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Morality In William Golding's Lord Of The Flies

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“Freud” of The Flies The renowned physiologist Sigmund Freud once said, “The virtuous man contents himself with dreaming that which the wicked man does in actual life” (Freud The Interpretation of Dreams) This genius man also divided our subconsciousness based on the same principle that he also wrote this quote on. The principle that everyone possesses the capacity and tends to fill the capacity for not just evil but also good. This is where Freud derives his three divisions of the self conscious. First off, Freud says that all humans possess the capacity for the superego which he says is not something humans are born with, but it’s something that is taught starting from a young age. Secondly, Freud says every human was born with capacity …show more content…

Piggy represents the superego because he keeps reminding Ralph to keep the fire going and taking care of the littluns. Piggy’s “nagging” may seem as if he’s being no fun, but he shows that he’s still grasped onto a tiny bit of morality and that he cares enough for him to attend to the needs of the whole island. In the article “An Overview of Lord of the Flies”, Henningfeld claims that the superego “punishes” the ego by giving it feelings of guilt. One can identify this in Lord of The Flies in chapter two during the chaos ensuing the fire that burned down nearly half the island. Ralph is desperately trying to reclaim a level of order and suddenly their fire dies out. Piggy declares that if they want to get off the island from there on they must work more proficiently. After realizing the boy with the birthmark is missing Piggy yells at the group for being so out of control and as the group becomes crestfallen, Ralph (The representation of the ego) is shamed. Piggy isn’t the only resolute, conscientious person Golding places on the island, Simon represents the superego in a nearly Messianic way. “Immorality, no less than morality, has at all times found support in religion” (Freud The Future of an Illusion). To be one of the moral voices in Lord of the Flies, Golding writes Simon’s character to have a strong tie to religious figures. Throughout the book Simon is compared to and acts similar to a Christ-type figure. When the Lord of the Flies is talking to Simon he says, "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 what they are?" (111) Golding writes this dialogue as

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