MAAN & Ethics

I believe that there is a time when lying is ehtically and morally justified. Not all lying is justified obviously, for instance if the lie hurts others or if the lie is to cover up something terrible instead of accepting the consequences of one's actions, but this is not always the case when someone lies. For an example in "Much Ado About Nothing" in act 2 scene 3 and act 3 scene 1 Leonato, Prince, Claudio, Hero, Margaret and Ursula all lie in order to trick Benedick and Beatrice into falling in love with each other. The lying in these scenes is morally justified in my opinion because they were just having innocent fun with Beatrice and Benedick, they were not hurting them in any way. If anything they were helping Beatrice and Benedick because if they had not tricked them , Beatrice and Benedick would have probably never admitted their true feelings to each other and would not have gotten married. The lying to Beatrice and Benedick helped them entirely, therefore it was morally justified.
On the other hand lying is not justified if it involves hurting others in any way. If people are getting hurt because of a lie then then it is ethically wrong to tell a lie in order to sabotage someone else. Another example from "Much Ado About Nothing" is when Don John and Borachio are plotting to seek revenge on Claudio by ruining his marriage to Hero. Don John questions, "How canst thou cross this marriage?" and Borachio replies, "Not honestly, my lord, but so covertly that no dishonesty shall appear in me" (II.2.6-9). This kind of lying is specifically to ruin Claudio's marriage and disgrace Hero because Don John is jealous of Claudio therefore his actions are completely out of revenge. This is clearly wrong on Don John and Borachio's part because they are tryign to hurt Claudio as opposed to trying to help as Claudio, Leonato, Prince, Hero, Margaret and Ursula were doing. To summarize lying can possibly be justified morally and ethically depending on the situation, and whether or not the intentions of the liar are good or evil.