Here is what betrayal is: having someone earn your trust, only to turn their back on you a short time later. There are many forms of betrayal, a lot of which involve small and petty things, like cheating on a boyfriend. Other forms involve events with grave consequences, such as Judas betraying Jesus.

What causes betrayal, anyway? What drives a person to hate someone else so much that they will consciously work to destroy them? I'd be willing to bet that most of the time the cause is either love or money. Some times, people will betray others without even knowing it, causing tremendous emotional damage that they never realized would happen. This could be viewed as involuntary betrayal, and might be looked on as a lesser offense, but I think that this type carries more weight than voluntary betrayal. Why? Well, if you don't think about your actions, then you care even less about the person you're betraying because you didn't even think of them at the time. It's not unlike the phrase, "It's better to be hated than ignored."