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The 's The Way We Lie

Decent Essays

In Stephanie Ericsson’s “The Way We Lie,” Ericsson categorizes the various types of lies and their ramifications, whereas in Anton Chekhov’s “The Lady with the Dog,” the writing touches on the selfish lies that both Dmitri Gurov and Anna Sergeyevna tell to sustain their adulterous relationship. Although the extent to which lying is selfish depends on the motives and circumstances for the lie, and whose interest it benefits, I claim that not only are most lies selfish, but they are also morally wrong because they can cause irreparable damage to relationships and the trust between people.
While lies are told with the intent to deceive, I say that it is the motive for or behind? the lie that determines whether or not the lie is selfish. When a lie is used to serve only the interest of the liar, and is used at the expense of harming another person, the lie must be considered selfish. Although it seems that lies are commonly perpetrated by bad and dishonest strangers, sometimes the love ones we think we can trust are the ones who deceive us the most. A good example of this is depicted in Chekhov’s “The Lady with the Dog.” The liar, Dmitri Gurov, misleads his wife about his whereabouts in order to hide the various affairs he is having with other women. His wife does not suspect otherwise because she has faith that he will stay true to their oath of marriage. During Gurov’s time in Yalta, yet another excursion to get away from his wife, Chekhov writes, “he had first begun deceiving

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