What Does The Beast Symbolize In Lord Of The Flies

Everyone has had an evil, angry force who wants to harm act upon them. This force is inside of everyone, ready to act at any given moment. This is called the devil. Some people can argue that people are born with a malevolent force inside them, while others may say that this force is acquired from a child's’ development, upbringing, and environment. The former is found to be more accurate. Take the example of children sharing. As a child the majority of children are taught to share their belongings, even if they don’t want to. No child is born immediately sharing their toys, therefore there is a negative force acting upon them since birth. Many stories have characters or personified objects or ideas that represent the devil. In the novel Lord of the Flies, author William Golding uses the character of the Beast to represent the devil-like force is inside of everyone.

In the beginning none of the boys really recognized that there was a beast at all. It was not until the boy with the mulberry-birthmark

When the boys were killing Simon, their minds were clouded by fear and savagery, shouting “Kill the Beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” (Golding 152). This demonstrates that they really did not know that the beast that they were trying to kill was in fact not a force against them, but in reality, their ally Simon. This was a time where the beast took over, ultimately leading to incredibly negative consequences, ultimately the beginning of the fall of civilization, seeing that Simon represented religion in their society. Another example of when the Beast clouded the boys’ minds is when Roger killed Piggy. After the extensive time on the island away from civilization, he began to resort to ultimate savagery. He threw a large rock at Piggy, killing him and also destroying the conch. This attributes to the fall of civilization, destroying intelligence (Piggy) and order (the