Archetypes In Lord Of The Flies, By William Golding

The novel Lord of the Flies can be viewed through many lenses of literary criticism, and depending on the specific approach, it can be interpreted in wildly different ways. Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, argues how a group of boys would behave if left alone on an island, showing that eventually, the boys would delve into a savage way of life. Analyzing the story through the Jungian and Mythological-Archetypal approach leads to a discovery of common archetypes that the characters Jack and Ralph represent, symbolism contained in the various elements, and an allusion to many Biblical stories. The characters and events in the book all relate to archetypes and myths which have been prevalent in literature and history.
Many characters have

The Garden of Eden is the creation story which outlines the beginning of man; it states that God first put a man in the Garden to take care of it, leaving him with the fruit of trees to eat “...but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die” (Revised Standard Version, Gen. 1.16-17). In the novel, the pig represents the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because, before they kill the first pig, their situation has not erupted into chaos. Rather, it is the introduction of the meat of the pig that causes Jack to become bloodthirsty and split off into a separate group, and it is important to note that in the Genesis story, Adam and Eve do not eat meat. It seems that the pig meat opened the boys’ eyes to the knowledge of evil within themselves, just as it did in the Garden. Another way that the Lord of the Flies relates to the Bible is the resemblance Simon has to the Christ Jesus. Simon is frequently shown alone and in reflection about the identity of the beast that the boys are afraid of on the island, and this is similar to how Jesus would reflect on humanity and salvation. After discovering the truth that the beast was actually a harmless dead man, Simon hurries to tell the boys, but they imagine him to be the beast: “Simon was crying out something about a dead man on the hill...the beast was on its knees in the center...crying out against the abominable noise....the crowd surged after it...there were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws” (153). The boys, which at that point have become inhuman, kill Simon in a frenzy without listening to his message, believing him to be the beast and enemy. Similarly, Jewish priests were afraid of Jesus because of his preachings and crucified him mercilessly, as Jack and the rest of the boys do to Simon.