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Summary
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Betrayal, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Love, Jealousy and Betrayal
Time, Perspective, and Identity
Literature and Integrity
Responsibility and Consequences
Summary
Analysis
In a London pub in the Spring of 1977, 40-year-old Jerry and 38-year-old Emma meet for a drink. Their interactions are at first brief and awkward, but they seem to have some kind of romantic past. It comes out that it’s been two years since they last saw each other. Jerry reveals that he recognized Emma’s daughter on the street the other day, and they wistfully recall a time when he threw her in the air as a toddler.
From Jerry and Emma’s clipped exchanges and their need for alcohol to calm their nerves, the audience can sense some tension between them. As signs accumulate pointing to their former romantic connection, the audience can deduce that the two-year gap since their last meeting may have been deliberate or necessary rather than just accidental. Jerry’s recent sighting of Emma’s daughter seems to sting him, reminding him of a time of closeness between himself and Emma and her family that is no longer possible.
Themes
It becomes explicit that Jerry and Emma had an affair for seven years, meeting at a secret apartment. Jerry, a literary agent, is irritated by current rumors of Emma’s new affair with Casey, a client of his. Emma reveals that her husband Robert, a publisher, has been having affairs of his own for years and that the two are going to separate.
The confirmation that Jerry and Emma were once illicit lovers explains the caginess in their conversation. The audience quickly gets a glimpse into the whirlwind of infidelity surrounding these characters, and the double standards they both employ. Jerry is irrationally jealous of Emma’s new adulterous partner. Meanwhile Emma, despite her own multiple affairs, has taken the discovery of Robert’s cheating as grounds for divorce.
Themes
When pressed, Emma admits to Jerry that, during her divorce discussion the previous night, she told Robert about her and Jerry’s affair (which at this point has been over for two years). This news dismays Jerry, since Robert is his oldest friend, and Jerry had thought that his affair with Emma would remain undetected. Jerry again recalls the moment he threw Robert and Emma’s daughter in the air, but Emma’s mood is glum.
Since Jerry is Robert’s oldest friend, Robert was in fact doubly betrayed by Jerry and Emma’s affair. Jerry reveals his self-centeredness by instantly seeking out whether his own name has been soiled in Emma’s divorce. He then laments that it has, taking this as a betrayal by Emma without expressing regret for his own betrayal of his friend. His fixation on the moment with Emma and Robert’s daughter shows him at the mercy of nostalgic yearning, struggling to come to grips with the present.
Themes
