My Immortal: Getting over a Betrayal

Kelley Smelser Ms. Hall ENGL 1010-C21 Word Count: 500 14 November 2011 My Immortal: Getting over a betrayal There are times when an individual loses a person someone close to them, and they start to blame themselves for the loss of that person such as a parent, spouse, child, grandparent, and a boy/girlfriend. “My Immortal” by Evanescence is a song about that unbearable pain of loss and feeling of guilt and betrayal. This song brings forth a feeling of that even though a loss of a loved one is a heart wrenching experience there is nothing a person can do to change the outcome of what has happened. “My Immortal” seems to be more about losing one 's own sense of identity and self-worth due to the loss and/or betrayal of a loved one than about the actual loss of the loved one: These wounds won’t seem to heal/ This pain is just too real/There’s just too much that time cannot erase (7-9) By the end of the song, the survivor of the story is emotionally drained and paralyzed with the fear by the memory of the betrayer. The survivor of the incident just wants those memories of hurt and betrayal to go away. This pain is felt in the opening stanzas of the song. And if you have to leave/I wish that you would just leave/Your presence still lingers here/ And it won’t leave me alone (3-6). The theme of “My Immortal” is the struggle of trying to get rid of the feeling of betrayal and of guilt. The betrayer has hurt or betrayed her in a way that she can never recover from the emotional damage. You used to captivate me/ By your resonating light/ Now I’m bound by the life you left behind (14-16) For the rest of the girls’ life, she will be imprisoned by him. She sacrificed everything for him. After years of being together, he throws everything she has done for him back in her face. She know feels like that she will never be free of him Your face it haunts/My once pleasant dreams (15, 16) The effect of this song brings forth many different emotions. This song brings to light that if one lets a past betrayal or losses rule their life, there will never be any peace for the individual. The individual needs to let go of the hurt, even though they are feeling that they were alone the entire time they were with that one person. I’ve tried so hard to tell myself that you’re gone/ But though you’re still with me/ I’ve been alone all along ( 24-26) It hurts being betrayed by a loved one. The reality that she was all alone in her love when he was with her...and ironically, now that he 's left her, she isn 't alone: He torments her with the memories of his betrayal (perhaps complicated by her genuine love for who she thought he was.) These wounds won’t seem to heal/ This pain is just to real/ There’s just too much that time cannot earse (21-23)

Works Cited
Evanescence. “My Immortal”. Fallen. Wind-Up, 2003. CD
“My Immortal”. www.azlyrics.com. 2000-2011. Web 14 Nov 2011

Cited: Evanescence. “My Immortal”. Fallen. Wind-Up, 2003. CD “My Immortal”. www.azlyrics.com. 2000-2011. Web 14 Nov 2011