By Colin Edwards

9/20/11

Mr. Howell

ARCHETYPE PROJECT:TRAITOR

DEFINITION• The traitor is best defined as one who betrays someone who he trusts or who trusted him.

• Often someone nobody would have suspected.

• He seems nice, but secretly is evil and wishes harm to those around him.

• Usually is someone trusted by everyone else.

• Double Agent.

PROMETHEUS THE TITAN IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY• In Greek culture, Zeus made fire but did not allow humans to use it.

• Prometheus, one of Zeus’ friends betrayed him and the other Olympian gods by giving fire to humanity.

• He was punished severely by having an eagle rip out his liver every day and then it would grow back so he could be tormented endlessly.

• He is considered a traitor because he blatantly went against Zeus’ command.

SCAR IN THE LION KING• Simba’s father Mufasa dies and it is the fault of his uncle, Scar.

• Scar kills Mufasa for selfish reasons (to be king).

• He betrays Mufasa because he is his blood brother and he kills him for his own benefit.

• He had no remorse for killing his brother and only cared that he was king.

• He also tried to kill Simba, his own nephew.

• Simba comes back to his home and kills Scar and is then named king.

THE SORCERER IN THE ARAB STORY OF ALADDIN AND HIS LAMP• In the Arab story of Aladdin and his lamp in One thousand and One Nights, a sorcerer

comes to Aladdin and tells him he is his uncle.

• What he actually wants to do is get an enchanted lamp from a magic cave.

• The lamp actually held a genie inside it, and Aladdin is able to escape the cave with the aid of the genie.

• The sorcerer then betrays Aladdin by tricking his wife into giving the lamp to him.

• Aladdin then defeats the sorcerer with the help of a lesser genie.

• The sorcerer can be considered a traitor simply by the way he tricked Aladdin’s wife and he told Aladdin he was the brother of his late father.

BRUTUS IN THE TRAGEDY OF JULIUS CAESAR• At the end of the Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Caesar is assassinated by a group of people.

• Among them is his trusted friend, Marcus Brutus. He is one of the last people one would expect to be among the killers.

• He is among the last to stab Caesar, and even Caesar is surprised by it.

• When Brutus stabs him, he utters the famous line “Et tu, Brute?” which is Latin for “Even you, Brutus?”

CHRISTOPHER BOYCE AND DAULTON LEE IN THE FALCON AND THE SNOWMAN• Boyce and Lee are considered traitors because of what they did to America.

• They sold secrets of US security to the Soviet Union in the 80s.

• They betrayed their own home country and jeopardized America’s safety only for money.

• They were traitors because no one really expected either of them to betray America.

• They worked for the CIA, which no one would really expect.

JUDAS ISCARIOT• The ultimate traitor. Betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.

• Judas sold Jesus to the head priests for just 30 pieces of silver.

• The priests then crucified Jesus, just as He had predicted.

• Today, Judas is considered the biggest traitor of all time.

• He is one of the main reasons Jesus died on the cross that day.