‘Listened with ill-contained impatience’ page 46.
Page 38 ‘If he be Mr. Hyde… I shall be Mr. Seek’ this is a pun on his name. He has an animal side ‘shrank back with a hissing intake of breath’ page 39. This reflects the personality of Jack in Lord of the Flies. These two characters have a similar resemblance as Jack and Mr. Hyde are anti-social, brutal and lacking in conscience. In the novel Mr. Hyde is represented as an evil figure.
‘There is something wrong with his appearance, something wrong, displacing, something downright detestable.’
In Lord of the Flies there are three main good characters and their names are Ralph, Simon and Piggy. Ralph is democratic, follows rules and civilised. He is also mature, kind, open-minded, has lots of courage and is a peace maker. He recognises that others are evil by the end of the novel. Also he can’t understand how others can experience hatred. Simon, who ends up dead, was dismissed as ‘Batty’ and ‘Funny’ by the other boys. But Golding said that Simon was, ‘a saint, and a lover of mankind’. He is also kind as he helps the little children pick fruit and build a shelter. Finally the last good character and that is Piggy, he is intelligent, logical, realistic and sensitive, and he represents the adult in the novel. He is fat and wears glasses, with a scruffy appearance. He gets on really well with Ralph and Simon, but not Jack, Jack is always taking the mick out of him. Piggy is an orphan. Has a different background to all the rest of the characters. Also has physical weakness, he has asthma; he’s fat and wears glasses.
In Jekyll and Hyde there is one main good character and his name is Henry Jekyll, also know as Dr. Hyde. He was a very respectable man and he knew what he liked, ‘was much a connoisseur’ page 49.
In Lord of the Flies evil is personified in the beast. Most people in life have had an evil side but they choose to ignore this. The boys, when put on an island together, become scared and frightened as they realise the beast (the evil in them) is tormenting them. The hunt for ‘the beast’ is set off when the dead pilot falls to the island and the boy’s suspicions are reinforced. The evil represented in the following themes; the bestial images; the tribal links; the changes in power and leadership; the nature of the island.
In Jekyll and Hyde evil is shown through the dual personality of Jekyll and Hyde, showing that he is both good and evil. This was a concern of the Victorian era when the book was written. The evil represented in the following themes; the dark home that Mr. Hyde lived in; the beast in Dr. Jekyll; and the tribal links.
Themes and symbols of evil in Lord of the Flies:
The themes used are tribal and savagery, leadership, evil, order and prejudice. The symbols used are fire, glasses, the conch, masks, the beasts and the pigs head. The fire represents passion to kill, warmth, danger, anger, fear, red the colour of danger and the smoke is a sin for help. The glasses represents vision, as Piggy wares them it gives him a clear vision, also a vision of the island and the glasses start the fire. The conch represents order, authority, leadership and joining the boy together. The masks represent the tribes, beliefs, they cover the boy’s real emotions, hides their faces and also they scare people. The beast represents fear, strength, lack of order and being out of control. Finally the last symbol is the pigs head this represents territory, Jacks power, the beast within the man and superstition.
Themes and symbols in Jekyll and Hyde:
The themes used are the dark home that Mr. Hyde lived in, and the beast in Dr. Jekyll. The symbols used are fog, darkness, and the door. The fog represents glumness, the fog hides people like Mr. Hyde and this is where the murders happen. The darkness represents evil the dark side of Dr. Jekyll, also how things can get scary when it is dark. Finally the last symbol is the door this is connected with Jekyll’s home and people go through it but what’s behind it? It unravels a mystery. The gloomy, foggy and maze-like streets of London make a perfect setting for a novel about hidden truths about double lives. This is because it makes it look mysterious, to show the double lives when Dr. Jekyll is around all the streets are bright, with happy people, all sunny and the atmosphere is really pleasant. But as soon as Mr. Hyde comes along the streets and the atmosphere changes completely. The streets turn gloomy and foggy, and when he walks past people they are scared of him. Also you can’t really see who he is, and the maze-like streets could represent all the different mysteries in this novel.
The narrative test in Lord of the Flies is in third person narrative. On the other hand Jekyll and Hyde has many narrators who each take their part in the story.
In these two novels evil is represented in different ways. Lord of the Flies represents political power and the struggle in society at the time that it was written. Golding believed that when the boys were put on the island alone with no adults the real evil personality came out of them especially Jack. This was because no-one could tell him what to do which made him feel superior, and took things too far. In Jekyll and Hyde Stevenson’s views on evil is that he thinks there’s always evil inside us but some wish not to show it, while others do. For example Dr. Jekyll is a well respected, polite gentleman, but when his infernal alter ego, Mr. Hyde, takes over him, Dr. Jekyll becomes evil, this explores the potential each person has for bestiality and evil. Stevenson believed that together, they indicate an increasing subtle apprehensive and representation of human behaviour.
In conclusion these two novels have many representations of good and evil. Lord of the Flies is all about being in power and the evil is only due because the boys were left on the island alone. Jekyll and Hyde is about having a split personality, the story suggest that all humans possess good and evil qualities. Also there are lots of themes and symbols in these two novels to represent good and evil. The two novels it is good vs. evil, in Jekyll and Hyde it’s a desperate struggle for Dr. Jekyll as he does not want to be evil but the evil inside him Mr. Hyde takes over his thoughts and makes him do the wrong things, and in Lord of the Flies is more about political power, and the struggle of the society, Jack is in power as everyone else is frightened of him, and he says what goes, and the good characters like Ralph, Piggy and Simon they try to stop him but do not succeed and Jack gets more evil throughout the novel.
These two novels are very different in their ways, but both represent the good and evil in people.
