The importance of "the beast" in "Lord Of The Flies"

The beast, in "Lord of the Flies", is a very important figure. He is first introduced near the beginning of the story and only reveals himself in the end, to only one boy-Simon. The beast was evil and played its part in the storys plot well. It gave the story a greater sense of realism; it played up the savagery and the pain taking over the boys lives. The beast itself represented many things in the novel and changed as the book went on. The beast created the fear in the boys that changed them drastically, for the worst.

As the beast was not a physical character it represented itself through many forms. It portrayed itself, firstly, as the boys human id. Goldings main theme for Lord of the Flies was to explain and prove how man would turn savage if he were not kept in a civilisation with rules and laws. The boys inner evil had grown naturally, without their knowledge, because they had been taken out of civilization. Their childhood innocence had been destroyed by that darker side.

Fear was associated with the beast and vice-versa. The boys fear was caused by the unknown. The boys were afraid of what they did not know or could not see, like how the littluns felt in the dark. Chapter four page 64 Golding: They suffered untold terrors in the dark and huddled together for comfort. In their minds their image of what or who the beast is grows together with their fear for it. The more they feared it the scarier and more powerful it became. As their terror for the beast grew inside their heads so did their interpretation of the beast. The beast in the boys imagination became very real to them; they believed in it and had a deep fear for it. It became a vicious cycle in their thoughts because the more they feared the beast the bigger it became and the bigger it becomes the more fear they had for it.

Simon was the first of the boys to find out what the beast really is. In one of Ralphs meetings, while they were discussing what the beast may be, he spoke up and told them that maybe it was only them. That they, the boys, were really the beast and the beast in their heads is nonsense. Simon says: What I mean ismaybe its only us. But that only sends the boys howling with laughter at poor Simon and the truth he has just spoken.

The beasts description changes dramatically through the novel. A little boy, with a mulberry coloured birthmark, starts the first talk of a beast-like creature. He asks the older boys what they are going to do about the snake like beastie he saw in the woods. They all laugh at him but small boy does not give up on what he saw and persists. Even though all the older boys are laughing they cannot ignore what the littlun has said and their worry begins.

Jack: -not only the littluns, but my hunters sometimes-talk of a thing, a dark thing, a beast. Jack explains that when he is hunting, in the jungle, it feels as though you are not hunting but being hunted. Even though he is a hunter and probably the bravest boy on the island it seems that Jack was getting scared.

They had eventually become so afraid of the beast they began treating him as god. Jack, after having gone into the jungle to hunt a pig with his hunters, places the pigs head on a stake, as if making an offering to the beast.

Right at the end of chapter eight, page 158, Simon talks to the beast, in the form of a pigs head. The beast, also known as the Lord of the Flies, talks and laughs at Simon. The pigs head says to Simon: Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt and kill! You knew didnt you? Im part of you? Close, close, close! Im the reason why its no go? Why things are what they are? Simons beliefs are confirmed.

For the amount of time the boys had, since landing on the island to when they were saved, they changed drastically. The fear they had, or rather convinced themselves they had, and the savages they were becoming were equal factors in contributing to the boys changes. Ralph pointed out in chapter four, page 89 that things had changed between all the boys-Ralph: Things are breaking up. I dont understand why. We began well; we were happy. And then-. The fear changed them by making them desperate, scared and therefore mean, and like any animal when backed into a corner will do anything to get out, even kill. Their fear also consequently led them to abandon Ralph, their chosen leader, for Jack who offered them protection from the beast. Then, under Jacks totalitarian power, they were changed more. Jack led them to accept savagery rather than repel it.

Savagery played its part in relation to Goldings theory. It was, according to him, the only outcome possible having taking a human out of civilisation. So when you consider mans natural opting for savagery when out of a civilisation and Jack, the boys leader, telling them it is alright to be savage it is no wonder the boys became so barbaric. It is only savageness that could have made the boys kill two people, Simon and Piggy.

I think that the beast was the right figure for Lord of the Flies. It caused the boys to first group together because they all had something in common-Fear of the beast. Also at one point or another in an average childs life they face something similar to a beast and the fear experienced with it. When Golding used the beast I feel the readers could relate to the boys and the fear. I specially believe that because the reader then has that similarity they feel that they know the character more intimately and that makes them feel more for the person. E.g. they feel more scared when the character is in trouble. It also made the story more real in the sense that it was not just little boys playing around anymore. They had done very serious things because of the beast, i.e. murder.