MAAN and Ethics

I think that lying is never ethically or morally justified. You should never lie because of this. It is never justified becuase lying means that you are not telling the truth and that is very bad. If you lie once you are bound to keep lying and that can lead to all sorts of trouble. Lying is against correct morals because you should always be truthful because the truth is what keeps everthing going. If no one told the truth, or lied contiuously, then all of society would fall apart. The only situation that I think you would be able to lie in is if you are faced with a life and death matter and you need to lie to stay alive and not die. All in all, lying is never morally or ethically justified because it is against all morals and lying can always lead to trouble and corrupt people.
There are many instances in "Much Ado About Nothing" when the characters lie. One of the biggest lies in this play so far is when the Prince, Claudio, and Leonato trick Benedick into think that Beatrice is in love with him. They say loudly, so Benedick who is spying of them can hear, "
Come hither, Leonato. What was it you told me of today, that your niece Beatrice was in love with Signor Benedick" (II.3.72-73)? This is a huge lie because now Benedick is convinced that BEatrice is in love with him and now he will try to show his affection too. Another example is when Don John realizes that he shouldn't lie about his happiness and his true feelings toward his brother. He states that, "I cannot hide what I am. I must be sad when I have cause and smile at no man's jests, eat when I have stomach and wait for no man's leisure, sleep when I am drowsy and tend on no man's business, laugh when I am merry and claw no man in his humor" (I. 3.10-14). He realizes that lying is bad and that he should stop and show his true feelings and what he is really like.
Many times people lie in life. This normally leads to bad things. One of the most notorious public "lyings" is when OJ Simpson said he didn't kill his wife. Even though he was never convicted of this crime all evidence points toward him being guilty in this case. He wrote a book (it never was released) about what he would have done if he would have killed his wife. All of this lying has lead to trouble for OJ with his fans and people who were following the case. He has never been respected the same as when he was an "honest man" and that will probably stick for the rest of his life. The lying has also gotten him into more trouble. He said that he is not guilty to a case in which he held up a few memorabilia collectors at a hotel room at gun point. If he is convicted than he will face major jail time and will be watched carefully for the rest of his life. This first big lie has lead to another big lie involving the law again. This is an example, from real life, that shows that lying is bad and that one lie leads to another lie.