Essay On The Beast In Lord Of The Flies

In the novel ‘Lord of the Flies,’ the beast plays a significant role, permitting Golding to explore the core of mankind through the boys' interactions with the beast and their responses as the plot develops. Despite the beast being entirely fictitious, it still serves as a ‘character’ to depict humans' inadequacies. Chaos is unveiled to be the principle of nature throughout the novel, and organisation in society is solely a utopian dream. The novel necessitates a detailed examination of the approaches used by humanity to resist evil, as well as their effectiveness. Golding also addresses ideas of society and civilisation in his novel via the conch, demonstrating how democratic and civilised ideas can be lost within a group when humanity's darker

As the boys communicate, the conch is used to restore peace in addition to calling assemblies. ‘Ralph took the conch from where it lay on the polished seat and held it to his lips; but then he hesitated and did not blow. He held the shell up instead and showed it to them and they understood.’ The democratic process, adult laws, and civilisation are all represented by the conch. The fact that the boys were aware of the conch's potential democratic significance from the outset allowed for the conch to symbolise Ralph's leadership because he was the first to employ it as a tool of social control. However this source of democracy and civility doesn’t last as long as we hope. As we see later in the novel during Chapter 8, Jack states ‘We don’t need the conch anymore. We know who ought to say things…It’s time some people knew they’ve got to keep quiet and leave deciding things to the rest of us.’ From this quotation it is evident that Jack presently rejects the meeting's regulations and Ralph's authority as chief. When Jack

Although the beast is assumed to be an illusionary "character," it does not prevent the boys from destroying what appears to be a paradise, perhaps in a reference to the Garden of Eden. This demonstrates that the boys are ultimately responsible for their own downfall. It is clear that the frantic breakdown of society on the island is largely due to Jack's irresponsible actions throughout the novel, as well as Roger's psychotic impulses (fighting with the other boys and destroying the conch, for example), which ultimately result in the murder of Piggy, and the universal fear of a beast. ‘Bollocks to the rules! We’re strong – we hunt! If there’s a beast, we’ll hunt it down! We’ll close in and beat and beat and beat - !’ Jack argues in Chapter 5 that hunting is more significant than abiding by Ralph's guidelines. He places a higher value on killing and hunting the beast, than on maintaining the island's order and society. As he starts to create an authoritarian system centred on hunting and barbarism, Jack exhibits his increasing desire for dominance over the others. ‘Bollocks to the rules’ highlights the idea that Jack only desires to achieve what he wants, in this instance, finding and slaying the beast. Here, Golding evidently seeks to demonstrate that Jack seems to have no regard for the island's humanity. He also wants to show the disparity between both good and evil in humanity