The society of Salem is unaware of the degree to which people will lie to protect their interests. The principal lies in The Crucible are crafted by the young woman Abigail Williams, who is taking out private vengeance against Elizabeth Proctor. She is doing this because Elizabeth is married to John Proctor, whom Abigail is in love with. These lies in effect sentence innocent people to their deaths. Although in other cases the reasons for lying may vary from person to person, the fact that people lie to protect their self interests is a trait of human nature. The court and the Salemites are fooled by Abigail's lies; they had not realized that someone could lie to s

Not only did Salemites underestimate the degree to which the witnesses would lie, but they also did not think that accused people would be honest. The court and ministers figured people would confess to witchcraft once they were accused, because they thought people would rather live with a blackened name than not live at all. Only two of the accused people in the play confessed to the sin of witchcraft. Elizabeth Proctor lived only because she was pregnant. Other than these exceptions everyone who was accused was sentenced to hang. The people who were hung were all behaving as martyrs, dying for their faith. At the end of the play when Mr. Proctor is about to hang, Mr. Hale pleads with Elizabeth Proctor to reason with her husband, but she refuses saying, "...He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him!" She is telling Mr. Hale that Proctor is telling the truth, that he is facing the world, and that he is not going to lie any longer. Her quote also states that people would rather die and face God as a wholesome person than live a liar and be forever damned in Hell. The consequences of the society of Salem underestimating people's willingness to be honest are, again, the unnecessary deaths of innocent people.

Another human trait in today's world is that people abuse honesty. In such cases this means that people are telling the truth only from a certain point of view, and to the amount that benefits themselves the most. A wonderful example of this is read about everyday in newspapers, magazines, and on the internet. It is the Clinton and Lewinsky scandal. Under oath and to the public, Clint

Some topics in this essay:
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