Ethical Theories In Lord Of The Flies Essay

Sigmund Freud, as one of the founding fathers of psychology, actualizes the components of the human conscience: id, ego, and superego; the id being primal desires, superego being ethical concerns, and ego being the balance between the two. This concept of conscience and its propensity for change are intentionally spread throughout William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, in which a group of young boys find themselves stranded alone on an island. These psychological principles add to the interconnected relationships between the boys and their environment by qualifying their changes throughout the course of the story’s development. The roles and mindsets of characters such as Jack and Ralph further reveal the evidence of internal change in

Despite the “need to create a community around them, where… new beliefs can be practiced and expressed and nurtured,” the glaring promise of chaos to come makes itself known within the first few pages (Gladwell). For example, Golding states that “Roger stooped, picked up a stone, aimed, and threw it at Henry — threw it to miss” (Golding 51). Although Roger throws the rocks at Henry, there is still a lingering sense of an ethical superego inside of him that deters him from throwing them any closer. This action reveals how even Roger, the worst of the boys, is holding onto the ego associated with their past reality with adults. However, these logical, ethical thought processes deteriorate as the boys become more comfortable with an environment without social repercussions. This is ultimately shown later in chapter eleven when “Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever” (Golding 163). In that moment, Roger finally realizes that he will not be punished for his actions, and he faces no consequences for aiming intentionally into the abyss. With Roger’s “push - in just the right place,” he taps into his defiant, destructive id (Gladwell). The absence of a greater power runs any remnants of a superego authoritative figure off the island, which is ultimately represented when the conch shatters – the supreme dissipation of any greater power accompanying the final tipping point: Piggy’s