What Does The Beast Symbolize In Lord Of The Flies

Throughout the novel Lord Of The Flies, the boys on the island are continuously faced with numerous fears. Subsequently there is nothing on the island which they fear more than the beast. The beast is not a tangible object that can be killed or destroyed by conventional means, but an idea symbolizing the primal savage instincts within all people. Its Golding’s intention to illustrate the innate evil inside man through his view of human nature, the actions of the Jack and his tribe, and the relationship between the beast and the school boys.

Symbolism is a huge part of Lord of the Flies by William Golding. For example, the Lord of the Flies plays a huge role in how the story folds out. When Simon was talking to the pig’s head, it said “‘There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I am the Beast’” (Golding 143). From this, the readers can understand that the pig’s head is the Beast. The narrator refers to the beast as the Lord of the Flies throughout the times he speaks with Simon. In the bible, Beelzebub is the chief of demons, who is said to evoke the beast in everyone. He is known for going by the name “Lord of the Flies”. While the head was talking to Simon, he said “‘...You know perfectly well you’ll only meet me down there - so don’t try to escape’” (Golding 143). Here,

Lord of the Flies, a suggestive name for the Devil, a devil whose name proposes that he is devoted to decay, destruction, demoralization and panic, exactly what William Golding had in mind when using symbolism in this novel. The Lord of the Flies (1954), is a novel in which interpretating the symbols are a main key to not only understanding, but also enjoying the novel. After tying many of the symbols together, you can figure out more about what the author is trying to depict, the overall scene.

Symbols play a prominent role in Lord of the Flies. In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the author uses many different symbols. Some of which being: Piggy’s glasses, the conch and the scar.

Golding uses symbolism to show that objects have other meaning as well. The “Beast” or “Lord of the Flies”, the conch shell, and Piggy's glasses are all objects in the book that hold a lot of symbolism. In this book, the boys on the island think there is a beast. The beast symbolizes the evil that everyone has inside of them.

What is the beast? There are many times in the book that the group of boys mention the beast. Nobody really knows what the beast is but everyone in the group is scared of this beast. I will be showing you what the beast is to the group of boys that were on the island. To some it is from fear, others it is from the war or it could be, because of their savagery from being on the island too long.

Have you ever known or heard of somebody that takes stuff too far? Or perhaps they don’t know when to stop. They have no self-control and don’t think before they act. If you do then you are not alone. In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of British boys are stranded on an island. They can either stick to their civilized ways to survive or they can let nature take them over and become savages. Throughout the book Golding molds the boys after society. Golding states that “Humans are savage by nature”, and that what empowers the inner savage in people is selfishness, brutality and wanting dominance over others. He proves this statement by providing an antagonist who is shellfish, brutal and demands dominance.

A symbol is a representation of objects , that signify another meaning that is more complex. Characters in the novel, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding interact with many symbols throughout the story. They interact with a conch, a shell that holds a power of law and later loses that power, which is the downhill of civilization. Another symbol that comes across the characters is a Beast. The Beast represents evil and gets in the characters’ mind.

Boom! Bang! The plane crashed on a deserted island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Durning the World War 2, twelve English school boys are stranded on a unamed island with no surviving adults and a mystery beast. In Lord of the Flies, the beast first symbolizes the boys’ fear, then it became the brutal war, and finally at the end the beast represents the horrendous evil in us all.

In this essay I am going to be writing about the role I think the ‘beast’ plays in the book Lord of the Flies and its symbolism as the devil and as evil. I am going to explain about how the ‘beast’ is connected with certain events, its presentation, how different boys view it and also how the ‘beast’ is shown in the behaviour of the boys. The beast is mentioned many times in the book in different forms as the ‘Beast from Air’, the ‘Beast from Water’ and the ‘snake-like’ beast in the jungle. Golding presents it this way in order to illustrate the boys’ assumption that evil comes externally when actually the beast is the evil in human nature and within every boy.

Introduction: Every human has a potential to become evil, especially when there are no rules in place to control their nature. Without order, the tendency to live by rules, be bloodless, and follow ethically appropriate commands can be jeopardized and the wanting to act barbarically to obtain supremacy over others can arize. This is shown during World War II, when both sides brutally tried to kill each each other as civilization dissolved. In Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, the beast represents this potential for evil in mankind, which civilization usually keeps in check by maintaining order.

“Maybe there is a beast… maybe it’s only us.” (80). Lord of the Flies by William Golding is about a group of boys who are trapped on an island after supposedly escaping an atomic bomb from their home in England. The separation from civilization naturally leads them in an attempt to create their own society. Based on the storyline, it is clear that the common themes power, death, and savagery all help support the many symbols represented in the book. Some of these symbols include Piggy’s glasses, the Beast, and the ocean that surrounds the island.

In English we read the book, “Lord of the Flies.” It was a book who’s author, William Golding, had written to show his view on man’s inherent true self. After going through WWII and seeing horrors that man would do to other man he became convinced man is inherently evil. The beast, a symbolic figure in the book, is the manifestation of the evil in every mans heart. This nonexistent beast tormented and manipulated the boys that were stranded on the island, eventually ruining the fragile civil society they built. William’s main point to bring across was even small boy, who’s ages range from five to twelve, can fall victim to the evil in

William Golding’s, The Lord of the Flies, has symbols scattered throughout the book that calls into thing the readers own logic and the minds of the human race. These symbols represent the charters and their decisions throughout the book. As these symbols develop the characters fill into what the symbolism means and making it into a reality. The three most important symbols in the book are the conch, the beast, and the “Lord of the Flies”. The Conch represents law, order, and power. The conch is first introduced at the very beginning when Ralph fist uses it to call everyone on the island to himself. It slowly develops and stays a great symbol of law, order, and power that everyone, including Jack recognizes. The beastie, or beastie is a symbol of evil and darkness, but it also represents internal evil inside the characters. Finally, we have the “Lord of the Flies” the lord of the flies is the cut off head of a pig on a steak. The Lord of the Flies is actually a direct translation of the biblical Beelzebub, a powerful demon often thought to be the devil himself. This symbol portrays the physical manifestation of the beast, the power of evil over humans, and a Satan figure. The kids who crashed on the island slowly devolve into slavery either going with the symbolism of some things and against others. The symbols play an important role in how each character behaves and how the either follow the idea of society or slowly devolve into savagery

As Leo Tolstoy once said, “Wrong does not cease to be wrong just because the majority share in it.” This is exactly what happened while the boys were attempting to survive on the island. As some became savage-like, nobody had the individual thought to defy them. They all became sucked into the tribe of barbarism. This is the theme that Golding portrays: as one wanders away from what is undisputably good, their attitude about what is right and what is wrong will falter and fade. Symbolism is the most prevalent literary element in developing this theme in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies.