Archetypes In Lord Of The Flies

In addition to his actions, Simon’s encounter with evil further characterizes him as a Christ figure and an oracle archetype. The novel’s title, Lord of the Flies, originates from a mistranslation of Beelzebub, another name for the devil. The sacrificed sow head on a spear, called the Lord of the Flies, symbolizes the devil. Since Simon’s confrontation with the Lord of the Flies occurs in the midst of a delusion, it can be considered a prophecy similar to an oracle’s vision. Both Christ and Simon meet with the devil while in altered physical states. Simon’s confrontation with the Lord of the Flies is a result of severe dehydration and an epileptic fit indicated by “a pulse [that] began to beat on the brain” which parallels Christ’s meeting with the devil during the forty days he went into the wilderness without food or drink (Golding 138). In his vision, Simon realizes that “things are what they are” because

Abstract: William Golding won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1983, for his first writing Lord of the Flies, in which symbolism is wildly used and attributes lots of symbolic meanings to the characters and events. The story thus becomes vivid and profound.

The encounter with the Lord of the Flies supports Simon’s thoughts that the beast that the boys are hunting for is not an actual animal. The Lord of the Flies tries to persuade Simon to let go of his rational thoughts and be taken over by his primal instincts in order to have fun like the other boys. However, when Simon’s silence declares that he refuses to let go of logic and rationality, the Lord of the Flies realizes that Simon knows what the beast really is—the innermost part of the boys. Simon seems to make this connection that the Lord of the Flies is representational to the inner beast within the boys almost instantly. “His gaze was held by that ancient, inescapable recognition”(Golding 139). Simon instantly The Lord of the Flies quickly makes the connection, too. “You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?” (Golding, 1 ). The Lord of the Flies is symbolic to all the evil that is in humans. As Simon realizes that he was right about the beast, he tries to go back to the other boys to warn them about his discovery, but the Lord of the Flies gets angry. “This is ridiculous. You know perfectly well you’ll only meet me down there—so don’t try to

A literary criticism is an informed written analysis or evaluation of a work of literature based on literary theory. The hero archetype type is one common type of character used by an author which displays morality, bravery, and self sacrifice. In the fictitious novel To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the hero archetype is shown in multiple characters. This archetype is used to help characterize the characters and help the reader understand them. Thought the story Lee uses the hero archetype in the characters Atticus, Jem, and Boo Radley.

The Lord of the Flies says “Fancy thinking the beast is something that you could kill,” and he calls Simon a “silly boy” (Golding 143). The beast was trying to tell him that the boys were the actual beast and it was inside of them, as sin is in all of us from the fall of man. Matthew 12:24 says “But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.” The world Beelzebub is another name used to address the devil, and literally translates to “Lord of the Flies”, which is the name that Golding uses to refer to the pigs head in the book. The Pig also tempts Simon in the forest as Satan did Jesus in the New Testament ( Matthew 4:1-11). The pigs meat represents the fruit of knowledge from the book of Genesis. The meat is all the boys could think about, until they ate it and it opened the door to savagery and sin. As Eve ate the forbidden fruit of knowledge and cursed the world with sin. Pork in the Old Testament was considered filthy and forbidden, and if you consumed it, you were considered unclean and sinful (Leviticus 11:7-8). Jack and his hunters ate the meat, and soon after became complete savages. Jack and his tribe worship the beast/pig, offering it fruit and sacrifices(Golding 137), as Revelations 13:4 says “People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and

The Pig’s head, dubbed Lord of the Flies and as one of Satan's names is Beelzebub (Mt. 12:24) which means "Lord of the flies." shows that the pigs head represents Satan. When Simon goes off to meditate he is confronted with the pig’s head, as Jesus was confronted with Satan when he left for forty days and forty nights. Simon’s talk with the Lord of the Flies is akin to Christ's temptation by Satan. In the New Testament, Satan tells Christ not to kill himself for us but to enjoy life and power. Simon is told that if he doesn’t "run off and play", the hunters and the Lord of the Flies will "do you in."

In the The Lord of the Flies they're are many different characters that embodys various types of archetypes, one of those is Simon as the "Christ" figure. In the book Simon is portrayed like Christ because he is a very kind, compassionate, and peaceful person. He is also shown as a provider of food for example he provided fruit where in this case Christ provided bread. Around the end of the book simon is seen as a prophet just like Christ, he starts to apprehend who this beastie on the island truly is. When Simon tries to tell the boys on the island what he thought he was killed but in reality he was just an innocent boy, just like Christ was you can say "crucified".

In our society, people are often cruel to one another in the want for personal gain, but this is restrained to mere social interactions and online in our industrial world. However, when we are separated from civilized society and the pressures that it places upon us, we are quick to turn to savage, cruel behavior to survive. Golding understood this idea, that we are only civilized when others are watching, and showed the possibility for even the purest to become affected by societal pressures in his novel, the Lord of the Flies. In order to show the role of cruelty in shaping the novel Lord of the Flies, Golding uses character archetypes, the idea of cosmic irony, and extended symbolism to highlight the inherent flaws of human nature and the potential for even the purest individuals to turn to cruel ways due to societal pressures.

The killing of Simon and the beast itself represent the main symbols throughout chapter 9. “Fancy thinking the beast was something you can hunt and kill!. You knew didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close!I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?” (Golding 143). The Lord of the Flies is talking to Simon saying that the beast is the evil inside us all. Simon realizes that the beast is not actually real but rather within us, but when he tries to tell the rest of the boys this, they murder him. “Only the beast lay still, a few yards from the sea. Even in the rain they could see how small a beast it was; and already its blood was staining the sand” (153). Simon represents the goodness and saintliness of the boys and of mankind in general, and slaughtering him is killing off the good, leading to more savagery and an even weaker civilization. The realization that the beast isn’t real is killed when Simon is. No one realized who or what they were killing because they were so driven by the fear of the beast and saw something, went savage, and killed

Archetypes are found in every story ever lived or created. Archetypes are known as a universal symbol. They may be characters, themes, symbols, or settings. Within William Golding's Lord of the Flies there are very prominent, obvious archetypes. The main characters; Ralph, Simon, Piggy, Jack and Roger, all represent an archetypal character.

The pig head embodies evil for the boys do brutal things because of it. At nearly the beginning of Lord of the Flies, there is already a conflict between Jack and Ralph over the pigs. Jack states,“‘We want meat,”’(Golding 51). On the other hand, Ralph thinks they need shelter. The pig head brings out problems throughout the entire book, changing the boys into savages and eventually splitting apart to fight and kill. “... A little apart from the rest, sunk deep maternal bliss, lay the largest sow of the lot,” Jack and his hunting spree observed from afar (Golding 134). They would go on to kill the great and beautiful sow, that was now brutally slaughtered into a bloody mess and shoved onto the stick. This changes the stunning sow into an evil demon. The murder symbolizes that all good things are gone as we would later see as the boys split apart and terminated both Simon and Piggy. The name Lord of the Flies translates to Beelzebub, which is a name for a formidable demon. Some believe that demons perform horrific actions such as withdrawing joy and making others feel miserable. This would later be revealed as the boys would feel a great amount of

Without a villain, any novel lacks plot development. Conflict is necessary; otherwise there is no action. Jack is the villain who drives the action in Lord of the Flies. William Golding uses many common character archetypes in this novel. But his use of Jack as the villain shows the reader how savage and evil a person can become without civilization.

“The sticks fell and the mouth of the new circle crunched and screamed. The beast was on its knees in the center, its arms folded over its face. It was crying out against the abominable noise something about a body on a hill...at once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt onto the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore…” - Lord of the Flies, Chapter 9. Simon, in a futile attempt to warn the other boys about the Beast, is betrayed by his friends as Jesus was, and murdered, symbolically dying for their sins. The madness of savagery further consumes the boys, leading them to take another life, Piggy’s. Once the Jesus Christ figure and the voice of intellectual reasoning are dead, the Lord of the Flies ruled unopposed over the minds of the

In order to create a character strongly in foil with the evil deeds of the island, Golding uses the archetype of the Christ figure in Simon’s self-sacrificing behavior, his time spent in the jungle alone, and in his confrontation with the evil Lord of the Flies to further portray the great potential for loss of human empathy and emotion in the other boys due to dire circumstances.

Jack and his group killed a sow, they became savages. They sharpen a stick in both sides and put the head on it. Then they leave the head as an offering to the beast. Simon finds the head, and thinks that the head is talking to him. He calls the head The Lord of the Flies. This name makes an allusion to the devil. Making the statement that the lord of the flies is pure evil. The Lord of the flies tells Simon that the beast is inside all the boys, but that he could not tell the other boys about it. After his delusion with the pig’s head, he discovers that the beast is not more than a dead body. He decided to go and tell the other kids. But Simon went in the wrong time, the other kids confused him with the beast and killed him savagely. They