Most people reject cheaters, considering them traitors. Others, on the contrary, try to justify and prove that the infidel is not to blame. Whose side is the truth on? From literary works we know that there can be many reasons that can push one to deceit. This is greed, and fear of a person (or his status), and the hero’s cowardice or weakness of character.
How to write an essay on the topic “Loyalty and betrayal”
Subject
Loyalty and betrayal can be discussed in different ways: from a philosophical, ethical, or psychological point of view. These are opposite manifestations of human personality. This topic is interpreted in completely different directions - from fidelity and betrayal in marriage or friendship to fidelity and betrayal of the Motherland or oneself.
The topic of the essay is formulated in the form of a question for reflection, dedicated to one of the aspects of the problem. Sometimes participants are asked to express their agreement or disagreement with some aphorism on a given topic. As an argument, the participant can choose any work from domestic and world literature, including modern literature.
Composition
Think over the composition of your work. The essay should consist of three parts:
- Introduction - the formation of a thesis (main idea) based on the topic.
- The main part is a proof based on 1-2 products.
- Conclusion - conclusions.
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Algorithm for writing a final essay
- Choose a clear topic , guided by the ability to select arguments from literary material. For example: “What pushes a person to cheat?”
- Highlight the question contained in this formulation. You can leave the question from the topic “what pushes a person to cheat?”, or you can modify it - “is the lack of feelings upon marriage or their extinction the cause of cheating?”
- Formulate a clear answer to the question posed and indicate your position. For example: “I believe that the lack of feelings upon marriage or their fading may be one of the reasons for betrayal.”
- Choose arguments that will logically complete the second and third paragraphs. For example: “Anna Karenina from the novel by L.N. Tolstoy's Anna Karenina married a man she did not love. This prompted her to commit treason, as a result of which she took her own life.”
- Write your essay first in draft so that you can edit it. Don't get distracted by other topics. Keep your thoughts consistent and logical so that your thesis and arguments do not diverge. For example, there is no need to say that you consider the lack of feelings one of the reasons for betrayal, but as evidence, cite works where betrayal has completely different reasons and circumstances.
- Edit your draft work. There is no need to try to see all the errors at once. For each section of errors, proofread the text separately. Correct punctuation errors during the first reading, and spelling errors during the second. Remove frequently repeated words or phrases and, if possible, replace them with others.
Abnormal norm
People who have experienced betrayal withdraw into themselves, stop trusting others and ultimately remain lonely for the rest of their days. And only after looking back at the life he has lived, a person understands that he could take another risk, but the time for possible happiness has already been lost. Treason ruins lives, cripples destinies, destroys people.
But if you can find the strength within yourself to forgive the traitor and move on, then it is almost impossible to cope with betrayal of yourself. Perhaps this is the most dangerous of betrayals. Sometimes a person doesn’t even notice how he sacrifices his principles, desires and interests to please someone. Only after a while does he realize this. And what does he end up with? Lost opportunities, unfulfilled dreams and a life lived aimlessly.
Betrayal is a tragedy. Of course, strong people can rise from their knees and start all over again, but not everyone has these strengths. Therefore, it turns out that we live in a society where honesty and loyalty have become a beautiful fairy tale, and betrayal is the norm.
Example of a final essay “What pushes a person to cheat?”
The concept of treason is very broad: treason to one’s homeland, treason in relationships, treason to one’s principles. There are always reasons for any action in a person’s life, and everyone has their own. A person may lack love, support, attention. Also, love itself can become a reason, for example, for betrayal of one’s homeland. However, even good reasons do not justify such an act as treason. So what pushes a person to betray the one he has chosen as his life partner?
The literature describes almost all types of betrayal that are known to mankind. And, if we talk about betrayal in love, then an obvious example is presented in the work of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy “Anna Karenina”. The main character married a man for whom she had no feelings, and one day she met another man with whom she fell madly in love, for which she paid with her own life.
A similar model of behavior is found in the work of Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky “The Thunderstorm”. Katerina marries a man whose family she cannot accept. The mother-in-law belittles the main character in every possible way, and her husband is unable to stand up for her. Katerina also did not experience love: “How can you not love! I feel very sorry for him!” As a result, she decides to commit treason, for which, like Anna Karenina, she pays with her life.
We see two unhappy women who are burdened by their marriage. Of course, if they had initially married the person they loved, such an outcome would have been unlikely.
The authors of these works convey the idea that without strong feelings it is impossible to build a strong marriage and an unbreakable family, and sometimes it is human nature to obey the dictates of the heart. We can also conclude that Anna and Katerina did not have clear life principles.
Thus, in two works by completely different authors, we see that betrayal destroyed people’s lives. In both cases, the reason for cheating is the lack of feelings at the time of marriage.
I believe that before deciding to take such an important step as marriage, a person needs to think about whether he is really ready for such an act. No matter what, you can't take the wrong path. Betrayal is disrespect for your spouse and yourself. You need to find the strength to remain faithful to the person to whom you once made an oath. After all, the decision to marry is a voluntary choice of every person.
Spiritual betrayal
But not only physical betrayal is dangerous. It happens that a person simply refuses his choice. No, he does not make a choice in favor of another person, but simply becomes indifferent. For example, Pechorin’s betrayal of Bela in “A Hero of Our Time.” In this case, what is the danger of betrayal? Arguments from the classic’s work will show what reality can actually be.
One day Grigory Pechorin met a girl, Bela, who captivated him with her mystery and beauty. She captivated her so much that the hero decides to kidnap her. The girl initially resists, but later falls in love with her captor. Her loyalty is limitless. Bela is ready to sacrifice everything for the sake of her beloved. But Pechorin gets bored over time.
He concludes that all women are the same, and even Bela’s sincere love ceases to please him. No, he does not cheat on her physically, but in his soul he has long abandoned her. Pechorin dreams of traveling, and the poor girl understands that she simply cannot leave him, she loves Gregory so much. Even on her deathbed, Bela's only concern is that they will not be able to meet in heaven, because she belongs to a different faith. Bela was unable to find true happiness, one-sided love is a disease, but not a source of joy, and spiritual betrayal is much worse than physical betrayal, because there is no final stop in it that allows you to dot all the e's.
Recommended reading
“Thunderstorm”, A.N. Ostrovsky
The main character Katerina Kabanova finds herself in a difficult situation. She married an unloved man, Tikhon, who is unable to protect his wife from her mother-in-law attacking her. Katerina does not love her husband, but only feels pity for him.
Tikhon's family is faithful to deep-rooted traditions, which Katerina is unable to come to terms with. So she decides to cheat, which symbolizes freedom of feelings and love. Her soul rebels, and love conquers all prejudices, and therefore she is not sinful. Katerina's love becomes salvation. However, in the end, the girl cannot stand the fact that she betrayed her husband. During a thunderstorm, she jumps off a cliff: “Yes, to go home, to the grave!... to the grave! It's better in the grave..."
"Anna Karenina", L.N. Tolstoy
As in the play by A.N. Ostrovsky's "The Thunderstorm", here in the center of events is the heroine who married an unloved man. Anna met another man for whom she developed feelings. This made her cheat on her husband. Unable to bear her own betrayal, the main character ends her life by throwing herself under a train.
“The Master and Margarita”, M.A. Bulgakov
Margarita did not love her husband. It was the lack of feelings that pushed her to cheat. However, betrayal helped her save herself from spiritual and physical death. She found the strength to start life again and find happiness. In this same heroine we see true loyalty to her lover, because for the sake of the Master she sold her soul to the devil and remained faithful even in those moments when she did not hope to find him.
Bulgakov also showed betrayal and loyalty to his ideals in the images of the Master and Pontius Pilate.
“Poor Lisa”, N.M. Karamzin
The main character Lisa did not look at other young people and remained faithful to Erast. He, in turn, squandered all the money and cheated on Lisa with an unloved but wealthy woman. Erast's craving for luxury turned out to be stronger than his love for Lisa, which is why the girl committed suicide.
“Dark Alleys”, I.A. Bunin
The main character carried love through the years, leaving a place for it in everyday life. However, having met her lover, who had aged considerably and had become a complete stranger to her, she could not forgive him.
“The Captain's Daughter”, A.S. Pushkin
In this work we can see three aspects of this theme: loyalty and betrayal to the Motherland, loyalty in love (Masha Mironova) and loyalty to yourself, your ideals, principles and your word (Grinev and Pugachev).
Pyotr Grinev and Shvabrin clearly show us loyalty and betrayal of the Motherland. Grinev, despite mortal danger, remains faithful to duty and the state, and Shvabrin, worried only for his life, betrays his native country and the people with whom he defended the fortress side by side. We also see how most people greet Pugachev with bread and salt, while people, faithful to their duty and honor, refused to swear allegiance to him, dooming themselves to certain death.
“War and Peace”, L.N. Tolstoy
This work raises several problems at once: betrayal in love, loyalty to the Motherland (Kutuzov), loyalty to parents (Marya Bolkonskaya) and one’s principles (the Rostov family).
Albeit spiritually, Natasha Rostova cheated on Andrei Bolkonsky with Anatoly Kuragin, she even wanted to run away with him. Natasha's inexperience and her uncertainty about the future with Andrei became the main reasons for her betrayal. Andrei, leaving for the war, did not talk to her and did not give confidence in their relationship. Kuragin, taking advantage of the main character’s inexperience, seduced her. Due to her age, Rostova did not think about the consequences of her choice. Only chance saved her from shame.
“The Fate of Man”, M.A. Sholokhov
Despite what happened in the life of the main character Andrei Sokolov (captivity, death of his wife, daughter and son), he did not sacrifice his life principles, did not become evil and cruel. He managed to remain a kind person and even took in the orphan Vanyushka.
"Taras Bulba", N.V. Gogol
The youngest son of Taras Bulba, Andriy, faces a difficult choice: help his comrades and family fight the “Tatar” in Zaporozhye or go to the beautiful Polish woman with whom he is in love. As a result, he makes a choice in favor of the lady, betraying the Sich and his father. However, the reason for this act was the fear of changing himself, and he went against society, which suppressed his individuality.
Essay “What is the danger of betrayal?”
People are happy when they live in harmony, understand and support each other. But sometimes they cheat. They cheat on loved ones, friends, family, their words, deeds and opinions. Betrayal is what treason is.
Betrayal always comes unexpectedly, very often it hides in the shadows, but sooner or later everything secret becomes clear. And the consequences of betrayal are always dire. Why are people ready to betray? They just try to find something better and end up losing everything.
Betrayal is a very painful state of mind. At first it may seem to a person that nothing is happening. But over time, he realizes that he is causing irreparable damage to his loved one and experiencing very unpleasant feelings. And the one who has been cheated on is forever disappointed, and not only in the person, but also in love, friendship and humanity as such.
Treason is dangerous because the deceived person can harbor a grudge, which over time will turn into anger, which will certainly result in unpredictable and dangerous actions. Resentment can become revenge, or it can turn into a cause of suicide.
