Lies of the crucible
Lies of the crucibleLIES OF THE CRUCIBLE
Lying has always been considered to be one of the worst things man could do. Yet almost anyone who has ever spoken a word in their life has lied at one point or another. The truth is that lying comes naturally. Lying is an easy way out of situations that could get us in trouble. It truly is an act of pure selfishness. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Miller shows what the consequences of lying are and proves that “honesty is the best policy”.
The first thing lying does is turn people against whoever maybe lying. Lying does this because once someone is branded a liar, they are also looked at as selfish, among other things. There are several examples of how lying can be an act of selfishness in The Crucible. The first deals with the play’s protagonist, Abigail Williams. Abigail lied because she loves John Proctor and wants him for herself. Abigail accuses Elizabeth Proctor, John Proctor’s wife, of being a witch. This news comes one night from Mary Warren. Elizabeth is speaking, “I am accused?” And Mary Warren replies “Somewhat mentioned…” …Elizabeth later speaking of Abigail says “She wants me dead, John, you know it!”(59, 60) Here we see how selfish Abigail can be. Abigail knows that if Elizabeth is accused but will not confess that she will be hanged. Another group of people who lie out of selfishness are the court officials. If the people of Salem were to find out that the girls fooled even the members of the court, their reputations would be ruined. So, they go along with the girls and continue to hang people. The only way to save themselves is to get a confession out of a man that they know to be innocent, John Proctor. The court officials know that if John confesses he will be lying, but thinking of themselves they also know that their reputations will be saved (139-145). And people who lie tend to not worry about the effect that it will have on others.
A second consequence of lying is the hurt that it may bring to the people being lied to. When someone is lying they are fully aware of whom they are hurting in the process, but will continue to lie. Someone is always effected by lies and that effect tends to be a negative one. The best example of this is the girls lying to the town. Because they lied ninety-one people were executed. And the girls knew exactly what they were doing but did not care who got hurt or in this...
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