Betrayal

The wife of the man up the street is having an affair with a co-worker. He knows this because his best friend told him so. We are discussing Othello – but as we always do, we’re talking about the ideas behind the story: the plot and its relevance to our lives and times. There’s a lot of betrayal in Othello: friendship, truth, morals. Some of it is real, and some of it is real only in the minds of those who are deceived by their best friends. My students, who approach Shakespeare with as much enthusiasm as they do beets, are no strangers to fear and betrayal. They’ve lost friends, secrets, babysitters, boy and girl-friends, spouses and marriages, jobs and cars, to circumstances, or the economy, or betrayal.

Like most of us, sometimes they have betrayed their own long-range goals for short-term satisfaction: sleeping in rather than coming to class. They’ve felt betrayed by their bosses, and sometimes the educational system, whether their conclusions are based on fact or emotion. They know betrayal. Shakespeare may sound funny, as they tell me, the costumes may look strange (more unique than multiple face piercings?), but the stories don’t change – and that’s the important reason why we need to keep reading: that, and the beauty of the language.

We need to move into story and outside our private stories to understand and accept the part of those events in our lives. As Earl points out, King Arthur was also familiar with betrayal. Othello killed his wife for it, doing his civic duty, so - as he pointed out - Desdemona would not live to betray more men.

The students already know that betrayal doesn’t just happen to someone like Othello: betrayal is a relationship they can enter or something they can pity and learn from. Our reaction can depend, as Lori and Amber and Earl argue, on how much we still love the people who betrayed us. There are no simple rules, just people in their own stories, hunting for the plot.

Betrayal is part of life. We welcome someone into our lives, our love, our families, our friendship. Sometimes that relationship strengthens and grows. Sometimes we discover that the person or company we trusted has not been true. Sometimes we only believe this: but belief becomes our reality.

Othello’s response to perceived betrayal supported grew from not only his occupation and torment, but the rights of men everywhere to ensure that wives do not trash their husbands’ public reputation. [Then it was husbands; now we’re equal opportunity.] Arthur’s response fractured his heart, his knights, and his kingdom. Fatal flaw? Maybe: If love is a fatal flaw. Depending on what we do with our beliefs and the information we are given.

Maybe out of love we choose to say nothing, do nothing. Peace. Karma. Maybe we react. Maybe we avenge. Maybe, like Othello, we attempt to serve the public good.

Maybe if we read and talk about the betrayal our fictional characters encounter, or the betrayal they believe exists, peace will come more easily to us, in the stories and plots of our lives. We can learn from the past and from the actions of others, as Amber vigorously asserts to her classmates that we do.