Lying vs. Truth-Telling in Genesis, Othello, and The Lie
As children we are taught to always tell the truth in every situation. Catchy clichés such as "the truth will set you free" are used to reinforce honesty in our minds. However, is it possible that lying can further your success in life, more so than honesty? Literary evidence seems to support this. Even the Bible offers stories of lying and cheating without consequence. Three literary works–the book of Genesis, William Shakespeare’s Othello, and Sir Walter Ralegh’s poem The Lie–offer support that, perhaps, the truth is not always what it’s cracked up to be.
Sir Walter Ralegh discusses lying versus telling the truth in depth in his poem The Lie. In this poem, it appears that a member of the court is telling his servant (the servant being the "Soul," or perhaps the poem itself) to visit various genres of upper-class people and expose to them the uncomfortable truths of their existence. If they begin to deny these truths, the servant is commanded to "give them the lie," and publicly accuse them of being untruthful.
Ralegh is claiming that these higher members of society are living lies and should be aware of them. He says, "Say to the church, it shows / What’s good and doth no good." During Ralegh’s time, clergymen were of the most powerful men in society, and they were also considered among, if not the, most corrupt. Ralegh’s intent with these lines is to expose that the church was not practicing the goodness that they were preaching about, thus harming the congregation and society as a collective whole. However, the clergymen were not directly harmed by this hypocritical and thus untruthful way of life. Although Ralegh is claiming that he knows and is speaking the...
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... their powerful brother. Even Joseph benefited from the lies his brothers told about him, saying that he was dead when in actuality he had been sold into slavery. Had his brothers not lied, Jacob would have searched for him and he never would have become Pharaoh’s partner. So, it seems here that lying conquered truth-telling in efficiency and outcome.
Although it is considered wrong to tell lies, it seems that literature has offered us situations where telling lies isn’t necessarily bad. Of course, lying often has a tragic outcome, but not always for the person or people who told the lie or lies. Oftentimes, these unfortunate outcomes are directed at the person about whom the lie was told. Furthermore, these stories have explained that dishonesty can result in success for both the liar and the target. Maybe we have been teaching the wrong values to our children.
Edward Peters, ed., Christian Society and the Crusades, 1198-1229 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1971)
American writer and speaker, Dorothy Allison, once said “things come apart so easily when they have been held together by lies” (Allison). One of the first lessons that kids are taught is to be honest and always tell the truth. Being honest is not always easy, but the result of lying is much worse then telling the truth. In Animal Farm, George Orwell demonstrates how lies and deceit will ruin society if everyone always believes what the leader says, people lie to themself, and if laws are changed to benefit the group in power.
A person once said “the truth does not cost a person anything, but a lie costs a person everything”. The aim of the study is to take an in depth look at how the kinds of lies and sex differences in lying demonstrated in the scientific article are related with Pamela Meyer's tedtalk.
Crusades, military expeditions that begun during the late 11th century that were organized by western European Christians. In 1095 the council of Clermont, “Pope Urban II called Christians in Europe to respond to an urgent plea from Byzantine Christians in the East.” (Madden, 2). This caused a striking expedition to Jerusalem in order to prevent the city from Muslim control. Many Muslim threatened to conquer the remnant of the Roman Empire for Allah. To many, Pope Urban II was a huge inspiration to willing participant. His works connected to every accomplishment to the works of God, which lead many to be intrigued. The crusades showed nothing but passionate devotion that most Western Europe had towards Christianity. It touched upon almost
Lying has a significant impact on one’s behavior, personality, and daily interactions throughout their personal and professional lives. In Pamela Meyer lecture “How to spot a liar” she identifies two truths regarding deception; lying is a cooperative act, and secondly we’re against lying, but we’re covertly for it in ways that our society has sanctioned for centuries and centuries and centuries.
Stephanie Ericsson’s The Ways We Lie, analyzes and reflects on how lying has simply become the norm in our society. We all lie, there is not one person in the world that does not lie. Most people lie because they are afraid of telling the truth, however what they do not know is telling a lie can lead them in the wrong direction because many things can happen when lying to a person. The person can find out when everything unravels that person will not have trust in you and you would be known as a liar. To every action there is a consequence, so why not deal with just one consequence when telling the
At the end of the conflict, the christian side failed in several aspects. Around 1272, the final christian city in Syria, Acre, fell to Mamaluke attacks from Egypt (“Minor Crusades”). This marked the fall of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem (“The End of the Medieval Crusades”). One reason the Crusades ended up failing are that the christians were never fully united. The Greek and Roman churches hated each other and prevented united action (“The End of the Medieval Crusades”). Another reason is that they lacked control of the Mediterranean Sea. Instead of being able to go straight to Syria, they had to take a long, overland route from France or Germany through Bulgaria and the Roman Empire’s territory (“The End of the Medieval Crusades”). In addition, the Crusaders never had enough people to colonize a country the size of Syria and absorb its Muslim population (“The End of the Medieval Crusades”). By this time, people had lost faith in the Crusades, and stopped believing in them as “the way of God.” They believed Jerusalem would be best retaken “by love, by prayers, and by the shedding of tears.” (“The End of the Medieval Crusades”)
Harold Smith from, “It’s the Truth: Americas Conflicted About Lying,” admits, “It was worth the risk when he lied to his adult daughter about his health when undergoing treatment for a kidney tumor.” Lying slowed down the anxiety for Smith and prevented any trauma for his daughter. To add on, some situations may come with a better outcome when lying. “Sometimes, it’s the only thing between you and a guaranteed beat down from your parents,” said Tim from, “Teens Do their Share of Lying.” This quote explains how lying helped Tim get out of a difficult
It was my first year in middle school. It wasn’t the greatest thing in the world, but I had finally started to develop a sense of connection to the people and things around me. I was learning about my interests (pizza and dodge ball) and my disinterests (video games and spinach soup). During these years, I experimented with scrap making it my purpose to create something out of nothing. I would bend, cut, screw, weld, and much of the time end up hurting myself trying to make a vision into a reality. Surprisingly, back in 10,000 BC cavemen were doing very similar things. The cave man's first inventions included the hunting club and the sharpened-stone. These tools became the all-purpose skinning and killing survival tools of their time. The sharpened stone later became the first writing instrument. Cavemen scratched drawings representing events in daily life such as the planting of crops or hunting victories they experienced. The history of writing instruments by which humans have recorded and conveyed thoughts, feelings and grocery lists, is the history of civilization itself. This is how we know the story of us, by the drawings, signs and words we have recorded. It is without doubt that these utensils have evolved into being integral parts of our lives, and furthermore, have allowed us to grow smarter and more productive as people. In this paper, I will discuss the extraction, production, distribution, consumption, and disposal of a common consumer item; the Ticonderoga number two pencil.
Before diving into different theological justifications of the Crusades, understanding what a crusade is, what preceded the Crusades, and the history of the Crusades are vitally important. First, what is a crusade? According to Paul Robinson in his writing Three Myths about the Crusades: What They Mean for Christian Witness “only the official military expeditions launched from Europe to the Holy Land and sanctioned by the pope count as Crusades” (28). Compounding off of that, it’s accepted that a crusade is one of a series of medieval military expeditions set forth to regain land lost to Muslim control. Accepting this definition, one lays the foundation for discovering thought-provoking information about the Crusades and all that they were
To all parents, a newborn child is a small miracle, perfect and beautiful in every way. However, in many situations the parents of these miracles learn that their children are “not normal.” Every year 6,000 parents across the country are informed that their child has a genetic disorder called Down Syndrome (“National Down Syndrome Society,” n.d.). Within a matter of minutes parents learn that children with Down Syndrome can also have a variety of other conditions and disorders, will not develop in the same way that other children do, and may even have a shorter life span. However, children with Down Syndrome are happy-go-lucky children with a kind disposition and a wonderful personality. Also known as Trisomy 21, Down Syndrome does not mean the end of a child’s life; it simply means that a child with Down Syndrome will lead a life that is different than that of his or her peers. With love and support from parents, educators, and medical professions these children can become some of the most wonderful people that one will ever meet. Down Syndrome is a genetic disorder that has its own symptoms, occurs during the process of mitosis, and is often connected with other medical conditions; however, with the help of new technology and medical professionals Down syndrome is recognized earlier and those with the condition can lead longer, healthier lives.
There were six major Crusades. Only the First Crusade was successful. These groups consisted of Nobles and peasants that responded in great numbers to the call and they marched across Europe to
Growing up, we are always told to never lie because it is the worst thing you could ever do. “Lying will only lead to a horrible situation with less than mediocre results. While lying is not always good, it is not always bad either. Samuel Butler once said “Lying has a kind of respect and reverence with it. We pay a person the compliment of acknowledging his superiority whenever we lie to him.
Down syndrome, which is also called Trisomy 21, is a condition in which extra genetic material causes delays in the way a child develops mentally and physically. Down syndrome is named after British doctor John Langdon Down. He first prescribed the condition in 1887. In 1959, an extra chromosome was identified as the cause. Down syndrome features and problems can vary from child to child. Some children need a lot of medical attention and others lead healthy lives. In the United States, Down syndrome affects around 1 in every 800 babies. Down syndrome cannot be prevented, but can be detected before a child is born. There are two types of prenatal tests: screening and diagnostic. Screening tests estimate the risk that a fetus has Down syndrome.
Telling the truth teaches one person self- respect for themselves and others as well. Telling the truth also sets a good example for others to do the same thing and make a “chain reaction”. People can make a “chain reaction” by passing on what they have done from one person to another, and before you know it, everyone is changing greatly, and the world is progressing tremendously. Lies are told all around the world, and they are told every day. One lie can often lead to another lie and cause you to be caught up in one big lie that will be hard to get out of if people do not tell the truth. If a person thinks that is okay to lie, they better think again, the truth always comes out no matter how hard a person tries to keep it in, or how much someone thinks that they can get away with lying. No person can keep in or hold a grudge with what they have done. After all, telling the truth is the right thing to do, and everyone should do it. Telling the truth is always much easier than the trouble of a