Dishonesty In The Crucible Analysis

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Generally honesty is a good thing, but as shown in The Crucible by Arthur Miller, sometimes dishonesty can be used for good. When someone is not honest it can not only affect the person lying but also affect the people around them. Protecting the ones that we love comes through just being generally honest. We often get into situations where we tend to be dishonest with our own selves. Bashing dishonesty, and how bad it is, comes up as a fairly “normal” thing in today's world. Though, in some ways could it be the complete opposite?
Dishonesty. It is typically an honesty that most people want to avoid in every way possible, but for Abby, well, she could not get enough of it. Abby went to the extreme on trying to mislead the people of Salem.
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For Elizabeth, her dishonesty was used to protect others. Specifically for her husband, John Proctor. Before talking to Elizabeth, the judge, Danforth, talked to John Proctor. While talking to him, John stated to the judge that “But if she is pregnant, then she must be! That women will never lie, Mr. Danforth.” (181). He shows in that statement that Elizabeth is a very trustworthy lady. When Elizabeth then talked to the court she stated that “My husband- is a goodly man, sir” (190). Even though John said “Elizabeth, tell the truth!” (191) she then proceeded to tell Danforth that her husband John was not guilty of having an affair with Abigail Williams. We see in this example that all of this is being done through love. Even though Elizabeth knew that her own husband had betrayed and hurt her, she loves him enough to lie to protect him. This lying compared to Abigail's dishonesty shows us how it can be used in two completely different ways. Elizabeth lying for John was to protect their own personal relationship and in no way was made to harm anyone severely, unlike what Abigail did. Now a days, COME BACK TO TALK …show more content…
John Proctor showed us how to do just that. John was lying when he said that he was with the devil for awhile. John then signed the contract but soon after signing it, started to rethink his decision. John stated that “What others say and what I sign to is not the same!” (207). He then ripped up the contract, becoming honest with himself again. “Give them no tear! Tears pleasure them! Show honor now, show a stony heart and sink them with it!” (208). John was still hanged for his actions. Being true to ourselves is something that I believe nowadays we all could improve on. Everyone hears that phrase but have we really took the time to look over it and realize what the phrase really means and how much it relates to us? When you are honest with yourself it means you are honest with what you feel, desire, and allow the truth from yourself to flow out into the world and into others.
In conclusion, The Crucible has shown us many examples of honesty and dishonesty, and all the different ways they can be used. Whether that be done through dishonesty to harm others, dishonesty to protect the ones that you love and care for, or even just staying true and honest to yourself. We can take the mistakes made back in the old town of Salem and through all of those examples see how important honesty is in our own world

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