Why do the Liars Always Win?

             In every movie, book, or TV show there’s always an antagonist to oppose the protagonist.  That antagonist is usually the villain who causes trouble for the hero, and usually that trouble is caused by lies and deception.  The liars in any situation always seem to get away with whatever they’ve done, while the honest people take the heat.  If two people cheat on a test, one person might lie and say they never copied off of anyone and the teacher would believe them.  Then the other person might tell the truth and say they did cheat and they would get punished.  In situations like this, it’s more beneficial to lie than it is to tell the truth, which is why lying is so tempting and doing the right thing to telling the truth can be so hard.  In The Crucible, the entire conflict in the story sprouts from the lies of one person—Abigail Williams.  All the townspeople take her word whenever she accuses someone of witchcraft, but when Proctor and Hale try to suggest she lied, they are shot down.  As the audience, we know that Abigail is lying and that none of the accused are actually guilty, but none of the characters seem to see it that way.  When Elizabeth Proctor tells the first lie of her life to protect her husband’s reputation, it ends up sending them both to their doom.  In a lot of stories, the truth comes out in the end and the good guys win and live happily ever after, but that’s not so realistic.  In real life, the liars get away with a lot while the honest people suffer, which is exactly what happens to Proctor in The Crucible.  The play is a sad but true example of how the world works.