Theme of Betrayal in The Great Gatsby Essay Example

In F.Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, there are many acts of betrayal between the main characters that impact the plot and other characters' decisions. Some examples of these acts of betrayal include, Tom Buchanan betraying his marriage to Daisy by having an affair with a woman named Myrtle who was also married. Tom had very guilt-free ways which led him to have no regrets about his affair and went to no trouble to conceal it from his wife or anybody for that matter . In having this affair Tom is destroying everything that he and Daisy built together including tearing they're family apart. Daisy knew about Tom’s affair and this allowed her to not feel guilty when she eventually had her own affair with Gatsby. But the knowledge of Tom’s affair with Myrtle and her own affair with Gatsby had a very negative impact on her and caused her to see the world very differently and mainly in a negative way. 

Another Betrayal is Daisy’s betrayal to Gatsby. Daisy knew how much Gatsby loved her but she only started to return those feelings when she showed how wealthy he was, and Daisy began to lead him on and let him believe that they were going to be together and she was going to end her marriage with Tom, who was also having an affair.Daisy also betrayed gatsby in many different small ways like not admitting it was her who was the one driving the car that killed Myrtle, the woman Tom was having an affair with, which led to all the blame and hate being put on gatsby. After the car incident Daisy cut Gatsby out of her life completely and didn’t even come to his funeral after Myrtle’s husband killed Gatsby for revenge after Daisy killed Myrtle.All of these acts of betrayal done by Daisy to Gatsby destroyed everything that gatsby had built and dreamt of and led to his untimely death.

F.Scott Fitgerald included Betrayal into his book because it was a good way to support the theme “Marriage and love are the biggest betrayal of them all”. Love has different meanings to different people, some might say that the marriages between Tom and Daisy and Myrtle and George originated from love and there had been actual love involved at some point. But the most likely reasons for these marriages was about convenience or advancing up the social ladder.Tom and Daisy were married because of they're shared social class and wealth , and Myrtle and George were married because Myrtle thought he was a gentleman and the original meaning of gentleman is a man from a good and wealth family which implies that myrtle married George because she believed he would bring up her social status.Fitzgerald uses acts of betrayal to further along the plot of the book and shows how each character chooses between actual love and higher social status.