There are many reasons for one to lie. To hide something, to confuse others, or to be mean to others. But are any of these reasons justifiable and right? This is the moral question. In Much Ado About Nothing the characters lie for all of these reasons. In the beginning of the second scene everyone is at a masked party and so they do not know who each other are, and they lie to one another. When Antonio and Ursula enter the scene, Ursula tells him that he is Antonio, and he lies to her and says “At a word, I am not” (II.1.91). He lies to her to hide something, but is this lie moral? There are many times when people lie to others to hide something.
Another common reason why people will lie is to confuse others. There is an entire scene where the Prince, Claudio and Leonato are lying to Benedick, they are telling him that Beatrice is in love with him, even though she is not. The Prince starts off the whole conversation by saying “What was it your daughter told me of today, that your niece Beatrice was in love with Signor Benedick?”(II.3.85-86). The entire conversation is based on a lie, but is it justified? There are many times in this play that people lie, but are they justified by doing so?
3 comments:
Hi Ruth, The example that you have, when the Prince holds a conversation, is an instance of a lie, but I think it's more sarcastic and comical. As for the question you posed, I believe lying is justified at times, for instance when it doesn't make someone's feelings hurt. Yeah it's 2008!
I thought you brought up some good instances of lies. You normally wouldn't think of considering wether lying at a masked party was justifiable or not, because everyone does it. But that only makes it worse, people lie openly just because everyone else is, it may just be something small at the mask party, but where is the line drawn when does it cross the line of innocent playful jokes to a serious lie that has major consequences. I don't know if this makes any sense to anyone, it makes sense to me at least, sorry if no one understands this!
Ruth,
I thought you had some great instances of lies, but I was hoping you could tell me if you thought the characters’ lying was justified. I thought that lying was acceptable at the masquerade because it was all in fun and games with no ill intentions. For the second example I don’t know if the lying was done with the intention of confusing Benedick or getting him to act on his hidden love. I personally believe that once again Don Pedro’s lies were justified because they were made with the intention of helping Benedick, but the lying could have caused more trouble if Benedick’s love was not returned by Beatrice.
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