Discuss the royal of betrayal and distrust in the story, e.g. why is Sita so quick to accuse Laksmana of trying to get her alone with him?
When we talk about the royal of betral and distrust in the Ramayana story, we must think about Dasharatha, the King of Ayodhya, and Sita, the wife of Rama. At the beginning of the story, in Book 2 Ayodhya 17-18, the King Dasharatha has decided to keep his words to Queen Kaikey that he would banish his heir apparent, Rama, for 14 years and let Queen Kaikeyli’s son Bharata to be crowned. However, Dasharatha betrayed the rules of dharma – the eldest son should rule. Although in the this Book, Dasharatha does not want to tell Rama about this truth since he does not want to do that. However, he keeps his words to Kaikeyli but betrayed his son and the rules of dharma.
Another betrayal or distrust occurs on Sita. From Book 3, aranya 34-35, we know that Ravana is attacted by the beauty of Sita from Supanakha’s speech. Then he set up the trap with magical Golden deer to abduct Sita. She did not following what Rama and Lakshman said to stay in the protective circle since she thought Ravana is a brahmana. She “betrayed” Rama and Lakshman’s trust. On the other hands, when Rama saved her from Ravanam, she has been asked to prove her purtity. This shows the distrust that Rama has on Sita.
It is interesting to ask what is and what isn’t in accordance with dharma. Many characters have had trouble with dharma in the text from the King, who had to choose between primogeniture and fulfilling his boons, to Laksmana who has to choose numerous times, between fighting the king and granting Rama kingship or following his orders, and whether to stay or leave Sita when Rama called out. I’m not entirely sure what happens when various aspects of dharma conflict with each other, but that conflict plays a big part in the story.