As children we are taught to always tell the truth in every situation. Catchy clichés such as "the truth will set you free" are used to reinforce honesty in our minds. However, is it possible that lying can further your success in life, more so than honesty? Literary evidence seems to support this. Even the Bible offers stories of lying and cheating without consequence. Three literary works–the book of Genesis, William Shakespeare’s Othello, and Sir Walter Ralegh’s poem The Lie–offer support that, perhaps, the truth is not always what it’s cracked up to be.

Sir Walter Ralegh discusses lying versus telling the truth in depth in his poem The Lie. In this poem, it appears that a member of the court is telling his servant (the servant being the "Soul," or perhaps the poem itself) to visit various genres of upper-class people and expose to them the uncomfortable truths of their existence. If they begin to deny these truths, the servant is commanded to "give them the lie," and publicly accuse them of being untruthful.

Ralegh is claiming that these higher members of society are living lies and should be aware of them. He says, "Say to the church, it shows / What’s good and doth no good." During Ralegh’s time, clergymen were of the most powerful men in society, and they were also considered among, if not the, most corrupt. Ralegh’s intent with these lines is to expose that the church was not practicing the goodness that they were preaching about, thus harming the congregation and society as a collective whole. However, the clergymen were not directly harmed by this hypocritical and thus untruthful way of life. Although Ralegh is claiming that he knows and is speaking the truth, he does not lay claim that the clergy will experience a downfall in any way. He is merely claiming that his truths will expose their lies, but this hardly seems a threat to men of such power. This goes for the other people that Ralegh is threatening to expose, such as the potentates, landowners, and members of the courts. The only person that appears to be harmed in this poem is the honest Ralegh, who is hurt by the knowledge that these lives are lies, and may be hurt in the future if there is ridicule of his poem.

In Shakespeare’s Othello, the root of the tragedy is the web of lies spun by Iago. Iago wishes to be Othello’s lieutenant, but is shamefully denied this promotion when it is offered to Cassio. Thus begins Iago’s journey to destroy Othello’s marriage to Desdemona and his reputation as well.

The lies begin as soon as Iago befriends Roderigo and claims that he can see the eventual break up of Othello and Desdemona. From thereafter, Iago is himself a lie. He makes this known to the reader when he says "I am not what I am." Iago’s lies are evident in his tone and in his action. His tone towards Othello is always friendly and respectful, meanwhile when he speaks of Othello, his tone becomes jealous and vengeful. The same is true when he speaks to and of Cassio and Desdemona. However, this change of tone is what allows Iago to successfully trick Othello into believing Cassio and Desdemona are having an affair, and this eventually leads to the downfall of the characters. Although Iago’s punishment is left to be decided by Cassio, Iago seems to get away with the most harmful actions, meanwhile suffering the least punishment. In contrast, Othello and Desdemona have been honest with each other throughout the play (even though Othello suspects Desdemona of lying), and they suffer the worst punishments of all–murder and suicide. It appears that lying and cruel intentions have defeated honesty and virtue in Othello.

Two stories from the book of Genesis offer support that lying is not always harmful. The first is the story of Jacob and Esau. Rebekah, Isaac’s wife and the two boys’ mother, informs Jacob that Isaac is about to give a blessing unto Esau, as he is the firstborn. She sends Jacob to Isaac in Esau’s place, and he introduces himself to his father as Esau. Isaac, who is nearly blind and cannot tell the difference, gives his blessing of prosperity to his younger son, Jacob. Although Jacob originally feels guilty about receiving the blessing over his older brother, the guilt does not last long when he is sent out to receive a wife and property. Until the day Isaac dies, he still blesses his son Jacob, and Jacob becomes prosperous and has many wives and children of whom he is very fond. Jacob is never harmed by his lie. In fact, the only loss that resulted from the lie, that of losing the love of his brother Esau, is rekindled later on when Jacob sends a gift to Esau and they exchange brotherly love once again.

The second story of Genesis that suggests lying does not always turn out for the worst is the story of Joseph and his brothers. In this story, the brothers of Joseph envy him so much that they sell him into slavery in Egypt and bring his amazing coat of colors blood-stained and torn back to their father, Jacob, claiming he has been eaten by lions. Joseph proceeds to interpret the prophetic dreams of Pharaoh, warning of the seven years of "great plenty" followed by seven years of famine. Pharaoh then places Joseph in a position where he is second only to Pharaoh himself. When Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt to buy food during the famine, they do not recognize their successful brother who was originally sold into slavery but now was the right-hand man of the Pharaoh. However, instead of the brothers getting punished for their lies, they are given free food by Joseph and eventually move to Egypt to live near their powerful brother. Even Joseph benefited from the lies his brothers told about him, saying that he was dead when in actuality he had been sold into slavery. Had his brothers not lied, Jacob would have searched for him and he never would have become Pharaoh’s partner. So, it seems here that lying conquered truth-telling in efficiency and outcome.

Although it is considered wrong to tell lies, it seems that literature has offered us situations where telling lies isn’t necessarily bad. Of course, lying often has a tragic outcome, but not always for the person or people who told the lie or lies. Oftentimes, these unfortunate outcomes are directed at the person about whom the lie was told. Furthermore, these stories have explained that dishonesty can result in success for both the liar and the target. Maybe we have been teaching the wrong values to our children.