Truth and Authenticity in Stories about Ourselves

Friendship requires honesty. But friendship can be undermined as much by bullshit as by dishonesty. This essay uses the distinction between speaking truth (honesty) and engaging in bullshit to explain how characters in two classic works, Akira Kurosawa's film “Rashomon,” and William Shakespeare's “Othello,” use bullshit. Puzzles about each work are resolved once it is clear that central characters in each are posing or bullshitting about their histories for social effect rather than telling the truth. Each of the characters in “Rashomon” presents himself as he wishes to be known, regardless of what is true. Similarly, the autobiography Othello recites is used to show Othello's failure to understand Desdemona's love and Iago's treachery.