’s thirteenth birthday when his second betrayal happened. Amir planned to set up Hassan by accusing Hassan of stealing the watch and the money that he received from Baba in his birthday which succeeded in making Ali and Hassan voluntarily leave the house. Amir’s point of view, ”Did you steal that money? Did you steal Amir’s watch Hassan?’, Baba asked. Hassan’s reply was a single word, delivered in a thin raspy voice: ‘Yes.’….. Hassan knew. He knew that I’d seen everything in the alley, that I’d stood there and done nothing. He knew I had betrayed him and yet he was rescuing me once again, maybe for the last time. I wasn’t worthy of this sacrifice; I was a liar, a cheat, and a thief. And I would have told, except that a part of me was glad. Glad that this would all be over with soon. Baba would dismiss them, there would be some pain, but life would move on. I wanted that, to move on, to forget, to start with a clean state. I wanted to be able to breathe again.'(105). Amir does not know how to deal with his feelings of guilt and unhappiness after Hassan’s assault. He thinks that by doing these things, his guilt in him would lessen up but yet his guilt is only heightened when Hassan admits to stealing the money and watch. Amir recognizes that Hassan is sacrificing himself again, despite knowing that Amir did not do the same for him when he was assaulted. Hassan proves his love and loyalty to Amir are unshakable, whereas Amir proves that his love and loyalty are weak. Betrayal is a strong act that breaks a relationship between two people, never underestimate the things that would result after doing this act because this can lead to regrets and guilt that will leave you with a deep unforgettable impression in your whole life.

Guilt enlightens us to make our way right, it makes us feel responsible to atone for a perceived offense that we had done to someone. Baba told Amir that there is only one sin: theft. Baba explained that every other sin is a variation of theft. Murdering a man, for instance, is stealing his life to live. Amir points out, ‘I always felt like Baba hated me a little. And why not? After all, I had killed his beloved wife, his beautiful princess, hadn’t I? The least I could have done was to have had the decency to have turned out a little more like him. But I hadn’t turned out like him. Not at all.'(19). Many things made him feel guilty, since his birth. Amir started feeling guilty when his mother died while on childbirth even though it was out of his control. Amir is always plagued by his actions and tries to solve problems, but he doesn’t have any idea how to solve it. In addition, Amir become a man and marries a woman named Soraya and experienced being in love for the first time. Soraya told him her deep secret that she regretted doing before their wedding and made Amir think about the sins that he did as a child in the past. He wondered, ‘But I think a big part of the reason I didn’t care about Soraya’s past was that I had one of my own. I knew all about regret.'(180). Amir felt empathetic when Soraya told him her secret. He felt guilty and regretful for those vicious things he had done to Hassan. Amir wishes to have Soraya’s courage to be able to compensate for his sins and to start anew again despite the time has been wasted a lot and gone through fast. Regrets can be a good factor for someone to learn how to atone their sins and guilt. It might be just regret but it gives yourself a big impact in your decisions in the future.

Redemption for one’s sin is a way to start a new life and live in satisfactory without regrets. Amir was on Assef’s house to get Sohrab. He eventually got Sohrab but Assef’s philosophy is that nothing is free in this world and they should finish the fight that they didn’t finish back in the days in Kabul City. In exchange of Sohrab, Assef wants to beat Amir up. Amir reliefly laughed, ‘What was so funny was that, for the first time since the winter of 1975, I felt at peace. I laughed because I saw that, in some hidden nook in a corner of my mind, I’d been looking forward to this.'(289). In this quote, Amir felt pleased and comforted of Assef’s beating towards him even though he is close to dying. He feels that enduring the pain from the beating is a way of him finally showing of atoning for his wrongdoings towards Hassan, not only the symbolization of his redemption to Hassan but also standing out for Sohrab as well. Furthermore, after the process and arrival of Sohrab’s immigration from Pakistan to California, the family of Soraya asked Amir if what is the real identity of Sohrab and why is a hazara boy has come to live in a pashtun’s house. Amir explained, ‘You see, General Sahib, my father slept with his servant’s wife. That boy sleeping on the couch is Hassan’s son. He is my nephew. And one more thing, General Sahib, you will never again refer to him as a ‘Hazara Boy’ in my presence. He has a name and it is Sohrab.'(361). Amir stands up Sohrab. Once again, trying to redeem himself to Hassan and his family by doing the right thing and what they deserve by them. Amir feels as though by doing this, he is proving that he is faithful to Hassan even though in this uncorrupted detail and is removing his guilt and regrets. Redemption is the best way to have your life live to the fullest.

Betrayal is a drug. You can be addicted but redemption is the key to atone your mistakes. Betrayal might be a strong act one can do but redemption is beyond powerful. No one but ourselves can free our mind from guilt and regrets. In this world full of dullness, be the one that shines. This story is strange, fascinating and yet oddly familiar at the same time~

Euripides uses betrayal and revenge as strong influences on the characters of his play, “Medea”. The story starts seeing Medea as the one who’s been betrayed but as it continues, she turns that hurt into revenge, therefore losing trust in other characters. Her revenge is seen as excessive and perverse. Jason and ageus are only thinking about what is best for them which gives Medea the opportunity to manipulate both of them. At the beginning the nurse and the chorus are on Medea’s side as they are friends, they find Medea’s revenge on Jason to be acceptable until the infanticide at the end.

Medea is a complex character who acts in very extreme ways, her betrayal by Jason forces her to alter her emotional pain into passionate and violent revenge. Therefore, Medea’s revenge was acceptable because of the hardships Jason put her through, after losing all her family to be with him. At the beginning of the play the Nurse starts, ‘she is learning what it is to be a foreigner, cast out, alone and despised”, which hurts Medea. Her could not bear the pain that Jason gave her therefor she thinks the only way to get rid of her pain is to put Jason through the same thing. Medea then plays to Creon’s pity which makes him underestimate her power. This provides her with the chance to betray Creon and heartlessly murder Glauce. As we have seen in conversations with both Creon and Jason, “{sinking to her knees and seizing CREON by the hand}, on no, Creon, not that I beg you” she manipulates the men to participate in her revenge plans. She feels hurt at the thought of killing her own children and recognizes the crime as Infanticide, but her need to triumph over Jason is greater than her motherly love. This showing Medea’s psychomachia is the high point of her conflict in relation to betrayal.

Jason and ageus were both manipulated by Medea, as she took advantage of the fact the she was a girl. It is suggested in the the beginning of the play Jason is seen as the betrayer because he had dishonoured a sacred oath. We later learn he wasn’t betraying Medea to hurt her or get revenge for anything as he is only thinking about himself in a selfish way as he wanted higher status and more wealth. He also claims he was doing It for the benefit of Medea and the kids, But later abandons her, Jason has not only dishonoured her because no divorced woman is respected, but he also deprived her of an identity. As she has nowhere to go because she had betrayed her own city-state for him and in exile, she will be dependent on the help of the King Aegeus. Jason’s lack of shame and his refusal to acknowledgeable the help and everything she gave up for him are further instances of betrayal. Ageus gets taken advantage by Medea in only think about himself like Jason because he wanted to be fertile again. He is the last obstacle to her plans for revenge has been cleared ‘Do you not trust me? What in this still bothers you?’. Due to Aegeus’ promise, Athens is now as an unconditional sanctuary for her, even in her ultimate state as murderess. Jason’s actions and the breaking of the oaths that is so important to Medea is what drives her to such extremes.

Betrayal and revenge don’t necessarily influence the behaviour of the nurse and the chorus. But as Medea’s friend and as being other women in the society her actions impact the way they see Medea’s as a person. At the beginning of the play the chorus were very against Jason and everything he stood for as he was very disrespectful too all women. But I may not be wise to say this I think You’ve acted wrongly: you have betrayed your wife.”, later in the show during in the stasimon when they imagine the destitute that she is about to endure. Medea has become an outcast from both her homeland and her newly adopted home. This desperateness makes her even more the seamless target for the chorus’s pity. Their motherly instincts want nothing more than to comfort the poor Medea. This caused them to also want to get revenge on Jason. The major turning points in the play is when Medea asks the chorus of women’s silence as she contrives an evil plot to gain revenge. After the infanticide the chorus and nurse see Medea in a new light. They wonder how she could be the ‘the killer of your children” and the ‘unholy one’.

Ultimately Euripides uses betrayal and revenge to strongly influences characters at different aspects of the play. Medea’s betrayal by Jason quickly turns into brutal revenge, because of the hardships he put her through. She continues to manipulate Jason and Agues through her revenge and uses her female status to override them. However, she has the support of the Nurse and the chorus women who believe her actions are understandable as a cause of the betrayal she has gone through. This is until she performs the act of the infanticide. The play of “Medea” has a very large focus on how betrayal can turn into revenge and how the outcome can completely change a character’s perspective.

The Kite Runner is an inspiring and powerful novel about a Pashtun named Amir who looks back on his life during his transition from childhood into adulthood. Amir grew up in a lavish and rich district of Kabul, Afghanistan. His father was a well-known and respected man, but Amir struggled to live up to his father’s standards and always craved his love and attention. Ali and his son Hassan (Amir’s best friend), are both loyal servants to Baba and Amir but are of the minority Hazara ethnicity who are not respected in Afghanistan. Hassan demonstrated his loyalty to Amir by constantly sticking up for him over the years. The book The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini focused on the main character’s feelings of guilt during a childhood tragedy, but at the same time, the story has a tendency to focus on negative aspects or events.

Amir and Hassan’s relationship was forever changed after a frigid winter day in the year of 1975, when Amir was only 12 years old. Amir and Hassan took part in an annual kite-fighting tournament and won for the first time. Hassan, being the loyal friend he is, went running for the kite to retrieve it for Amir exclaiming that he would ‘a thousand times over’. After Hassan did not return, Amir went looking for him and found him cornered in an alley by Assef a sociopathic bully. In The Kite Runner there are a lot of negative aspects and events. One of the things as a reader I didn’t like in this book is when the kids in the neighborhood said “mice eating mice-eating, flat-nosed, load-carrying donkeys’’ Amir said “I would hear some of the kids in the neighborhood yell those names to Hassan. If anybody was reading that part in the book they probably would say that Khaled Hosseini should have left that part out of the book. I get what the author is trying to do when he showed in the story how Hassan got bullied because of his race but that part where he illustrated where he illustrated and said “ flat-nosed was very offensive to Sunni Muslims.

Amir created a successful life for himself by graduating university, becoming a professional writer and marrying his dream wife, Soraya. Shortly after all of Amir’s success, he received a phone call from Rahim Khan, a man who was more of a father to him than his own while growing up in Kabul. Rahim Kahn told Amir of Baba’s biggest secret that Hassan is actually Baba’s son and Amir’s half-brother. He reveals that both Hassan and his wife were brutally murdered by the Taliban. He told him, ‘There is a way to be good again’. Something else that I found wrong with this story is the raping of Amirs friend Hassan All Amir had to say was”I ran because I was a coward. I was afraid of Assef and what he would do to me. I was afraid of getting hurt. That’s what I told myself as I turned my back to the alley, to Hassan.

That’s what I made myself believe. I actually aspired to cowardice, because the alternative, the real reason I was running, was that Assef was right: Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba. Was it a fair price? The answer floated to my conscious mind before I could thwart it: He was just a Hazara, wasn’t he”? This is one of the most pathetic reasons for the author to try to convey this. I felt that the author could have

Introduction

The character of Brutus in the drama Julius Caesar written by William Shakespeare is a complex character. The possible problem encountered when discussing the character of Brutus throughout the play of Julius Caesar, is if your opinion and how your opinion of this character has changed. This essay aims to prove why my opinion of Brutus did not change towards the end of the play. In this essay the character traits of Brutus (both good and bad), how his honour lead to his downfall and how his mistake ensures that he will be viewed in a negative light and the fact that he is indeed not a faultless man will be discussed.

The Character traits of Brutus

Brutus is viewed as a true tragic hero in the play of Julius Caesar. In act three, when Brutus is readying himself to talk to the public, a plebian refers to Brutus as ‘The noble Brutus.’ We can then assume that to the public Brutus was noble, kind, honourable, idealistic and respected. He has strict moral values and is a man of principle. Additionally, we accept that the actions of Brutus in the play, was made with the well-being of the public in mind.

Antony also referring to Brutus in his monologue as ‘the noble Brutus’ and mentioning that ‘Brutus is an honourable man.’ multiple times (Shakespeare, explained by Daniell 1998:257) and although the words were not spoken with kindness and sincerity, the idea that the public saw Brutus as a good man up to that point in time is strengthened for the reader.

Regrettably, Brutus is rather naïve. He struggles to believe that others might not share his ideas about the importance of honour and honesty. As such, he is overly trusting, which ensures easy manipulation and exploitation by Cassius and the other conspirators. Brutus is also a victim of pride, blatantly refusing to listen to his fellow conspirators. (Pheto. 2020)

Honour

As mentioned previously, honour is important to Brutus. Ultimately, his fight to preserve honour and save the romans from what he is convinced would be tyranny he is easily convinced to be a leader of the conspirators. To achieve this preservation of honour, he commits murder along with his fellow conspirators. While realistically he did commit murder, at the time he saw it as a sacrifice he was willing to make for the Romans and their continued wellbeing. When Cassius suggests that they should kill Antony as well, Brutus insisted that it is not necessary. Brutus most likely didn’t see Antony as a threat and wanted to prevent any unnecessary bloodshed. His honourable intentions lead him to be ignorant to Antony’s importance in the situation.

Antony then defended Julius Caesar and used Brutus’s well-intended actions to convince the public that Brutus was no better traitor and a murderer. With the evidence supporting Antony’s perspective and the fact that the public doesn’t understand the motivation behind his actions, this puts Brutus in a bed light.

Towards the end of the play, when Brutus realises his mistake, he commits suicide. Brutus felt that his suicide – instead of asking someone else to kill him – would be a final act of honour.

Not a faultless man

While his actions were fuelled by honour, his pride and idealism stood in the way of it being effective. His actions, however well intended they may be, proved to harm instead of promote their cause.

Therefore, Brutus was not a faultless man. He was noble, honourable, loved and respected, but also proud, trusting and naïve. Like a true tragic hero, he had to fail and learn through error. (Piotrowska. 2020) It can be argued that his hubris and his obsession with honour was his hamartia which lead to his downfall.

Conclusion

The probable problem encountered while discussing the character of Brutus, is if and how one’s opinion of this character changes.

To summarise, Brutus is a man like any other. He has good and bad traits, some of which blind him to the reality of the situation. Although his actions were well-intended – wanting to help his people escape the possible tyranny – he ultimately does more harm than good. Brutus truly believed that his actions were necessary. When he realised that he made a mistake (his hamartia), he accepted responsibility and the consequences. Although the decisions made were not the right decisions, at the time he believed they were.

Thus, my opinion of the character of Brutus in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar did not change toward the end of the play. His fundamental characteristics did not change throughout the play. Brutus was a good man who only wanted what was best for his people, but unfortunately went the wrong way about achieving his goal.

The article that I have chosen to critique looks at how death anxiety may be impacted by experiencing traumatizing betrayal from someone they had a close relationship with. I came across this topic when searching online and I found it to be intriguing as many people such as myself have or will experience betrayal at some point in their lives. It can have such a large impact that it causes people to keep their guard up when it comes to future relationships as a self-defense mechanism, so they don’t get hurt again. For this study, Yalch and Levendosky (2018) decided to explore how experiencing betrayal can increase death anxiety.

There have been other similar studies that came to the conclusion that death anxiety is the deeper cause of all psychological distress (Iverach, Menzies, & Menzies, 2014; Langan, 2003; May, 1953, 1969; Stolorow, 2015; Yalom, 2008). Another study extremely similar to this one states that traumatic experiences may increase death anxiety which could make the unavoidability of death more evident (Boulanger, 2007). Past research shows that death anxiety forecasts posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms more than other symptoms of psychological distress (Martz, 2004; Safren et al., 2003). According to the betrayal trauma theory (Freyd, 1996; Kaehler et al., 2013), traumatic experiences are more likely to cause psychological anguish if they occurred with someone the person relied on for security or support.

Hypothesis

According to the study, researchers investigated the relationship between trauma with different levels of betrayal and death anxiety. It was believed that elevated betrayal trauma would have a strong positive correlation with death anxiety more than lower levels of betrayal trauma.

Methods

For starters, this study used 915 college students from a large university located in the Midwestern United States. The group ranged from age 18 to 38 years old with a mean age of 20 years old. The group consisted of 72% females and 28% males. The ethnicities represented were 74% White, 11% Asian, 6% Black, 5% multicultural (or those who selected other), and 3% Latina. This study uses the survey method for both parts as both consists of questionnaires with a scale of potential responses from each person.

Death anxiety was measured using the Death Anxiety Scale or DAS (DAS; Templer, 1970). The DAS is a questionnaire that contains 15 questions related to death anxieties and for this study, each statement had a scale that ranged from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree” for the participants to select from. The internal consistency of the DAS was in the significant range at .79.

Betrayal trauma was then measured using the Brief Betrayal Trauma Survey or BBTS (BBTS; Goldberg & Freyd, 2006). The BBTS was also a questionnaire consisting of 24 items that were used to measure the presence as well as the frequency of traumatic experiences they have experienced. The scale for each item on this ranged from “never” to “1 or 2 times” and “more than that”. Each item on the BBTS was also put into a subscale of either high, medium, or low betrayal. In internal consistencies for each subscale from high to low were .77, .82, and .73.

Findings

Based on the methods used for the study, 39% experienced high betrayal trauma, 48% experienced medium betrayal trauma, and 54% had experienced low betrayal trauma. Trauma with the different levels of betrayal had “medium-sized positive correlations” with one another. They studied the effects of trauma with different levels of betrayal and high betrayal trauma showed a medium or mild influence on death anxiety in comparison to medium and low betrayal trauma. The influence of high betrayal trauma was “credibly” larger than the influence of other types of trauma. The amount of variance accounted for by traumatic experiences from the study was credible at .2. This ultimately means that those who experienced high betrayal were more likely to have more death anxiety than someone who experienced medium or low levels of betrayal.

Discussion

The researcher’s hypothesis was ultimately supported by the results in that those who experienced high levels of traumatic betrayal were much more likely to experience death anxiety than those who experienced lower levels of betrayal trauma. This study’s results provide information as to how death anxiety comes about and how traumatic experiences can cause it to happen. These results are consistent with previous studies showing that high levels of betrayal lead to psychological distress. When it comes to this study, aside from the participant’s names and responses being released (which did not happen), there are not any ethical implications involved in this study.

Limitations

This study had plenty of participants but because the study had less than 1,000 people from a single university, it may be a stretch to say that it is truly representative of society in the United States or even around the world. Therefore, it could be said that courtesy bias is a limitation of the survey questionnaires used for this study. Another limitation is that people may not be too sure how to respond to the items on the questionnaires so they put what they thought fit them the best although it may not be entirely accurate. It is also possible but unlikely that people lied for their responses which could skew the results of the study. Based on the way this study was completed, there is not any way to improve the study aside from increasing the sample size. There is no way to prevent people from lying on a survey or having that bias, that is just a risk that comes with a survey.

Future Research

At the end of the study, the researchers suggest that future research looks into hopelessness and helplessness and their association with high betrayal trauma and death anxiety. Death anxiety could be related to many experiences in a person’s life and completing studies where connections are made to other experiences such as the death of a family member or friend or even ongoing events such as someone lacking friends could provide insight into other causes of death anxiety.

Impact & Importance

This study could impact on psychology around the country and the world. Knowing that someone having death anxiety may stem from experiencing traumatic betrayal would allow psychologists to work with their patients and figure out if that is the same in their case. They could then use their knowledge about the person’s past experiences to help them reflect on their situation and move past so that they do not have anxiety about death. Death is a part of life and everyone will experience it so the less that people stress and worry about it, the better quality of life they will be able to experience.

Conclusion

This study was very eye-opening for me and could have a large impact on people who struggle with death anxiety and how psychologists go about helping and treating their patients who experience death anxiety. I am hopeful that this study could lead to a consistent cure for death anxiety, at least in the case where it was caused by a traumatic betrayal experience.

References

1. Iverach, L., Menzies, R. G., & Menzies, R. E. (2014). Death anxiety and its role in psychopathology: Reviewing the status of a transdiagnostic construct. Clinical Psychology Review, 34, 580 –593.
2. Langan, R. (2003). The dissolving of dissolving itself. In J. D. Safran (Ed.), Psychoanalysis and Buddhism: An unfolding dialogue (pp. 131–146). Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications.
3. May, R. (1953). Man’s search for himself. New York, NY: Norton & Co.
4. May, R. (1969). Love and will. New York, NY: Norton.
5. Stolorow, R. D. (2015). A phenomenological– contextual, existential, and ethical perspective on emotional trauma. Psychoanalytic Review, 102, 123–138. http://dx.doi.org/10.1521/ prev.2015.102.1.123
6. Yalch, M. M., & Levendosky, A. A. (2018). Influence of betrayal trauma on death anxiety. The Humanistic Psychologist, 46(4), 390-398.
7. Yalom, I. D. (2008). Staring at the sun: Overcoming the terror of death. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.