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Archetypes In Lord Of The Flies

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The novel Lord of the Flies is not just a simple adventure story but is a story which contains many archetypal critical theories. Archetypal critical theory in this novel includes hero, villain, advisor/guide, Christ-figure, journey/quest, and loss of innocence. The main archetypal theory that builds up the story is that Ralph is a hero who is on a “journey” to an end goal of getting everybody on the island rescued. Jack and the hunters impede Ralph in pursuit of fun and hunting rather than working together to get rescued. These themes are all related to the emergence of Ralph as a hero. Ralph portrays the hero archetype. Ralph’s emergence as a hero from an innocent boy begins with the arrival on the island with the other British schoolboys …show more content…

When Ralph believed that his mother and father would come and rescue him on their first arrival on the island, Piggy knew that the world is at war and nobody would realize their disappearance. Piggy is an intelligent and an outcast who is constantly getting made fun of and bullied by the other boys on the island mainly by Jack and the hunters. When Ralph is going through a struggle and even considering giving up his place as a chief, Piggy advises him not to. Simon is a Christ-figure of the story. He is different from the other boys on the island. Simon understands the true nature of the good and the evil. He believes that the beast was created by humans on the island. This shows that Simon understands that the beast was created by the fear of boys themselves. “However Simon thought of the beast, there rose before his inward sight the picture of a human at once heroic and sick.” (103). Simon later gets brutally murdered by all the other boys including Ralph and Piggy when he arrives where the other boys are to tell them that the beast was a dead parachutist. While Sam and Eric deny their presence the time when Simon was murdered and Piggy does not want to admit the murder of Simon, Ralph accepts the guilt of murdering Simon. Piggy gets killed by a deliberate act of murder by Roger. And with Sam and Eric joining Jack, Ralph is alone. Ralph finds out from Sam and Eric that Jack and the hunters are coming to kill him. Jack and the hunters set the fire to kill Ralph but ironically, attracts rescue. Ralph does accomplish his goal in not the ideal way with the 3 of the schoolboys dead. To the naval officer who is asking if anyone is in charge, Ralph responds that he is in charge. This act means that he will take all the responsibility of the murders on the island. And as a hero he accepts it. Ralph later weeps for his loss of innocence. Ralph is now not a little boy living

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1011 Words | 5 Pages

Right before the naval officer had come, the boys had become complete savages. Jack had set the entire island on fire, and he had sent all of the boys to find and kill Ralph. But when the officer came, they became innocent little boys again. When Ralph said that he was in charge, Jack “started forward, then changed his mind and stood still” (201). Jack first wanted to act savagely, but just the presence of a grown up made him think otherwise.

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Ralph soon comes to a realization and can’t believe how powerful the evil that lives inside him is. It takes Ralph the loss of a true friend to realize who he has become “Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy” (202). While Ralph is only twelve years old he has been through a ton in the last few weeks on the island alot for a child his age to go through. Golding uses the Naval Officer to rescue them because of how savagely the boys were acting that any adult most likely wouldn’t be able to contain them. Prior to the arrival of the officer the whole island is set on fire trying to smoke out Ralph.

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511 Words | 3 Pages

Ralph was the chosen leader, which didn’t make Jack quite happy. He learned how to conquer his role as he went on to experience tribulations on the island. " Ralph and Jack looked at each other while society paused about them...

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898 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout the novel, Ralph demonstrates a lack of respect for the other boys on the island. In the beginning of the novel, after Piggy asked Ralph's name, Piggy “waited to be asked

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811 Words | 4 Pages

Human Endurance and Its Shatterable Civilization The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a warning to all about human’s natural instincts and the flimsy idea of society’s civilization. After the schoolboys’ airplane crashed on the island with no surviving adults, it was up to them to create a system or government of some sort to prevent absolute chaos. In the beginning of the novel all the boys’ had their sense of civilization still intact. As the reader can see throughout the book, Jack, Ralph, and Piggy are symbols of how dominant human instincts can easily take over the weak rules of civilization.

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885 Words | 4 Pages

This encounter with the “beast” was not a fight against a physical being, it was a manifestation of the boys’ savagery. As time passes and tension amongst the boys rises, the inner evil and savagery becomes more evident through the murders of Simon and Piggy. The true “beast”

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1035 Words | 5 Pages

Lastly the representation of Christ through Simon. Lord of the flies clearly contains characters that portray the role of the hero archetype and his fight against evil. Ralph plays this role as a leader whose primary aim is to get rescued and create a civil society where contribution is shared and

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1375 Words | 6 Pages

“The word archetype comes from the Greek word meaning ‘original pattern’. Discovering patterns and similarities in literature demonstrates what link people together and the oneness of humanity” (DaFonte). William Golding includes at least three archetypes in his novel Lord of the Flies; the Iron Age, God-Teacher, and Metamorphosis. After the boys arrive on the island, they know they need have to rules and boundaries, so they are all civil and mature. As time passes on, they start spending more time on the island, become more comfortable around each other and develop an obsession with killing, so most of them transform into savages.

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248 Words | 1 Pages

One of the internal conflicts Ralph faced was when unknowingly all the boys killed Simon thinking he was the beast in the dark. “At last Ralph stopped. He was shivering. “Piggy.” “Uh?”

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434 Words | 2 Pages

At first glance, Ralph is a central character who starts and completes William Golding novel The Lord of the Flies. From the onset of the novel, he is described as a “fair boy” with an “attractive appearance” (p7, 29). The author compares his stature as that of a boxer, “as far as width and heaviness of shoulders went, but there was a mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed no devil” (p11). He has the physique and presence of a typical leader – strong but with a kind heart that makes him trustworthy.

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1237 Words | 5 Pages

A crash of all sorts occurred on the island depicted in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies: a crash of humanity, a crash of innocence, and a crash of order and civilization. The young boys that were so forcefully shoved into a new and possibly permanent lifestyle of having to take responsibility in order to survive took several of the right steps to the proper way to handle the situation, but many of the steps taken brought a downfall to their humanity. The governing styles that the boys chose to follow could have been successful if properly maintained, but uncontrollable oppositions kept the boys from staying away from savagery. Golding contrasted the governing styles of Ralph and Jack to emphasize the replacement of morality when civilization

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574 Words | 3 Pages

The changing relationship between Ralph and Jack, the protagonist and antagonist in Lord of the Flies is one where these two boys at first seem like allies but quickly diverge and distance themselves apart and soon become completely at odds with one another. Due to the different approaches they take in the leadership of a group of boys stranded on an uninhabited island, the group splits into two opposing and even warring factions, showing the severity of their antagonism.   In the beginning, relations between Ralph and Jack are not as hostile. When they explore their island, they appear to act like friends, fooling around and casually playing.

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1025 Words | 5 Pages

Ralph is among the oldest of the boys, confident and good-looking, while Piggy is an anti-social, corpulent asthmatic boy with glasses and the most intelligent person on the island, who are also the main protagonists of the story . Ralph finds a conch shell and being power-hungry, he quickly

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340 Words | 2 Pages

The protagonist, in the story Lord of the Flies written by William Golding, is a young English boy named Ralph. The author introduces him as only a child, adventurous, bold, and lighthearted. He carries with him young innocence and expectations, believing that adults will always come to save the day. His simplistic thinking shows that he is a sheltered child, who is far from attaining full maturity. His character represents the order and good morals in the story, as he attempts to maintain rules and civilization despite his unfortunate situation.

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529 Words | 3 Pages

They saw a ship on the horizon, but the signal fire had gone out. Ralph blamed the problem on Jack, and the other hunters, because they were supposed to be maintaining the fire. Jack returned with his first kill. Planes fought above the island while the boys slept and a dead pilot

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