“The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their own duplicity” (Proverbs 11:3). In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, which quite appropriately means place of great testing, much of the unfolding horrors are due to outright lies told for self-preservation and deception used for maintaining a righteous image. Miller’s purpose for the origin of the drama in the Puritan town is to show that everyone is guilty of lies and deceit, and that no one’s good image is entirely true. With this, Miller says, that those who point fingers need to look at themselves and their sins before deception and lies blur the truth, which once said or confessed to, changes everything. Esteemed Reverend Hale, murderous Abigail, adulterous John and honest Elizabeth are all guilty of such things and Miller uses them to make his point, and in this he is entirely correct.
When Abigail and the other girls try to frame Mary Warren for witchcraft to preserve themselves, John Proctor cries out to a faltering Mary, “God damns all liars!” (Miller 119). If the Lord is to damn all liars, then He must damn Elizabeth, Mary, John, Abigail, Parris and the rest of the girls as well as those who confessed to witchcraft, because each of them has lied. The foundation of the mass hysteria and trials was lies which spread throughout the town and much of the colony, and Miller uses that to show the snowball effect lies have, and how they do not stop without truth. Abigail accuses innocents to get out of trouble and eventually marry Proctor. John attempts not to accuse Abigail to preserve his own way of life and it brings light to the falsehoods he told his wife. When a person lies and then tries to either bring forth truth or obtain something they desire, it becomes increasingly difficult to do so, as fewer people will believe them or even forgive or love them, which leads to a continuation of the lies in order to obtain desires or even try to have a reputation in which truth telling is possible. Admitting one’s falsehood, as John does when he confesses at the court, brings value to one’s word. Then the snowball effect can stop, and respect for the truth can begin again as seen with Hale quitting the court and John’s refusal to confess to witchcraft. Admittance, not simply ignoring the lies, stops the spread. Everyone lies, but not everyone does something about it.
Deception may not be outright lying to a person, but it is putting on a show or an image and pretending something is as it is not. “It’s well seasoned” (Miller 56), says Proctor to his wife as they eat stew. The seasoning referenced is not Elizabeth's but John’s, and Miller uses it to allude to the fact that Proctor’s household seems ‘well-seasoned’ on the outside, as did the soup before John tasted it, but inside, the house is a cold and tasteless atmosphere. Deception like this, Miller argues, or any deceit for that matter, is just as bad as lying. It too can snowball. It snowballs into masks that people wear which soon causes them to forget the truth of who they are. Abigail has the mask of a saint, Parris of a Reverend, Elizabeth has a mask of love and duty, Hale is hidden by his intelligence, and Proctor’s mask is one of righteousness. All of these become rags when a person is honest, and the threadbare rags allow us to see who they are and what is in their hearts. When those who deceive point their fingers at others or try to make things right without confession, such as Elizabeth’s “No sir” (Miller 116), the mask wins; the deception never stops. Its effects continue until someone confesses.
Honesty. It can build someone up, tear a relationship apart, or show a person who they truly are. When Hale says that he “comes to do the Devil’s work” (Miller 132), his sarcasm shows that he has cast off honesty as he counsels Christians “that they should belie themselves” (Miller 132). If Hale’s plan had worked, it would have furthered the trials which was the hope of Parris. Here, Miller’s point is that the dismissal of honesty for life does no good as it does not stop the lies. The dismissal and disintegration of honesty stops nothing but the truth. Hale pleads with Elizabeth, asking that she convince her husband to lie to save his own life. Surprisingly, she stops his passionate appeal with one simple statement, “I think that be the Devil’s argument” (Miller 134). The Devil, the first to ever lie and deceive in the book of Genesis, wants to destroy truth and anything else that is godly. The best way to do that is through lies and deception. So when Elizabeth calls Hale out on sinning to save her innocent husband, she proclaims that she holds truth over life, and Miller uses this to say that confession to lies and deceit as well as being honest are more important than the confirmation of lies to save a life. He argues that doing what is righteous and just is better than sacrificing honesty.
If everyone is guilty of lies and deception, and honesty is the only way to stop them, why do they continue? Why do people point fingers at each other throughout the ages? Simply put, to sacrifice honesty in lies and deceit is easier than being truthful. When Miller has Proctor die for the truth, he tells us that truth will cost us. “Ill-gotten treasures,” said the wise King Solomon, to whose teachings the Puritans subscribed, “have no lasting value, but righteousness delivers them from death” (Proverbs 10:2). This saying sums up Miller’s argument quite well. Abigail gained her power through accusing others of sins to save her from her own, and she falls lower than she ever was before when she becomes a prostitute in Boston, according to legend. Proctor ultimately dies because of his deceptions and lies from months before the play up until he is in court. Elizabeth loses her husband because of the cold house that she kept and her own lies and deception about the affair. When we point fingers and do not confess to our lies and deceit, we end up paying for it until it becomes too late. So live righteously, Miller says, in good standing with others, and when the lies and deceit happen, confess them. That honesty makes all the difference.
