What does the quote "O, what a tangled web we weave, when we practice to first decieve" really mean?

Question

What is the author truly driving at?

Answer 1

When you tell A lie, you have to tell a few back-up lies.

Soon, you have a tangled web of lies from that single deception.

Answer 2

Actually this quote was penned by Sir Walter Scott from his epic poem entitled Marmion published in 1808. The entire stanza reads:

Yet Clare's sharp questions must I shun,
Must separate Constance from the nun
Oh! what a tangled web we weave
When first we practice to deceive!
A Palmer too! No wonder why
I felt rebuked beneath his eye;

You've gotten some pretty thorough answers concerning the meaning of this quote; if you weave a web of lies, sooner or later you're going to get caught.

Answer 3

Youy've already received some great answers. What I am wondering is twofold. 1) Since you obviously thought the author's inquiry was thought provoking --how did you think it through and then not understand it,ie., no "Aha" moment? 2) You feel the author was "driving"? Driving implies headed towards the or a point. My point is that this statement is succinctly made by the author already. Understanding was what you, yourself, were driven to do. Therefore, I beleive the author acheived a great clarity of intent and language. The Holy grail of all serious writers.
And while we're praising writers, sir, here's to you for posting this one.

Answer 4

That is a Shakespearian saying because, he is the one who wrote that(Shakespeare)"What a tangles web we weave..." is basically saying what a mess we create when we lie and then try to cover that lie with other lies. We end up getting caught in the mess when the truth comes out just like a spider who is caught in his own web. I hope this helps and take care.

Answer 5

It means if you lie about something, you can find yourself in a very complicated situation trying to keep the story straight about the lie.

For example, let's say you're cheating on your spouse and he/she asks where you were last night. You then make up a lie to come up with an alibi. Later, you and your spouse are with some other people, and your spouse mentions to them that you went to this place and they say they were there too. Then they start asking you questions about how you liked where you said you were, but weren't. Now, you have to come up with more lies and it will drive you nuts trying to keep all the stories straight when they never even happened.

Answer 6

means when you decided to lie about something you just get into more trouble because you have to keep weaving lies to try to get out of the first one you told.

Answer 7

When we deceive or lie to someone about something, we have to remember each lie so we don't get tripped up..... and it's hard to keep track of things we lie about.
If we tell the truth, there is nothing to remember because it's the truth.

Answer 8

The more you bend the truth the more you have bend to keep the truth from coming out . You have to tell one string of lies after another to keep the truth hidden .