Comparing Power In Lord Of The Flies And The Tempest By William Golding

In ‘Lord of the Flies’ and ‘The Tempest’ William Golding and William Shakespeare both present a strong theme of power throughout both of the literary texts including power represented through fear and through nature.
The novel ‘Lord of the Flies’ written in 1954 tells the story of a group of school boys surviving on an island. Life on the island becomes chaotic and represents a microcosm of the bigger world. On the island Ralph represents the power of a capitalist fighting for democracy and Jack portrays that of a fascist. Ralph also represents a democratic society which is ruled by power for the sake of law and order and in contrast to this Jack represents an autocratic society governed by power just for the sake of having power. In ‘The Tempest’ written in the 1600’s the play reflects the colonisation of countries occurring at that period of time, Shakespeare writes this clearly as most people want to rule the island for example Caliban ‘ As I told thee before, I am subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer, that by his cunning hath cheated me of the island’.
In act 1 scene 2 Prospero explains to Miranda of the power he once had as the prince of Milan before his brother Antonio gradually stole his power while he studied magic ‘The ivy which had hid my princely trunk’ Shakespeare uses the imagery of ivy to

portray something that creeps up on you slowly like Antonio taking Prospero’s dukedom when he was pre occupied. The same can be said in ‘Lord of the Flies’ when Jack takes Ralphs authority as chief near the end of the novel.
The structure of both of the texts is chronological as throughout the novels there is a gradual build up to the loss of power; Golding presents this clearly in ‘Lord of the Flies’ as the longer the boys are on the island the longer they are exposed to savagery and the power that savagery brings, especially to Jack.

This results in chaos and the eventual loss of Ralph’s authority as chief. The build up to the loss of power in ‘The Tempest’ compared to ‘Lord of the Flies’ has a contrasting approach but is also unexpected as ‘The Tempest’ unlike ‘Lord of the Flies’ lacks the foreshadowing of Jack’s savageness. ‘But I shall! Next time! I‘ve got to get a barb on this

spear!’
In ‘Lord of the Flies’ it is clear that Jack thinks he has the right to be chief as he is already the leader of the choir ‘the boy who controlled them was dressed the same way though his cap badge cap was golden.’ The use of the golden cap badge clearly presents Jack as a more important figure than the other boys who cap badges are silver. As it is immediately apparent that Jack has leadership qualities it is easy to understand that Jack is the most obvious candidate for chief ‘for the most obvious leader was Jack.’ In ‘The Tempest’ Caliban also believes that he has the right to the island as it was once ruled by his mother a witch named Sycorax. It is clear that Caliban like Jack would go to any extreme to have the power that they believe is rightly theirs as both characters are willing to kill to get it. ‘Within this half hour will he be asleep will thou destroy him then?’ however Calibans plans fail unlike in ‘Lord of the Flies’ where both Piggy and Simon are killed.
In ‘Lord of the Flies’ most of the boys on the island fear Jack and the power that he possess, this is especially apparent with Piggy as he often finds himself as a punching bag to Jack ‘ ... able at last to hit someone, he struck his fist into Piggy’s stomach ... Ralph made a step forward and Jack smacked Piggy’s head’. In ‘The Tempest’ Prospero has similar attributes to Jack as they both share the same idea of rule by fear, get power by fear, and like Piggy, Caliban is Prospero’s punching bag ‘Sometime like apes that mow and chatter at me, And after bite me...’ Calibans fear of Prospero is also very apparent as he often talks about how he must obey Prospero as he knows that Prospero is too powerful ‘I must obey; his art is of such power.’ Shakespeare uses a lot of imperative language in his writing. This emphasises the power that Prospero possess and reminds us that he is in control ‘Hag-seed hence! Fetch us in fuel and be quick’. Whereas Golding uses a lot of imagery to portray savagery and power ‘He made one cheek and one eye socket white then rubbed red on the other side of his face’. The use of red represents to the reader the danger and savagery of Jacks persona.
In both of the texts nature also has power as the sea surrounding the island isolates people making them crave power. It is clear in ‘Lord of The Flies’ that the island possesses power as some of the boys, especially the younger ones who fear ‘the beastie’ that lives on the island. ‘The thing is – fear can’t hurt you any more than a dream. There aren’t any beasts on this island to be afraid of! ‘Nature on the island in ‘The Tempest’ also isolates people and again makes them crave power this is presented clearly in all of the men as each one desires to take over the island such as Gonzalo ‘ Had I plantation of this isle, my lord...’ which again reiterates colonisation in the time period of which the play was written.
In ‘Lord of the Flies’ it is clear that Ralph desperately wants to be free from the island and the power of Jack’s dictatorship once he realises that no one is going to come and rescue them this is represented through his devastation when he hears that the fire has gone out ‘They let the bloody fire out...Ralph clenched his fists and went very red.’, the same can be said for Ariel but instead of wanting to leave the island she wants to be free from Prospero’s control and power over her. The ending of both of the texts is very similar as Ralph and the other boys are free from the island and Prospero also releases Ariel ‘Quickly, spirit! Thou shalt ere long be free.’
As Edward Abbey once said ‘Power is always dangerous. Power attracts the worst and corrupts the best’ this is especially true for Jack as the power he gains towards the end of the novel completely changes his persona and corrupts his outlook on life. In ‘The Tempest’ it is true that power is very dangerous, Prospero demonstrates this as when he masters the power of magic he becomes a danger to characters such as Caliban.