Comparing Evil In 'Lord Of The Flies And Macbeth'

Evil vs Evil:Jack vs Macbeth

People who thirst for power hungry will commit evil acts to remain in power. In the novel “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, and the play “Macbeth” by William Shakespeare, there are two wicked characters who killed and manipulated for power. Take Jack, a once preppy choir boy turned tyrant and Macbeth a once brave and loyal warrior turned tyrant. Jack and Macbeth are two characters who are ambitious, whose personalities darkly change throughout their stories and who are evil. Jack is bent on power from the beginning whereas, Macbeth is manipulated by three witches and his wife to take power. Power affects these two men in different ways, Jack starts to become his true self whereas Macbeth starts to hallucinate and go insane. This relates to the point of view of the authors: William Golding believes people are inherently evil whereas William Shakespeare believes people are inherently good. The question is, who is more evil Jack or Macbeth?

Both Jack and Macbeth are ambitious and hungry for power. Jack is hungry for power from the beginning. He declares

These evil acts are caused by their ambition and thirst for power. These stories prove that when people gain power they aren’t satisfied and feel the need to acquire more. Consequently, their personalities drastically change along the way. Jack remains sane, however he becomes a bloodthirsty, savage tyrant while Macbeth becomes an insane, delusional tyrant. Both of these characters become drastically more evil throughout their stories. The question is which of the two becomes more evil? After critically analyzing these two stories it is evident that Macbeth is more evil because he manipulates others into committing murders whereas Jack commits them himself. Although, they are both extremely evil, manipulating others and in turn wreaking havoc on their consciences is more evil than committing the act