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What does the beast symbolize in Lord in the flies?
What does the Beast represent?
What is the Lord of the Flies?
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The beast introduces fear into this island paradise. The young boys have nightmares about this beast that appears to them like a snake, which is symbolic of the serpent in the Garden of Eden that tempted Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge.
- Chapter 9
In a sense, Simon’s murder is an almost inevitable outcome...
- The Conch
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- The Lord of The Flies
Here, the Lord of the Flies continues to talk to Simon, who...
- Piggy's Glasses
The partially broken lenses symbolize the diminishment of...
- Themes
Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas...
- What Does The Ending Mean
In the final pages of Lord of the Flies, Ralph runs through...
- Chapter 9
- The Conch Shell. Ralph and Piggy discover the conch shell on the beach at the start of the novel and use it to summon the boys together after the crash separates them.
- Piggy’s Glasses. Piggy is the most intelligent, rational boy in the group, and his glasses represent the power of science and intellectual endeavor in society.
- The Signal Fire. The signal fire burns on the mountain, and later on the beach, to attract the notice of passing ships that might be able to rescue the boys.
- The Beast. The imaginary beast that frightens all the boys stands for the primal instinct of savagery that exists within all human beings. The boys are afraid of the beast, but only Simon reaches the realization that they fear the beast because it exists within each of them.
The name "Lord of the Flies" is a reference to the name of the Biblical devil Beelzebub, so on one level, "the beast" is a kind of savage supernatural figure, but mostly it symbolizes the evil and violence that potentially exists in the heart of every human.
- The Island. The tropical island, with its bountiful food and untouched beauty, symbolizes paradise. It is like a Garden of Eden in which the boys can try to create the perfect society from scratch.
- The Lord of the Flies (the Beast) The "Lord of the Flies," or the beast, inhabits the severed pig head that Jack's hunters stake into the ground and leave as an offering.
- The Conch Shell. The conch shell symbolizes the rule of law and civilization. It's used to call assemblies and as a kind of microphone that grants the right to speak to whomever holds it during assembly.
- Piggy's Glasses. By allowing the boys to create fire, the first necessity of civilization, Piggy's glasses represent science and technology, mankind's power to transform and remake their environment to best suit its needs.
In William Golding's Lord of the Flies, the "beast" symbolizes the inherent savagery and evil within humans. Initially feared as a physical creature, the beast's myth grows, driven by...
The beast is easy enough: it represents evil and darkness. But does it represent internal darkness, the evil in all of our hearts, even golden boys like Ralph? Or does it represent an external savagery that civilization can save us from?
By keeping the natural human desire for power and violence to a minimum, civilization forces people to act responsibly and rationally, as boys like Piggy and Ralph do in Lord in the Flies. Savagery arises when civilization stops suppressing the beast: it's the beast unleashed.
