The Golden Compass Lies and Deceit Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

"What you're most like is marsh fire, that's the place you have in the gyptian scheme; you got witch oil in your soul. Deceptive, that's what you are, child." (7.9)

Ma Costa calls Lyra deceptive, but does she mean it as an insult? Why or why not?

Quote #5

"And then one evening the Turkish Ambassador was a guest at Jordan for dinner. And he was under orders from the Sultan hisself to kill my father, right, and he had a ring on his finger with a hollow stone full of poison. And when the wine come round he made as if to reach across my father's glass, and he sprinkled the poison in. It was done so quick that no one else saw him, but – " (8.3)

Here we see that Lyra is not so much a liar as simply a little girl with an overactive imagination.

Quote #6

By the end of the fourth repetition of the story Lyra was perfectly convinced she did remember it, and even volunteered details of the color of Mr. Coulter's coat and the cloaks and furs hanging in the closet. Ma Costa laughed. (8.15)

Notice how Lyra's own memory provides the details of the story told to her by Ma Costa.