Love and George

The theme of betrayal within Honour is based around the lack of loyalty displayed by George throughout the play.

The most obvious example:
George’s betrayal of Honour and their marriage -
- Honour believed that marriage is forever
- She states that there was an unspoken loyalty which she depended on and expected

Honour: ‘I thought…’
George: ‘I still do.’

George still loves Honour but his betrayal of her for Claudia is more important than his love, as she hates him for his cheating.

George betraying Sophie -
He leaves his family for Claudia, shattering Sophie’s ‘perfect family’. She’s angered by this and finds it extremely difficult to move on and forget the incident, as much of her sense of self was based around her ideal life.

Sophie: ‘and the only thing that kept me – kept me – here – was the picture of Honor and of Gus. Silly.’

Sophie betraying Honour -
Sophie believes that she is betraying Honour when she goes to see Claudia. She is sucked into Claudia’s game and begins to side with her unconsciously. This leads to a huge feeling of guilt on Sophie’s behalf, as she believes that the ties of family are extremely important.

Sophie accuses Honour, accusing her of being ‘the martyr’, and ‘so passive’.

Claudia’s betrayal of George -
While not the most obvious example, it does need to be acknowledged that Claudia uses and betrays George. He believes that they will stay together and she leaves him.
Claudia: ‘there’s nothing [beat] nothing here..’