Man’s Evil Nature in “Lord of the Flies” by Golding Essay

When young boys ar abandoned on an uninhabited island without adults, compensate they are capable of murder. This is the scenario depicted in the British author, William Goldings novel, Lord of the Flies, written and published in 1954 during World War 2. Comparing the characters of knave, Ralph, Piggy and Simon with Freuds guess of id, ego and superego, one can prove that man has an underlying unrighteous nature. The characters are represented with Jack as id, Ralph as ego, and Piggy and Simon as superego.Freuds theory of id, ego and superego influences the spheres of ones being. The id represents military force, and the drive to erase. The id is the desire to hurt others, and to dominate. In contrast the ego persuades one to make actions that make ones actions acceptable by others around them. It also controls the call for for acceptance and the unavoidableness to be in control. Though different, the superego lies within ones spirituality and need for order. It values rules , and commandments.Jack as id, represents the carnal drives in man. He illustrates this through painting his face. By painting his face, Jack suppresses his ego and superego, causing Jack to be capable of acts of violence without having any repercussions. Jack portrays this violence in different ways. First, Jack enjoys hunting because he gets to kill pigs. Often, in Lord of the Flies, Jack is consumed by killing pigs, and desires nought to a greater extent. The drive to kill rules his thoughts. In Jacks statement Were strong-we hunt If theres a beast well hunt it down. Well close in and unit of ammunition and beat and beat-(83), he demonstrates his carnal desire to hint and kill. Next, Jack also strove to control others.He would even resort to torture, What d you mean by it, eh? verbalize the chief (Jack) forcefully What d you mean coming with spears? What d you mean by not joining my tribe? The prodding became rhythmic. Sam yelled.(166). The desire to kill is what proves that J ack has an evil nature, and the fact that he came from a civilized society shows that anyone can become like him.Ralph displayed himself as being ego through his need for acceptance and his leadership. Ralphs need for acceptance is so strong that he would even go as far as to insult an other so all the boys would like him, and see him asfitting in. An example of this is when Ralph said Hes not Fatty, cried Ralph his real names Piggy(20) when he had promised Piggy earlier that he would tell no one else his name is Piggy. Ralphs desire to be one among the crowd made him stoop so low as to insult and hurt another, just so he could look better.When Ralph begins to fall away from the group, he begins to lose all his leadership. Often multiplication Ralph would forget all the important things he would need to remember to become chief, and start to digress to savagery, just so he could be with the group. With Ralphs need for acceptance and loss in leadership power, it is apparent that even he was naturally evil.Piggy and Simon were the representations of superego. Piggys need for rules and Simons mysticism twain suggested that superego was the largest influencing force in their lives. Piggy would often try to set up rules, and other tools of civilization to create order. Without that order, Piggy knew that there would be no want in there situation. He proved this need for rules with his need to take names, Piggy moved among the crowd, asking names and frowning to remember them.(17). Different from Piggy, Simon had a strange quality of mysticism about him. He had an understanding about the nature of the beast that no one else had.He illustrated this understanding when he had this vision, trick thinking the Beast was something that you could hunt and kill said the head. For a moment or two the forest and all the other dimly appreciated places echoed with the charade of laughter. You knew, didnt you? Im part of you? Close, close, close Im the reason why its no go? W hy things are what they are?(130). With Piggys need for rules and Simons understanding of the nature of the Beast it is apparent that they both had the capabilities of the same savagery as the other boys.Through Freuds theory of id, ego, and superego, it is apparent that man does have an underlying evil nature in the novel Lord of the Flies. Jack, Ralph, Piggy, and Simon each display these aspects of mans evil nature, and also prove that if it can happen tothem that it can happen to anyone. Young children are typically thought of as more pure and innocent that those more experienced in the world. If they arecapable of such acts, it is sad to think what the rest of the world is capable of.