1984 Essay

Imagine a time, in a place with absolute control, where people are not allowed to show emotions, or partake in the acts of friendship or love. Where everything is monitored and even if things are done in secret there will be someone spying, the people who were believed to be allies will commit betrayal. In 1984 by George Orwell, such betrayal is expressed throughout the book. The book is set in London, in a totalitarian government, made up by an Inner Party, an Outer Party, and the Proles. Winston, an outer party member, is a 39-year old man who dislikes the Party and has many thoughts of corrupting himself and going against it, and throughout the story involves himself with other characters that eventually betray him. Three main important betrayals are when the characters Mr. Charrington, O’Brien, and even the main character Winston, go through or commit such of the act of betraying one another.
In the middle of the story, Winston meets an old man named Mr. Charrington in the Prole district, who owns a small shop. On top of his shop is a room, which later Winston rents out very cheap to have affairs with his girlfriend, Julia. At first Winston and Mr. Charrington are acquaintances. Winston deems Charrington rather trustable, believing there are no telescreens (a device that monitors people) up in the room he rents out. However, as the story progresses the events turn. Charrington had been betraying him all along. Behind a portrait in the room was a telescreen, watching Julia and Winston have their affairs. It turns out Mr. Charrington was actually a member of the Thought Police, and he has Winston arrested for Thought Crime.
Another person Winston comes across who betrays him is O’Brien. O’Brien is a member of the Inner Party, the upper-classmen of the story. O’Brien and Winston are at first acquaintances, and Winston actually trusts him, believing that he was part of an underground organization, The Brotherhood, which was supposed to be against the party. He agrees to commit any kind of crime or corrupt act under O’Brien, believing he was against the Party such as he was. Later after Winston’s arrest, O’Brien is an unexpected visitor and becomes the one to torture him, interrogate him, and break him. He betrays Winston.
The final person who commits the act of betrayal is Winston himself. He betrays his girlfriend Julia. While held in captive by O’Brien, he breaks his promise to never stop loving Julia. This happens when O’Brien places a cage full of rats near him, which his face would have been placed into. Rats are Winston’s worst fear, so he irrationally acts and pleas for O’Brien to take Julia instead, that he would rather her suffer this torture than him. He is the last to betray in the end.
To conclude, George Orwell explores various kinds of betrayal in the novel 1984. Betrayal is common in the time now, and so has it been in the past. Such acts of betrayal in this book occur when Mr. Charrington turns out to be part of the Thought Police and arrests Winston, when O’Brien ends up torturing and betraying Winston, and when Winston betrays his lover, Julia over a cage full of rats that were going to eat off his face.