Lying can have its benefits. It can make people feel better about themselves, make themselves look better, and help maintain good relationships. At same time though, lying can be problematic. Lying is draining, it can threaten people’s self-worth, and greatly increases the risk of bad consequences. In The Crucible, horrible things spiraled out of control because of lies, and many of the events in the book happened because of lying. People were killed because the girls of Salem lied and claimed that they were witches. In current times, people are not claiming that others are witches, but people still lie for numerous of reasons and it is still extremely prevalent whether it’s a big or small lie. The Crucible shows many times that lying is never the best option in several situations and lying happens almost every day in people’s lives whether it’s them telling lies or someone else telling lies to them.
In the Crucible, John’s affair with Abby ended by the time the events of the play begin, but the consequences of that affair have only begun. Abby doesn’t think that John is no longer interested in her so, she accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft as a way to dispose of her. John lied and allowed Abby to believe that he loved her, so she thinks she can take Elizabeth’s place as his wife. Abby is wrong, but doesn’t realize her mistake until both John and Elizabeth have been accused of witchcraft. Abby’s lie started out small but ended up ruining something that she wanted. She then messed up two other people’s lives as a result of her lies. John also had consequences for never telling Abby his true feelings which in turn ended up killing him.
Another example of consequences from lying in The Crucible is in Tituba’s false confession. She said that she performed witchcraft in hopes of ending her master’s beating to save herself. This in turn, causes the girls of Salem realize that they can punish many people they dislike by accusing them. Tituba’s lie lead to many things, and it spiraled out of control. The lies people say to only save themselves can end up harming others. This single lie turned into multiple larger lies which ended up killing others and having their lives torn apart.
Abigail starts to lie earlier on in the book when she said, “We did dance uncle… and there’s the whole of it.” (Page 9). We learn later that Abby was lying and the girls were dancing naked and she was practicing witchcraft by drinking a potion to kill Elizabeth. She also lies about her ability to see spirits and so do the other girls. They lie about the people they accuse and would rather save themselves and bring others down then to keep their dignity. The girls have so much power and decide to abuse that power by lying and accusing because whatever they say, people will believe. They will end up hurting themselves for the future from the terrible things that they have done. Even the judge, lieutenant governor and ministers lie to themselves and everybody else by saying that they serve the cause of God’s justice. They lie to themselves and start to believe that what they are doing is the right thing and they want to ensure everyone else believes it as well.
Big lies and scandals happen constantly in real life and can end up ruining people’s reputation and come with plenty of consequences. A well known lie was when Bill Clinton lied about not having sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky when he did. A lawsuit was filed in 1994 that accused Clinton of sexual harassment when he was governor of Arkansas. Clinton denied having a sexual relationship, sexual affair or any sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky. He also denied that he was ever alone with her. When rumors of the scandal reached the news, Clinton said, ‘I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.’ Bill Clinton ended up being impeached for lying to investigators about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. This ended up ruining Clinton’s reputation and many people started to despise him after this case. Clinton also agreed to settle the case for $850,000 while still admitting he did nothing. Clinton lied to the world about this and it came with an extent of well deserved consequences. The consequences ruined himself and had a lot of people involved.
The consequences from lying is a universal lesson that everyone knows about yet people still do anyways. There are a lot of lessons we can learn from others mistakes of lying and even your own. Lies destroy trust, destroy relations with people, can harm others, ruin people’s lives and even influence if other people will lie. Both in The Crucible and in Bill Clinton’s case, lies led to bad consequences for the people who lied and others as well. Lying usually leads to even more lies and even bigger problems. There are a lot of lessons to be learned from The Crucible and how it relates to the world we live in today with many different people lying and trying to get away with it, but almost always getting bad consequences in return.
