Essay Sample on The Duality of Human Nature in Lord of the Flies

The duality of human nature creates a deeper understanding of the darkness rooted in all that can be redeemed with the right perspective. In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, human nature is revealed through the boys, guided by their actions and choices throughout the story. Human nature by default is inherently evil, yet also double-sided, allowing people to discover redemption and change through the complexities and contrasts of human choices and emotion. Not only is the theme being established through the beast found in the boys, the beast seen in Simon, and the goodness found in Jack, but also through the knowledge of light in the darkness throughout the story. 

Golding uses the beast found in each of the boys to first point out the inherent evil in all. Towards the end of the book, the boys begin to drift the furthest away from innocence as they have ever been and in these moments, “They were savages it was true” (Golding 185). The boys have now become the evil they were all so afraid of at the beginning of the book. They created a beast inside of themselves and turned into what they feared the most, allowing the underlying evil in all of them to surface. The ideology of the beast created such a fear factor that the boys resulted to becoming this fear to escape from it, giving in to their inner evil. The boys begin to chant in an alarming eerie kind of way echoing, “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! Do him in!” (152, Italics in original). At this point, they have thrown away their compassion and their morals and have been completely engulfed by the darkness of evil. This sheds light on the theme of the novel that darkness is in all no matter how morally just and or kind they are. Even Piggy who is the brains, the compassion, and the reasoning of the group has joined in and given way to the darkness demonstrating how each person has the capability of evil in them. 

Similarly, when Simon finds the beast in himself it is also used to demonstrate that in good, evil is still at the core even in the best of people. When Simon talks to the Lord of the Flies suddenly, “His gaze was held by that ancient, inescapable recognition” (138). Simon, who is thought to be one of the model boys, suddenly finds himself gripped by the darkness. He sees himself and knows that deep down the darkness and evil are within him too. At this moment it is revealed that even in the brightness of things evil and darkness can still seep through. Further into conversation with the Lord of the Flies, it questions Simon saying, “I’m part of you?”(143). Here the Beast and the evil are acknowledging that they are within him and one with him contrary to what he previously thought possible. There is a kind of understanding now that the duality and complexity of human nature have allowed for such a thing to happen. They have now been able to reveal Simons’s inner thoughts and shed light on his true ever-changing state of mind. 

Golding Describes Jack's remorse and want for redemption in the end as a way that describes the goodness that can come from evil and the duality that leads to this revelation. Jack at first was obsessed with power and inherently the evil that came with it even if that meant violence, “[He] waved his spear again” (149).  Jack even from the beginning of the story was antagonistic and had violent tendencies towards all of the boys. The story started to erupt and he began to make choices that showed his true darkness and helped the readers come to an understanding of his corrupt moral character. He was inherently filled with the darkness that traumatized the rest of the boys,  and there wasn't much hope for his redemption. Realizing his wrongdoing in the end and coming to his senses while being rescued, “The tears began to flow and the sobs shook him [Jack]”(202). Through the reality of human nature, Jack is able to come to his senses and understand his wrongdoings. he's able to come through the darkness Too Faced his evil and smother it out with the light. Although it shows Jack to be inherently evil, the complexities of Human Nature Made it possible for him to find Redemption. 

Evil can be all around us yet but to discover Redemption and a different side to every story.