Betrayal In Macbeth And The Kite Runner

Can acts of betrayal affect people differently? Macbeth and The Kite Runner are great examples of the effect betrayal can have on different people. William Shakespeare's Macbeth tells the story of the noble Macbeth and how he betrays those closest to him to gain power and control over the country. However, the acts of betrayal he has committed come back to haunt him and drive him insane. In Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner, it tells the story of Amir and how he betrays his best friend just because he doesn't want to deal with the reality of the situation. His acts of betrayal also come back and haunt him but, instead of letting them get to him, he uses them as a reason to try and redeem himself. Both of these stories show how acts of betrayal

In Amir’s case, he uses his betrayals to gain wisdom to not repeat mistakes. When Amir is told his nephew has been taken, he states, “I would not leave Afghanistan without finding Sohrab” (Hosseini 255). Amir has decided that to make up for his previous betrayals he needs to use them to make him stronger and not repeat the same mistake now. Macbeth has killed his best friend along with others that he thought posed a threat to him, and now he is slowly losing his sanity as an army is at the castle to overthrow him. When battling Macduff he says, “I will not yield (...) lay on Macduff, and damned be him that first cries Hold! Enough!” (Shakespeare V.viii.32-39). With his back against the wall Macbeth refuses to yield and lets his anger take hold denying that he will be beaten and effectively destroying his ability to think clearly which leads to his death. In conclusion, acts of betrayal can affect people in different ways and can make them stronger or weaker. Both paths start with the first act of betrayal like Amir doing nothing to help or Macbeth killing his king. Then more acts of betrayal follow with each affecting the person more and more, in this case Amir framing his friend and Macbeth killing and framing the servants. Finally the acts will either make a person strong and resilient like Amir or drive them to insanity and possible death like