Psychology Of Aggression In William Golding's Lord Of The Flies

Psychology of aggression in William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies” William Golding was born on September 19, 1991, in Cornwall, England. Although he tried to write a novel as being only twelve years old, his parents urged him to study the natural sciences. After graduating from Oxford, he worked briefly as a theater actor and direction, wrote poetry and then became a school teacher. Golding’s experience in World War II had a profound effect on his view of humanity and the evils of which it was capable. After the war, Golding resumed teaching and started to write novels. His first and greatest success came with “Lord of the Flies” in 1954, which ultimately became a bestseller in both Britain and the United States after more than twenty publishers

These two ways of analyzing the psychology of aggression are related to the materialist and idealist approaches to human reality. Psychologically, aggression is a complex subject and is defined by Craig A. Anderson and Brad J. Bushman in their psychology journal entitled “Human Aggression” as being: “any behavior directed toward another individual that is carried out with the proximate intent to cause harm. In addition, the perpetrator must believe the behavior will cause harm and that the target is motivated to avoid the behavior.” In the next pages we will concentrate on the aggressive part of William Golding’s novel entitled “Lord of the flies”. “Lord of the Flies” tells the story of a group of English schoolboys marooned on a island after their plane is shot down during war. In his work, William Golding’s dramatizes in his novel a human condition in which the aggressive instincts are unleashed. Although the novel is fictional, its exploration of the evil side of human beings is partly based on Golding’s experience with the real-life violence and brutality of World War II. The novel is full with animal ferocity that results in bloodshed, savagery and in the end destruction. Golding succeeds to match up the aggressive part of human nature