Betrayal In Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D Arthur

“For there to be betrayal, there would have to have been trust first.” This quote once said by Suzanne Collins, the arthur of the Hunger Games, relates to Sir Thomas Malory’s novel, Le Morte d’Arthur because many characters betray others in many different ways. More importantly, there is one thing in common, all of the betrayals had trust before there was betrayal. The love betrayal involves lovers having affairs or trying to kill their lover for power. Malory describes family betrayal as a member of the family who is betrayed by a relative of their family. Family betrayals cause family relations to brake and become strained. Malory also depicts fraternity betrayal, or the betrayal of trusted friends, through having betrayed a friend by killing a close family member or by

These different types of betrayal impact the results of the novel in many ways, but certain betrayals effect the story more than others. The three types of betrayal described in Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, have drastic effects on the characters. Lancelot and Guinevere having an affair causes Lancelot to be too impure receive the Holy Grail, leading to his fall as the best knight. “ A reclusive hermit explains to Lancelot that he's on a spiritual quest right now and he can't expect to be the best knight in the world when it comes to that because of all the sinning he has done” (Morth Book XV). Lancelot’s punishment is not obtaining the Holy Grail because of his affair and not being pure (Kennedy 63). Family betrayal has detrimental effects because a person will lose their family’s trust and they will be viewed a differently. Morgan displays this when she tries to kill her husband and her son sees her and his view of Morgan changes. Fraternity betrayal also leads to unfavorable effects in Malory’s novel because the character loses their closest friends