The Beast
English Lit: AQA GCSE Lord of the Flies, topic 4.1.2
The Beast
Golding uses the island to allow the inner evil of humanity to escape – and to show us the possible consequences of releasing our inner savage impulses.
The beast
- Piggy says it’s just fear but Simon knows “maybe it’s only us”.
- Representing evil inside, the beast tells Simon it cannot be hunted and destroyed.
Inner evil of humanity
- Golding uses the island to allow the inner evil of humanity to escape – and to show us the possible consequences of releasing our inner savage impulses.
- The Lord of the Flies told Simon it could not be destroyed, just as the evil within humanity cannot be destroyed.
A warning about power
- Golding uses Simon, Piggy and Ralph to show that, once evil is allowed to take hold of powerful people, even the most moral, innocent, good people will fall.
- The story is a warning about power and abusing control.
Danger
- By giving the evil side of humanity a name of its own, Golding shows the reader how important and powerful this side can be.
- It is almost an entity of its own, which controls all life.
- This reinforces how dangerous humans can be.
Test yourself on The Beast
In Lord of the Flies what represents inner human evil?