The Role of a prophet changes from the society and cultures from which they live in. In Modern times, a prophet is a visionary, telling people their possibilities; in religious terms, a prophet is the voice of God, guiding others with wisdom and knowledge. In Lord of the Flies, the prophet, Simon, told his people nothing. Simon prophesized events and logically realized what characters had and were to become, this caused for him to not tell people about these prophecies because he knew they would turn against him "maybe there is a beast... What I mean is... maybe it's only us". Simon lived in knowledge and fear because his society denied the role of the prophet, and he did not fight it because he wanted so much to be part of that society.
Simon is the one character who is intact with the whole island as if the island were an inhabitant itself. Simon converses with nature, calming natural disasters as such. We see on the night of his death that a storm hits the island and after nature starts to obscure and colour loosens from objects. Simon, as he finds nature doesn’t see it just for what it is, he relates it to his life back in civilization. He protects the Candle buds from the savages destruction and sees the buds on the bushes as "Like candles. Candle bushes. Candle buds". Nature shows to be Simon’s haven, his home away from home. This is the
The audience is attracted to Simon’s character due to his logical and incorruptible nature. Simon, in the novel, shows no signs of corruption or evilness; even with Ralph being the protagonist of the novel, he shows regrettable signs of evil and corruption. Simon, even during his death he tries to warn his fellow islanders of the true identity of the beast. After his death Simon is shown in a state of complete peace with nature “The waves turned the corpse gently in the water... Softly, surrounded by a fringe of bright inquisitive creatures, itself a silver shape beneath the steadfast constellations, Simon's dead body moved out towards the open sea". Here we see angelical symbolism, as Simon becomes one with the exposed unprotected environment.
Simon’s character is the first to reveal the truth behind the ‘beast’, though, as he is about to reveal it he is killed (showing the idea of how he was scared to reveal his prophecies over fear that he would be killed). His death is extremely brutal, showing the savages are engulfed in chaos and terror, showing primeval murderous intent leading to the death of an innocent boy. Simon is obviously thinking of the others best interest even at his death warning them that the true identity of the beast isn’t what the savage monster they think it is. Simon being the mediator (mainly for Piggy and Ralph) between evil temptations and good actions, shows an ironic death as he is killed by those that he was trying to save. His conversation with the Lord of the Flies plays on this irony "Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!... You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you?" . The Lord of the Flies foretells Simons own death, playing on Simons fears and playing on the last hope of the saviour of the savages. We can say that Simon had many roles, but his utter most important role was to be the mediator, and foreseer of events. He was respected due to his kind nature, which shows at the (his death) and through these attributes Simon was the only one who could have saved the savages.