Introduction The insanity of man can never be underestimated when man loses his focus on his oneness with his brother. The novel, Lord of the Flies, seeks to identify the flaws of society (jealousy, power, greed, violence etc.) and find it’s source in the nature of human beings. By watching the boys engage in battle, we are reminded of the aptitude of humanity to be evil, and how the morality of man is merely superficial. The severed pig’s head represents what the Greeks call Beelzebub, or the prince of demons (the devil).
Simon ends up having an imaginary dialogue with the pig head. In the dialogue it tells Simon that it symbolizes the evil that lies within every human being. It also says that it, metaphorically speaking, will have fun with Simon, meaning that the evil in the hunters will end up killing Simon. This pig head is called lord of the flies, because of its allurement of flies. Just like the flies are allured towards the pig head, the boys are allured towards the evil.
For example, when Roderigo shouts, “an old black ram is tupping your white ewe!” Shouting racial slurs about Othello, blatantly calling him black and constantly referring him to an animal says that Roderigo is jealous that Othello has managed to win Desdemona’s love. Insulting Othello is cruel and is a malicious act on Roderigo’s behalf, but his motivation for being so vengeful is that he is extremely jealous of Othello. Another example of how Shakespeare conveys that jealousy is the motivation behind committing malicious acts is when Iago states he will ruin Othello, “I hate the Moor, and it is thought abroad, that ‘twixt my sheets. Has done my office. I know not if’t be true, but I, for mere suspicion in that kind, will do as if for surety.” Iago hears rumors of Othello possibly sleeping with his wife.
This continual balky behavior can also be witnessed when he reacts to his banishment as follows: You common cry of curs, whose breath I hate As reek o' th' rotten fens, whose loves I prize As the dead carcasses of unburied men That do corrupt my air, I banish you! (3.3.150-153) Coriolanus responses most notably with insults; and instead of accepting their
Such is the attraction of power; he knows that those who sign over their souls will do so regardless of their consequences. When the Old Man persuades Faustus to repent, Mephistophilis threatens Faustus by saying, “Thou traitor, Faustus. I [Mephistophilis] arrest thy [Faustus] soul For disobedience to my [Mephistophilis] sovereign lord [Lucifer]; Revolt, or I’ll inpiecemeal tear thy [Faustus] flesh” (Marlowe 51). Maurice A. Hunt suggests that when the “Old Man tried... to save his [Faustus’s] soul,” Mephistophilis threatened Faustus, which leads to Faustus “collapsed in fear of the devil’s
However, when delving deeper into this excerpt, it suggests as if Atticus decided that now was the time to stop a threat to Maycomb County. He used this “unfair advantage” in order to strike down a hazard, symbolizing that Atticus was striking down and finishing off racism. This shows that when faced with a menace like racism, people should use everything that they have to wipe out the peril before it gets out of control, before it becomes so ravenous and deadly like Tim Johnson became. Another motif that Lee uses to depict racism are mockingbirds and bluejays. Atticus describes how bluejays are vicious and how they create
Caliban is more defiant and harsh towards Prospero in “A Tempest”, were he is rebellious in that he uses his native language and uses language Prospero taught him to retort to Prospero’s commands with insults; this is evident in Caliban’s speech “I’ll impale you! And on a steak that you’ve sharpened yourself”. The threat of being whipped and the use of magic forcibly induces Caliban to do Prospero’s bidding. Caliban’s allusion to Malcolm X when he states, “Call me X. That would be best.
Countless works of literature have mused on the complex struggle between the human characteristics of greed, selfishness and treachery and the edifice of morality and reason on which human society is built. Often times this struggle is characterized as a battle between the forces of good and evil, good being the desire to help mankind and evil the desire to do the opposite. George MacDonald’s poem “Evil Influence” follows this trend in its title and subject matter, describing the terrible nature of evil that precedes violent deeds. While William Golding’s Lord of the Flies primarily explores the natural state of man contained by the walls of society, the presence of its titular being ~Raw Writing~ ...brings up the idea of something sinister influencing the boys’ actions on the island. Using the poem as a field guide for finding the signs of evil influence, and assuming the beast is something inside the boys that is awakened by the island (seen by how bad the kids already are and stuff- pg 28), we can break this down following the poem.
The author, William Golding, said, “Man produces evil as a bee produces honey” (The Hot Gates, 1966). In the book, an indication was the colors used for Jack’s mask. The colors white, red and black are usually attributed to violence, evil, and terror. Indeed, it was evident as shown by the effect the mask had on Jack, who became a “bloodthirsty snarling” (p.70). Jack, with the other hunters, was able to kill the pig through the mask which “compelled them” (p.70).
Cheng explains that nature is dying due to the pollution caused by human greediness. Alliteration, anaphora and oxymorons are used to illustrate the themes in both poems and makes readers feel guilty and motivated to do something to help stop the destruction by appealing to their emotions. In ‘Report to Wordsworth’, Cheng uses alliteration in the line “O see the wound widening in the sky”. This creates an image of how the ozone layer is being destroyed and shows that the Earth is metaphorically hurt. The poet has used alliteration in order to slow down the pace and to make the reader pause and think about the destruction.