On The Theme Of Betrayal In Milan Kundera’s Novels

The writing purpose of Milan Kundera is to search for the forgotten existence of people, It is a unique perspective to present the forgotten existence by focusing on betrayal theme. In many of his works, the purposes of facing the reality and realizing self-salvation can be achieved by those protagonists’ unavoidable betrayal.There exist many betrayers in Kundera’s novels, for example, Thomas, Terasa,and Sabina in The Unbearable Lightness of Being; Yakubu and Lucina in Farewell Waltz; Jaromir in Life is Elsewhere; and Ludovic, Zemanek and Kaucka in The Joke.Every people lives a different life and represents one or more possibility of existence.Because of a certain purpose or threat they choose to betray their family, love, belief,and identity.It can be found that these betrayals in Kundera’s novels are the results of various factors not the unconscious product of Kundera. Firstly, it is his deep feelings to betrayal in the real life, because he was always faced with this situation in his early years; secondly, it is influenced by the Czech society and history from which Kundera recognizes the deep meaning of betrayals and sorrow; lastly, the betrayal theme fits the ideals of kundera’s novels perfectly that betrayal always opens the door to the forgotten existence for people.Betrayal is always not accepted by people as an act that violates humanity and justice, but in Kundera’s novels, it is presented in a new look, which not only highlights his existential philosophical view, but also expresses his concerns for the human’s existential state from the perspective of self-pursuit.