In Lord of the Flies, William Golding depicts morals and the boundaries of society in the form of characters. This essay will compare and contrast the differences between four pivotal characters: Ralph, Jack, Simon and Roger. The goodness and order in society is portrayed by Ralph and SImon. The darkness in human nature is explained through Roger and Jack.…
Over the course of time, rulers are known as sovereigns who protect their empire as well as their people. They are required to sustain order, harmony as well as being content with their empire. Throughout history we have seen many leaders the good & the bad. Not all leaders were willing to listen to their people, as well as giving them what they want but some enforced their power and struck fear into their people. Rulers did many things throughout the course of history to show and acquire dominance across their empire, Louis XIV of France & Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union are prime examples who used terror and manipulation to gain sovereignty of their empires.…
William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies illustrates fundamental aspects of society and leadership through the politics of young boys stranded on an uninhabited island. Throughout the novel, the character of Jack Merridew gradually secures authority using various methods described in Machiavelli’s The Prince. Although Jack’s impulsive attitude and juvenile aggression may not obey this approach to ruling, other aspects of his leadership fit well within the system. The character of Jack often employs key Machiavellian tactics to gain and maintain power effectively.…
The spark of evil started deep in the heart, around an early time, but what matters is the explosion that followed had allowed for total possession of power. William Golding’s Nobel Prize winning novel, Lord of the Flies is about a group of young British schoolboys who crashed into an uninhabited island and their attempts at creating a suitable governing system for themselves. Obstacles, such as the “beastie” and the boys selfishness sparked disaster, just how Hitler and his actions lead up to World War 2. In the novel, the character, Jack, and his actions among the boys is quite similar to Hitler and his actions towards the German. people.Leaders use manipulative tactics as an attempt to catch the audience's attention resulting a positive and strong image for oneself.…
The author of Lord of the flies, William Golding, uses literary elements such as characterization to support his argument that man’s capacity for evil is revealed in his human nature. Golding uses his main characters- Jack and Ralph- as examples of inner evil. Jack is shown as unjust, mean and self-involved when “[he] took a step and…stuck his fist into Piggy’s stomach” (Golding 71). Additionally, Golding describes Jack as asticious, inimical, and down-right terrible.…
Their father, Bully, pats them on the shoulder and laughs along with them, proud that one day,…
“The evil that is in the world almost always comes of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding.” - Albert Camus. In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of British schoolboys become stranded on a deserted tropical island after their plane is shot down. Without the rules and structure of civilization the boys quickly descend into savagery. Some of the boys who are led by Ralph, the group’s chosen leader, are peaceful and work together to achieve common goals. The others led by Jack are hunters who act selfishly and indulge in violence. William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, tells the story of Macbeth, a brave Scottish general, who receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will be the King of Scotland. His ambitious thoughts and influence from his wife spurs him to murder King Duncan and seize the throne. Macbeth becomes a tyrannical ruler and is forced to commit more murders in order to protect himself from suspicion. In literature, evil seems like a good choice and is slightly successful but in the end it is proven to be less than good, possibly even harmful. The idea that evil often triumphs but never conquers in literature is true. This is shown in Golding’s Lord of the Flies and Shakespeare’s Macbeth. In Lord of the Flies, Ralph is chosen the leader and sets the goal of getting rescued using a signal fire to attract ships. Jack is the leader of the hunters and wishes to use authoritarian rule over democratic rule. Jack is ruled over by evil through his selfishness in wanting to hunt and forget about the fire. He hides behind a mask and quickly moves towards complete savagery. He never gets that far since the boys are rescued by a naval officer. In Macbeth, the main character, Macbeth is persuaded by his wife, Lady Macbeth, to murder the king of Scotland so he will take the throne. Lady Macbeth makes Macbeth feel unmanly and cowardly so he…
Jack, as a "former chorister" and "head boy" (22) at his school arrived on the island eager to make rules and punish those who broke them, although, he constantly broke the rules himself when he felt it was needed to further his own interests. The freedom Jack had on the island allowed the dark side of his character to be revealed from under his outer shell of a civilized schoolboy. Jack represents the evil side of human nature.…
Throughout history, man has proven time and time again that, when lifted from the restraints of society, he is innately evil. Whether it be shown through slavery, genocides, or blackmail, man always falls prey to his instincts of dishonesty, malignity, and corruption. In the novel the Lord of the Flies, Golding sets the stage with a deserted island. Without the authority of adults and the rules of society, stranded young boys struggle for power and dominance, while succumbing to their inner beasts in the process. In this novel, the vileness of man’s heart is explored through the characters of Roger, Ralph, and Jack.…
Throughout human history, the issue of power has been the source of countless wars and violence, and so has it sparked inspiration in many philosophers to develop potentially better systems of government. The Age of Enlightenment saw many philosophers sprout with new ideas on forms of government to replace or refine the archaic norm of absolute monarchy; one such controversial thinker was Thomas Hobbes. In his widely-recognized book, The Leviathan, he claimed that, because human beings are naturally selfish and evil, one must cede his or her rights to the absolute monarch so that peace can be established and maintained. However, if all human beings are cruel, then monarchs are not any different from the evil of those he rules. In William Golding’s 1954 novel The Lord of the Flies, Golding reflects Hobbes’ ideas about human nature as he depicts the governing of a cluster of stranded boys on an island, from the lack of cohesion of Ralph’s attempt to rationally lead them back to civilization, to Jack’s manipulation of the children into savagery. William Golding thus qualifies Thomas Hobbes’ position, supporting that humans are naturally selfish and evil but refuting his claim that an absolute ruler would make “wise” decisions through his illustration of Jack’s greed for power, hostile acts to Ralph and Piggy, and manipulation of his followers.…
Throughout the novel, Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses changes in the personality of characters to exemplify the negative effects of savagery and the idea that too much power will result in corruption. Jack’s mental and physical changes throughout the novel represent his and his follower’s descent into evil and savagery. Jack’s transition into his primal and uncivilized state can be directly linked to his growing desire for power. The postmodernist idea that too much power and strength leads to eventual destruction is shown when the rise of leadership wrongfully directs Jack and his crew down a path of savagery and despair.…
At the time, Stalin seemed like he was the greatest person on Earth. He made himself seem as if he was above everybody, both physically and mentally. After all of the revolts that were occurring in Russia, he just took over. He went into power right after Lenin had died and took his place, over Trotsky who also wanted to rule over Russia. Well he didn’t and we can’t change that. All we can do is remember Stalin and remember all of the things he did to make people support him and his cause to industrialize Russia.…
“It has been estimated between 600,000 and 3 million people died at the hands of the Soviet government during the Purge.” This is the estimated number of people that died during Stalin’s Great Terror…
Children are traditionally portrayed as innocent and pure. However, in the novel Lord of the Flies, the boys stranded on the island turn from a group of proper, English school boys to uncivilized savages. Adults place a nonexistent innocence on children; all humans are born with evil tendencies. Throughout the novel, William Golding reveals that not even children are purely innocent. William Golding reveals this through the controllability and power that fear has over humans, the lust for violence that humans are born with and the natural desire for power that humans have.…
William Golding, the author of lord of the flies explores many themes which all are related to his past experience. Using his past life experiences, Golding tries to represent some of the main human traits such as intelligence, leadership, greed, knowledge, and logic. In his novel Golding represents evil in humanity through jack, goodness in humanity in the form of Simon, intellect through piggy and strong leadership through Ralph. The author shows the struggle between good vs evil, strong vs weak, logic vs ignorance, and most of all Civilization vs Savagery. Golding uses the theme of human nature to show how easily society can collapse, and how self-destructive human nature can be. As soon as the first chapter starts, Golding sets up the stage for the boys as they head for destruction.…