Betrayal in Fiction and Drama

Betrayal

Throughout the conflicts of fiction and the dramatic undertones of plays, the notion of betrayal always remains a common and tragic theme. Betrayal itself has mostly been the causation of motives such as love, jealousy, anger, and hatred. As one further delves into the depths of the word within literature, one finds that betrayal itself leads to an alarming number of characters seeking justice, retribution, peace from the traumatic events, and detachment from one's betrayers. The word has become such a heavy burden amongst betrayers, and such a drastic occurrence on the victims that it even has its own quaint little circle in the depths of Dante's Inferno (Jackson, 2000). William Shakespeare's Othello and Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo depict the motives and results of betrayal: as the betrayers, Iago and Danglars have become catalysts for the actions of their victims; namely...
[ View Full Essay]