Betrayal Quote by William Shakespeare
““These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to us: though the wisdom of nature can reason it thus and thus, yet nature finds itself scourged by the sequent effects: love cools, friendship falls off, brothers divide: in cities, mutinies; in countries, discord; in palaces, treason; and the bond cracked 'twixt son and father. This villain of mine comes under the prediction; there's son against father: the king falls from bias of nature; there's father against child. We have seen the best of our time: machinations, hollowness, treachery, and all ruinous disorders, follow us disquietly to our graves. Find out this villain, Edmund; it shall lose thee nothing; do it carefully. And the noble and true-hearted Kent banished! his offence, honesty! 'Tis strange.””
About This Quote
Source Play: King Lear, Act 4, Scene 2, circa 1605
The passage warns of inevitable familial conflict and societal decay, likening them to natural eclipses that presage doom.
In simple terms: Family and society fall apart.
Key Takeaway
Beware internal strife.
Themes
family
conflict
decay
Mood
somber
reflective
Type
dramatic
philosophical
When to use this quote
- Counseling
- family therapy
- political analysis
Key Concepts
Eclipses as omens
generational rivalry
Questions to Reflect On
- What can break cycles of betrayal?
- How do personal grievances affect larger societies?
A Different Perspective
Not all conflicts are predestined; agency matters.
![“The will and the energy of God is the effective and foreseeing cause of every time and place and age, and of every nature. The will is the reason (logos) of the intellectual soul, which [reason] is within us, inasmuch as it is the faculty belonging to it which is endowed with freedom of action…” quote by The Church Fathers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/a88/the-church-fathers-1438_freedom_the-will-and-the-energy-of-god-is-the-ef_2750145.jpg)
