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Archetypes In Lord Of The Flies

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The novel Lord of the Flies is not just a simple adventure story but is a story which contains many archetypal critical theories. Archetypal critical theory in this novel includes hero, villain, advisor/guide, Christ-figure, journey/quest, and loss of innocence. The main archetypal theory that builds up the story is that Ralph is a hero who is on a “journey” to an end goal of getting everybody on the island rescued. Jack and the hunters impede Ralph in pursuit of fun and hunting rather than working together to get rescued. These themes are all related to the emergence of Ralph as a hero. Ralph portrays the hero archetype. Ralph’s emergence as a hero from an innocent boy begins with the arrival on the island with the other British schoolboys …show more content…

When Ralph believed that his mother and father would come and rescue him on their first arrival on the island, Piggy knew that the world is at war and nobody would realize their disappearance. Piggy is an intelligent and an outcast who is constantly getting made fun of and bullied by the other boys on the island mainly by Jack and the hunters. When Ralph is going through a struggle and even considering giving up his place as a chief, Piggy advises him not to. Simon is a Christ-figure of the story. He is different from the other boys on the island. Simon understands the true nature of the good and the evil. He believes that the beast was created by humans on the island. This shows that Simon understands that the beast was created by the fear of boys themselves. “However Simon thought of the beast, there rose before his inward sight the picture of a human at once heroic and sick.” (103). Simon later gets brutally murdered by all the other boys including Ralph and Piggy when he arrives where the other boys are to tell them that the beast was a dead parachutist. While Sam and Eric deny their presence the time when Simon was murdered and Piggy does not want to admit the murder of Simon, Ralph accepts the guilt of murdering Simon. Piggy gets killed by a deliberate act of murder by Roger. And with Sam and Eric joining Jack, Ralph is alone. Ralph finds out from Sam and Eric that Jack and the hunters are coming to kill him. Jack and the hunters set the fire to kill Ralph but ironically, attracts rescue. Ralph does accomplish his goal in not the ideal way with the 3 of the schoolboys dead. To the naval officer who is asking if anyone is in charge, Ralph responds that he is in charge. This act means that he will take all the responsibility of the murders on the island. And as a hero he accepts it. Ralph later weeps for his loss of innocence. Ralph is now not a little boy living

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