An Interpretation Of The Mystery Of Sphinx-On The Theme Of Lord Of The Flies

Lord of the Flies is generally considered to be William Golding's masterpiece. Since its publication in 1954, it has been a hot topic in academic research of literary works and meets countless favorable voices. Especially after 1960s, it became one of the most widely-read, widely-admired novels in the English Language, and one of the prescribed classics in the universities. It was even filmed in 1963 and 1990. In 1983, Golding was awarded Nobel Prize,"for his novels which, with the perspicuity of realistic narrative art and the diversity and universality of myth, illuminate the human condition in the world today". It tells a seemingly simple yet thought-provoking story. It takes place within an imagined atomic war. A plane evacuating a party of English boys is shot down over a xanadu-like isolated island. At first they make concerted effort to establish a civilized society but later are divided into two groups for fear of the beast. It ends with the barbarity group's control over the rational one.Most of the studies on Lord of the Flies, both home and abroad, focus mainly on such social-cultural issues as the good or evil nature of human being, the origin and evolution of religion, the sources of authority, and the contest between democracy and totalitarianism as symbolically expressed in the novel. Theoretical support is drawn from various sources including Freudian psychological analysis, Jung's theories of collective unconsciousness and archetype, the religious theory of original sin, and many other social political or social cultural theories. These analyses differ in theories, approaches and conclusions. A great many critics held that Lord of the Flies was an exploration of human nature which was inherently evil long before. The writer of the essay absorbs the generally accepted view but try to illustrate it mainly based on the analyses of characters from different angles. Based on the previous researches, the essay aims at analyzing the characters to uncover the theme of Lord of the Flies by employing Freudian Psychoanalysis, part of Jung's Archetype Theories and part of Frye's Myth Archetype Theories. Quite from previous studies, the essay tries to find out some commonness between the above theories and the theme. Worth mentioning, comments on the descriptions of dreams in Lord of the Flies have been blank, which gives the writer of the essay a chance to fill the blank based on Freudian Dream Theory. Besides, lots of critics tend to believe there is only one theme in Lord of the Flies. For example, after a full study of Golding's novel(especially Lord of the Flies), Chinese scholar Liu Ruoduan in his essay A Fable Compiler stated that all the works of Golding lied in only one theme, that was, the darkness of human heart. However, the writer of the essay tends to believe there are other elements contained in the novel. Mark. Kinkaid. Wick has once pointed out that it is impossible to try to conclude the theme of Golding's Lord of the Flies from one angle since the content of the novel is so complex and intricate. So the essay attempts to probe into other elements besides the generally acknowledged theme. On the one hand, the positive and optimistic elements given by all the characters, both positive and negative, add some optimistic colors to the seemingly pessimistic novel. On the other hand, Jesus-like character Simon conveys some spirits of Christianity, which are'salvation'and'hope'. In lord of the Flies, Simon's sacrifice is not without significance. The spirits he conveys to readers is eternal. Through Simon, Golding expresses his hope towards human beings. It is an unchangeable fact that human heart is evil, but the future of human beings is not without hope. Lord of the Flies reveals the evil nature of human beings, but more importantly, it gives expectation of a hopeful bright human future based on self-improvement.The thesis consists of five chapters:Chapter one begins with the literary review, the assumptions and the methodologies. Chapter two makes an introduction to Golding and Lord of the Flies. Golding is called an allegory compiler. His works are categorized as allegories or fables. English critic I. Evans has once pointed out that Lord of the Flies is a philosophical and allegorical novel about evil and fragility of civilization. So, Lord of the Flies stresses much on the exploration of human nature, which is influenced by lots of factors, including Golding's personal experiences, Greek literature, cultural and social background as well as trends of thoughts.Chapter three includes three main parts. The first part takes on the analyses of some major and minor characters in Lord of the Flies based on Fredudian"three psychic zones of human personality"and Death Instinct as well as part of Jung's Archetype Theories. Some critics, both home and abroad, have analyzed the main characters in Lord of the Flies based on Freudian"three psychic zones of human personality". Claire Rosenfield , William Wasserstrom and Frank Kermode found out a conscious dramatization of Freudian theory in Lord of the Flies : Piggy represented superego, Ralph ego, and Jack id. Their analyses were all illuminating but pitifully neglected another important character Simon. Domestic scholar Xiao Bing held that Jack, Ralph and Simon were just in accordance with id, ego and superego in his essay. His analyses were penetrating and thorough. However, the writer of the essay tends to believe that Xiao Bing's understanding ignores the variety of characters, which may make us fail to grasp the real meanings of the novel. So, after absorbing and summarizing these critics'views, the writer of the essay puts forward different explanations and enlarges the scope of characters analyzing. The essay demonstrates in detail that Ralph and Piggy are two characters mainly controlled by ego, Jack and his follower two characters mainly controlled by death instinct in their id. As for Simon, the essay adopts Dai Shulan's view, that is, Simon is symbol of superego. To make the illustrations more convincing, the essay adopts part of Jung's archetypes—persona and shadow. The second part undertakes to interpret myth archetypes of some main characters based on Frye's myth archetype theories. Some critics have found some myth archetypes in Lord of the Flies. Hu Lei's Dionysus's Revenge is typical among all the relevant essays. So the essay adopts Hu Lei's views. Jack is the displacement of Dionysus; Roger is Agave; Ralph and Piggy are double displacements of Pentheus. As for Simon, the essay adopts generally acknowledged view that he is the archetype of Jesus. Different from Hu Lei, the essay intends to support the theme revealed by the novel. The third part attempts to interpret dreams of minor characters based on Freudian"dream theory"to touch on the darkness in their personalities.Chapter four includes two parts. The first part rereads the pessimistic message of Lord of the Flies: the end of innocence and the darkness of man's heart from two aspects. On the one hand, a group of boys headed by Jack and Roger are totally controlled by death instinct or shadow in their personalities. The Dionysus in them erupts completely. They become a group of savages, licking up once xanadu-like island. On the other hand, in the process of the novel, Death instinct or shadow is also found in positive characters Ralph and Piggy, who tend to approach the Dionysus in them. Golding conveys to readers a message that there is an inherent death instinct or shadow inside human nature. Every individual can turn into Dionysus. It is a fact that when civilization and social restraints are wiped off, the deep evil elements will come to the surface to dominate human nature. The second part discusses the potential hope and optimistic factors behind the seemingly pessimism. Absolutely, the novel reveals the evil nature of human beings. But most importantly, it intends to sound the alarm for human nature and imply the importance of curbing evil. The points are also illustrated from two angles. On the one hand, in the process of the novel, Jack and Roger are also in control at times by their ego or persona. The characters of Pentheus are also found in them. That means they might be saved from becoming savages given proper guidances. On the other hand, positive characters shown by Ralph, Piggy and Simon undoubtedly add some optimistic factors to the novel. Especially, the fact that Golding depicts a perfect Jesus-like character Simon shows that the writer is not completely hopeless.Chapter five is conclusion. Based on analyses of the characters from different angles, the essay further points out the dual themes in Lord of the Flies, proving the much discussed theme that human heart is dark and probing deep into some positive factors in an effort to get a better understanding of the novel.