Good And Evil In Lord Of The Flies Analysis

“All human beings are commingled out of good & evil” was a quote once said by notable Scottish novelist Robert Louis Stevenson. This quotation discusses and supports William Golding’s, the author of Lord of the Flies, belief that all humans have a distinct character flaw that, when left unchecked by morals and laws of society, will eventually corrupt the individual. In Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, it’s shown how due to their environment and lack of supervision, the young boys slowly progress and evolve into barbaric, bloodthirsty individuals.

Everyone would like to believe that man is not naturally evil, but that is not the case; Natural evil is real, and it can be evident everywhere. Not only are there many studies supporting the fact, but even the Bible acknowledges man’s natural evil. And if these evil are left unchecked, they leave to treacherous situations, as presented in William Golding’s, Lord of The Flies. The novel takes place on an island run by kids, and only held together by flimsy society lead by Ralph, the original chief. Only when Jack, Ralph’s former partner, challenges his authority that is when it starts to fall. Jack’s temptations to undo Ralph’s doing and to revert to primal savagery takes over him and eventually leads him to do actions that could only describe as an anarchist criminal. The only

Throughout history, philosophers have wondered what essentially drives people to do certain actions. It is not clear whether these actions occur because humans are intrinsically good or bad. Nevertheless, the novel Lord of the Flies and several historical examples provide some insight into why human beings may be fundamentally bad.

The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is tale of a group of young boys who become stranded on a deserted island after their plane crashes. Intertwined in this classic novel are many themes, most that relate to the inherent evil that exists in all human beings and the malicious nature of mankind. In The Lord of the Flies, Golding shows the boys' gradual transformation from being civilized, well-mannered people to savage, ritualistic beasts.

    Despite the progression of civilization and society's attempts to suppress man's darker side, moral depravity proves both indestructible and inescapable; contrary to culturally embraced views of humanistic tendencies towards goodness, each individual is susceptible to his base, innate instincts. In William Golding's Lord of the Flies, seemingly innocent schoolboys evolve into bloodthirsty savages as the latent evil within them emerges. Their regression into savagery is ironically paralleled by an intensifying fear of evil, and it culminates in several brutal slays as well as a frenzied manhunt. The graphic consequence of the boys' unrestrained barbarity, emphasized by the

While humans try their best to stop evil intentions, evil eventually overcomes. Although humans are ignorant and live their lives normally, evil finds a way to pounce on society. In order to suppress evil dominion is needed in the world. This is demonstrated in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. In this novel, when a horrific plane crashes on an island, a handful of boarding school boys find themselves stranded on a tropical island at a time during World War II. On the island, they govern themselves, hunt, and figure things out while waiting to be rescued. As time passes, there is conflict between two main characters, Jack and Ralph, who take on leadership roles. Another main character named Simon, is a mystical boy who spends time by himself

The Beast: It represents the evil within all human beings. The boys were all afraid of “the beast”, unaware that it existed within them all. Simon was the only one who figured it out, and when he was going to inform the others, he was tragically killed in the process. The beast became more and more existent to the boys the more savage and violent their behavior got.

Star Wars, Superman, James Bond—all of these are stories which chronicle the ever-present warfare between good and evil. What exactly is good? How does one describe evil? The answers to these questions are highly subjective, and could be debated for years on end without ever reaching a final conclusion. However, it is widely agreed that each person is inherently born with two sides; one of which is good, the other evil. It is this sense of inherent good and evil in all of us that William Golding tried to warn and protect society against in his classic, The Lord of the Flies.

Morally bad or causing harm or injury to someone can define the word ‘evil.’ In Lord Of the Flies, William Golding describe how most of the boys become evil. The need to survive and the people around them influenced how they changed. Throughout the book, Golding uses character development to show that humans are inherently evil.

In William Golding's novel Lord of The Flies he shows how evil exists inside of everyone, it is the situation a person finds themselves in allows evil to grow or be controlled. The three boys are an example of this. Jack who only thinks about himself he wants everything immediately which makes his evil grow. Ralph, however, thinks about others but at times can be selfish which can make his evil grow, but Ralph tries to keep his evil at bay. Simon on the other hand only thinks about others, he does not think about himself which stops his evil from arising. Therefore, control of the situation is control of evil self.

We often react to people or situations that appear unfamiliar to society’s accepted norms without knowing why. The fear of the unknown is a very powerful influence in all sentient life. It can take over our bodies and make us do unthinkable things that would seem impossible. Your mind can do its best to try to shield you from the fear but it’s still there festering in the back of your mind like a mold growing and getting worse. Within William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Lance Morrow’s “Evil”, Linh Kieu Ngo’s “Cannibalism: It Still Exists”, and Brent Staples “Black Men and Public Space” all fear something that they do not know.

Shakespeare’s quote in Romeo and Juliet, said by Friar Lawrence, is about the differences in good and evil forces in plants. The quotation shows how the contrasting forces of good and evil will always be fighting each other, like in the quote “two...opposed kings.” This similar concept is seen in Lord of the Flies, where Golding differentiates the good and evil. The struggle between those two forces can be seen constantly struggling with each other in between characters and objects.

Good vs. evil is a central theme that is relevant in many stories, situations, and ideas. Maximilien Robespierre once said, “Crime butchers innocence to secure a throne, and innocence struggles with all its might against the attempts of crime.” Long believed morals and rules will be put to the test when at ends with violence and savagery. In the book, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, this is the dominant theme.

‘Lord of the Flies’ is based almost entirely on Golding’s view that evil is an inherent force in every man, “man produces evil as a bee produces honey”. Golding acquired this belief while he was a soldier in the Second World War. From that point on, he became extremely pessimistic about human nature, calling it “the disease of being human”. This belief is shown very clearly, as he puts ‘innocent’ children on a deserted island, free of all corruption; free of an external threat, therefore with no need of an army; abundant in food and supplies, therefore with no need to steal. Therefore, what evil was left could only come from the

The boys project their irrational fears as a derivative of their immaturity, in an attempt to identify a realized external enemy. Literary critic Lawrence S. Friedman explains, “Too immature to account for the enemy within, the boys project their irrational fears onto the outside world. The first of these projections takes the shape of a snakelike “beastie,” the product of a small boy’s nightmare.” (233) The boys’ irrational fear of the unknown, one of a small boy’s nightmare, only serves to exemplify their immaturity in handling situations like this. It is a stepping stone to events to come, prophesied by Simon. In addition, the character of Simon alludes to the fact that there evil ‘beast’ can really be traced to their internalized innate evilness. Simon argues, “maybe there is a beast… What I mean is… maybe it’s only us.” (Golding 89) While all of the boys attempt to explain the phenomena of the ‘beast,’ Simon is the one who realizes that the boys themselves are the evil ‘beast’ they perceive. There is no external force, the ‘beast’ only serves to be a placeholder for the boys’ true primal nature. However, it is Simon’s death, at the hand of the boys themselves, that only serves to prove that evil truly exists in all of these boys. Friedman suggests, “The ritual murder of Simon is as ironic as it is inevitable. Ironically, he is killed as the beast before he can explain that the beast does not exist. His horrid death refutes is aborted revelation: the beast exists, all right, not where we thought to find it, but within ourselves.” (236) His death is truly the tipping point, a point of no return for the boys. After his killing, Simon’s philosophy of inner evil is realized. It is clear that his own philosophy is what ultimately leads to Simon’s death, as unfortunate as it may be. It is reflected of the group’s fear of the unknown, and their