Betrayal In The Great Gatsby And Sula, By Nathaniel Hawthorne

Humans are naturally imperfect beings, we lie, cheat, and steal from each other, and this is represented in three seminal works of American literature, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Toni Morrison’s Sula, and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Specifically, these books deal with humans tendency to cheat and betray each other. This is exhibited in Tom’s betrayal of Daisy with Myrtle; Sula’s betrayal of Nel with Jude; and Hester’s betrayal of Chillingworth with Dimmesdale. In each of the novels, betrayal plays a central role in the story as well as the world at large within each of the novels. Without these instances of betrayal, the readers of each novel would have a much different understanding of the three main characters in

the novels, Gatsby, Sula, and Hester. In The Great Gatsby, Tom’s betrayal of Daisy opens the door for Daisy to feel like she can do what she wants with Gatsby because Tom cheated on her.

This betrayal cast an even larger shadow on Daisy’s life as a whole as her whole worldview became dark and cynical. This feeling of Daisy’s is eventually manifested in her affair with Gatsby which will actually eventually lead to his death. In Sula betrayal is the driving force behind most of the action and plot of the novel because as Nel and Sula’s loyalty to each other disintegrated so too did their positive outlook on the world. Finally, in The Scarlet Letter, the entire novel is based on Hester’s action of cheating on Chillingworth with Arthur Dimmesdale. Without this act of betrayal, there would be no novel and no ‘A’ on Hester’s chest. But, what's more, is that this original betrayal led to all of the other main characters committing more acts of betrayal on each other. This is evidenced by Dimmesdale refusing to come out as the father and thus forcing Hester to face her punishment alone as well as raise her child without its father. Each of the novel’s representation of betrayal sheds light on how the author of each novel views the world at

large. Betrayal within each novel causes massive change within plot and character development, it turns hopeful men into dead men as seen in Gatsby, and beautiful young women into “bare and harsh outlines” ( Hawthorne 133).
The first instance of betrayal in The Great Gatsby was Tom’s betrayal of Daisy with Myrtle, this betrayal will lead to Gatsby’s eventual death. This shows that the effects of this betrayal within the novel is extremely far-reaching and changes the plot greatly. Tom’s betrayal shows F. Scott Fitzgerald's negative outlook on the world as a whole. Tom’s relationship with Myrtle is first shown when he takes Nick along with him to see Myrtle who is described as, “His [Tom’s] girl,” (Fitzgerald 24) and eventually to a party in the city. This affair was well known to everyone at who knew Tom and it is clear that Daisy knew about it as well. In fact, Tom’s mistress was so well known that “His acquaintances resented the fact that he turned up in popular restaurants with her and, leaving her at a table, sauntered about, chatting with whomsoever he knew.” (Fitzgerald 24) This affair of Tom’s has a large effect on Daisy who had a generally positive outlook on life and the world, but after this affair, she becomes cynical and loses that positive viewpoint on the world. This is evidenced by her feelings about her daughter they are shown when she says. “I turned my head away and wept. 'All right,' I said, 'I'm glad it's a girl. And I hope she'll be a fool – that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.'” (Fitzgerald 118) These negative feelings by Daisy are very important for the development of her relationship with Gatsby. After being cheated on she feels that it is just for her to cheat on Tom with Gatsby. This relationship that is developed is the main storyline of the novel but this unjust love that they will form is not to be no matter how rose-colored Gatsby’s glasses are. Gatsby’s love for Daisy, that she allowed to form, will eventually be manifested in his dying for Daisy’s action of hitting Myrtle with his car.
In Sula betrayal is shown with Sula betraying Nel by having sex with her husband Jude, this betrayal will be the final thing that destroys their already broken friendship. This betrayal and subsequent ending of Sula and Nel’s friendship will have farther reaching effects than just the death of one relationship. This betrayal solidifies the town’s perception of Sula as the human personification of the devil, as she commits a ‘deadly’ sin and shows no remorse. This is extremely important in a town with generally strong religious ideals, her betrayal of Nel allows the town to come together around the hatred of one person, Sula. Morrison uses this to manifest how she feels about people and the world in general. She feels very negatively about the world and this can be seen by her portrayal of Sula’s betrayal of Nel. Sula’s betrayal of Nel truly broke her and now Nel’s “thighs were truly empty and dead too, and it was Sula who had taken the life from them" (Morrison 110). Sula did this and didn’t show remorse which damaged their relationship irreparable. After being caught with Jude, Sula “Sat like a visitor waiting for the hosts to get some quarreling done and over with so the card game could continue” (Morrison 106).
Finally, in The Scarlet Letter the entire plot is based on Hester’s betrayal of her husband Roger Chillingworth, without this betrayal, the book would have no plot and is thus the single most important event in the book. This novel differs greatly from the other two because it is the only one where the reader feels that the betrayal is justified and believes that the one committing the betrayal is good. But just as in the other novels the betrayal will have extremely far-reaching effects such as the implication that “had little Pearl never come to her from the spiritual world... she [Hester] might have come down to us in history, hand in hand with Anne Hutchinson, as the foundress of a religious sect.” (Hawthorne 134) Just as seen in The Great Gatsby Hester’s betrayal will lead to numerous other betrayals throughout the course of the novel, such as Dimmesdale’s betrayal of Hester. This betrayal was Dimmesdale’s refusal to come out as the father of Pearl, this will also eventually lead to his death as the guilt will literally kill him. But for Hester, her betrayal will forever alter her life in both big and small ways. Hester, who was once a beautiful young woman had “long ago fallen away, leaving a bare and harsh outline which might have been repulsive, had she possessed friends or companions to be repelled by it.” (Hawthorne 133) This novel, as with the others, is a reflection of the author’s view on the world and is also a negative one, but not to the same extent as the other ones.
Author’s works are a reflection of the author’s views themselves and these three novels are no different.

Beginning with The Great Gatsby it is fairly obvious to see that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s beliefs on the world are extremely negative. This can be seen by his use of betrayal, specifically Tom’s betrayal of Daisy with Myrtle. This creates a sort of butterfly effect on the rest of the novel allowing other characters to feel emboldened and betray others especially Daisy. But all of this betrayal will end in sadness as it leads to the death of Gatsby and Mr. Wilson. This shows just how negative Fitzgerald’s worldview is, it shows that he believes that no matter much good there are in humans they will betray each other without fail and this will lead to pain for all those involved. Even Gatsby, who seems to have the purest love that you can have for a woman, will eventually be felled as a result of betrayal. All of this shows F. Scott Fitzgerald’s belief that humans are innately bad and will cheat on each other and because of this people’s lives will be ruined, as it was with Gatsby. Next, in Sula Toni Morrison shows that friendships are destined to be ruined by betrayal and betrayal will have far-reaching effects. In Sula, those far-reaching effects are the town’s rallying around the hatred of Sula thus bringing them together. But after her death the town falls apart. This shows that Toni Morrison believes that it is humans nature to betray one another and the only thing that

will bring people together is hatred and once that dissipates the sense of togetherness is lost. Finally, The Scarlet Letter this novel, while different from the others also shows it’s author’s negative views towards the world. The novel focuses on Hester’s betrayal of her husband Roger Chillingworth and the subsequent instances of betrayal that will follow. Nathaniel Hawthorne shows that he believes that betrayal can only lead to more betrayal which all serve to cause pain. This is exhibited in Dimmesdale’s refusing to come out as the father which causes Hester enormous amounts of pain, but also the fact that this betrayal will eventually serve as the cause of his death. Hawthorne wrote this novel as a cautionary tale warning that betrayal will cause pain, this in and of itself shows that he believes that humans are naturally flawed and need to be kept away from the temptations of betrayal.