What Is Naturally Evil In Lord Of The Flies

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“Always see the good in people”, but what if there is no good deep down? This is a commonly discussed question that is very valuable. But what is the correct answer; is there a correct answer? In writings and historical events, human nature is shown as naturally evil through certain acts and feelings. In Lord of the Flies, Golding portrays the idea that humans are naturally evil; this claim is correct because humans are shown to have murderous and vengeful instincts. WIlliam Golding presents human nature as truly evil. The author includes a “beast” in the novel to portray the idea of the evil inside of the boys. None of the boys really connected the beast to themselves other than Simon in Chapter 5 when he states: “What I mean is... maybe it’s only us,” (Golding, 89). The boys react negatively to this statement and claim he is nuts. But Simon is unable to explain “mankind’s essential illness,” (Golding, …show more content…

At the end of Lord of the Flies Jack “had smoked [Ralph] out and set the island on fire,” (Golding 197). Jack wanted revenge on Ralph for taking the leadership role in the group. He used the other boys to gain power within the group. Jack specifically targeted Ralph because they had been arguing the whole book over who gets the privilege to run the group and be the designated leader. At the end of the book Jack is trying to kill Ralph because he ends up with the power, showing the vengeance inside of the boys. Jonathan H. Kantor writes, “Burr saw it as exacting the vengeance he sought for years against Hamilton,” (Kantor). Burr sought revenge on Hamilton for quite some time. Finally, it came to a point where Burr made Hamilton have a duel. Burrs’ vengeful tendencies are shown when he finally kills Hamilton because he is jealous of him. Hamilton's killing as well as Jack smoking out Ralph are both prime examples of how humans have an instinct to seek revenge, showing how humans are truly

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