Lets go on an adventure...

Many people hear the word, "betrayal", and think of infidelity, yet the experience is actually much broader. Yes, the hurt feelings can result from a love betrayal, but the same symptoms can also be triggered by an unfaithful coworker or boss; betrayal in a friendship; disloyalty from a workplace, community, even country; the earth appearing to turn on us; or what is sometimes described as the ultimate betrayal - a loss of trust or faith in our relationship with “something bigger, something spiritual”. Regardless of the source, the emotional distress is often severe.

 A friend knowingly breaks a confidence that causes hurt and loss of reputation; this is betrayal. A spouse professes love and loyalty while involved in an emotional affair outside the marriage; this is betrayal. A boss or organization pretends to be honest and fair while manipulating employees to exploit their talents; this is betrayal.

 

What do these examples of broken trust have in common?

·     Personal and/or cultural expectations  are present.

·     Based on these expectations, whole-hearted loyalty is given to another.

·     "The Truth" is shattered; often due to someone making choices despite potential, major damage to the relationship.   

·     Shock and intense hurt feelings inevitably result.

If you think about it everyone has betrayed someone in their time whether it was your boyfriend or girlfriend. ( let's hope not) Or your parents and what not. Betrayal, when you see or even hear the word you picture this dark heavy word. So, on this blog I will be taking you on a very fun adventure of the wonderful world of betrayal. ( Look I just betrayed you right there! This isn't going to be a trip to Disney World, it is going to be informative and slightly boring to all you non literature lovers out there!) This mini adventure will take you to explore the many mishaps of betrayal through three works of literature.

I have chosen the play King Lear by William Shakespeare, with a couple of novels: Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. These works take you on a wild adventure of emotions, but the one that sticks the most is betrayal.

Within King Lear, betrayal plays a critical role in the play and show the workings of wickedness in both the familial and political realms. Through out the acts brothers betray brothers and children betray their fathers. Goneril and Regan’s betrayal of Lear raises them to power in Britain, where Edmund, who has betrayed both Edgar and Gloucester, joins them. The play suggests that betrayers turn on one another, showing how Goneril and Regan fall out when they both become attracted to Edmund, and how their jealousies of one another in the end lead to mutual destruction. This play is lead by Lear’s blind, foolish betrayal of Cordelia’s love for him, which reinforces that at the heart of every betrayal lies a skewed set of values.

For Jane Eyre,  her betrayal starts at the point when she falls for Rochester. The wedding day arrives, and as Jane and Mr. Rochester prepare to exchange their vows, the voice of Mr. Mason cries out that Rochester already has a wife. Mason introduces himself as the brother of that wife—a woman named Bertha. Mr. Mason testifies that Bertha, whom Rochester married when he was a young man in Jamaica, is still alive. Rochester does not deny Mason's claims, but he explains that Bertha has gone mad.  Knowing that it is impossible for her to be with Rochester, Jane flees Thornfield. Although this was not  a long lasting betrayal it still was betrayal none the less. At the end after Rochester looses his sight they get married and have a happy marriage and he regains the sight so all lived happily ever after!