Man's Inherent Evil In The Lord Of The Flies Analysis Essay

The Beast supports the theme of all men having an inherent evil. Although it resides in human nature to remain calm and civil, a human’s worst traits are unveiled as they release their inner evil and savagery in a desperate act for survival. The beast is used in many parts of the story to bring out the inherent evil in the characters. We see this in Jack who initially wanted rules and civility, but as he spends more time on the island, he becomes obsessed with hunting the beast. Killing the beast to him meant ridding all evil on the island and increasing his chances of survival. But by doing this he unknowingly turns to the evil and savagery existing within himself. In a desperate act of survival and fear, Jack leads the boys on a hunt.  After hunting a pig Jack's tribe yells, “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood” (Golding 96). 

They turn the grotesque and violent experience of killing an animal into a triumphant chant expressing the evil which had taken over inside them. They place the pig’s head on a stick and declare it as a gift to appease the beast. However, the savage way Jack’s tribe killed the pig already shows that the Beast is inside them. After this Simon engages in an imaginary conversation with the pig’s head on the stick where the hallucination says,” Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!” said the head. For a moment or two, the forest... “You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are the way they are?”(Golding 206). 

The beast states itself that it is not something that you can hunt and kill it reveals that it is not a physical being that you can hunt and kill, but is rather inner wickedness that resides within every human.  When Simon tries to tell the other boys the beast is not an actual creature but is instead a configuration manufactured of their own inherent evil the boys brutally murder him in an act of fear of him being the beast. Even Ralph and Piggy who try to maintain the peace and civility between the boys throughout the book, find themselves allured to the thrill of violence and join in on murdering Simon. Ralph and Piggy mistaking Simon for the Beast and gruesomely murdering him in an instant because of fear illustrate how the beast uncovers the innate evil and savagery in the boys. 

The boys start off as civil and calm but as the story goes on the beast stimulates their fear and they release their inner evil. They lose their connection to their civil side in order to survive the island. William Golding illustrates the two sides of man in LOTF. Humans are calm and civilized when they are not in times of survival but when trying to survive they release their inner savagery and evil.