The method in which these books convey Evil is by use the settings to convey a mood, which the author wishes us to feel. Both of the authors represent very early on evil in the character and its surroundings. From Lord of the Flies, Golding decides that the Island must have a good side so he makes the side with the blue Lagoon the good side. Here the children find it safe as they swim in the lagoon. As they find it safe here they set up camp, this is a similar way in which the early humans made home. These early humans only made homes in high, grassy and flowery places due to them feeling safer and comfortable. Stevenson also gives London two sides of Good and Bad. He describes the good side as, “and with freshly painted shutters, well polished brasses and general cleanliness and gaiety of note, instantly caught the eye of the passenger”. From this we get a pleasant and happy view of London. However like Golding, Stevenson gives us a picture of the bad side, “the door, which was equipped with neither bell nor knocker, was blistered and disdained”, “Tramps slouched into the recess and struck matches on the panels”. This gives us a bad view of London, Stevenson also shows this sharp contrast in London, “the street shone out in contrast to its dingy neighbourhood, like a fire in a forest” this also may suggest that there is more bad than good because a forest is larger than a forest fire. All these quotations give us a clear view of the evil that was at this time. This is similar to Golding as he makes the children believe that the other side of the island is bad and this is the safe side. Golding describes the bad side as “palm trees whose green feathers were hundred feet up in the air”. With this bad impression, the savage fire that burnt the trees makes it dangerous and unliveable for the children. Also the bad side of the island isn’t protected by the coral from the battering waves. As there is no coral protecting the bad side then the coastline is jagged like the teeth of a man-eating shark. Golding describes the waves smashing the coastline as “rise with a roar”, “water boiled over the rock with a roar”. This with the deep jungle “complex undergrowth that was already engulfing the scar”, conveys and evil in the in the wild side of the island. Stevenson also conveys evil in another way, firstly by there being a full moon when Carew is murdered. Many myths say that a full moon is the signal for the werewolf to come out and a werewolf is formed from a human. This being ironic at this scene as Mr Hyde comes out of Dr Jeykll , thus gesturing to us that evil has come out of this human. Stevenson also creates tension of bad things to happen in his scenes, he does this by using, “wild, cold”, “swept the streets unusually bare of passengers”. The way usage of this word get to the point and aren’t very descriptive and this is what gives the reader the tension. Golding also use this in Lord of the Flies, “over the island the build up of clouds continued”, thus giving the reader as sense of there going to be a storm. This was used at the start of the book when they arrived on the island, and then it is used before Simon’s death. In the same passage, Golding gives us the reader a feeling of silence before a storm, and the storm not just being from the skies but on the island itself. When the children finally murder Simon there is an actual storm and as Simon walks out of the darkness like an evil spirit the lighting flashes upon his face. The way Golding has made Simon come out of the darkness is traditional image of evil, an example of this is modern day murder films when the killer primarily comes out from the darkness. Both Golding and Stevenson bring out the most in the setting to portray evil, and this gives the reader a sense of reality. From a quote by Dr Sui a Chinese fear specialist said “Fear is not in your mind but it is around you”. I think Dr Sui is suggesting that the fear some people hold in them be mainly worked by their settings.
Setting is important to create the sense of evil but I think that the characters in the novels have big part to play in conveying evil. From Lord of the Files, there are both good and bad characters and each of these characters are good in their own way. Ralph is a good character but he is very special as through Ralph’s eyes we can see the degradation of the society on the island, and thereby show the natural evil within man. At the start he is described “good”, “like a boxer” shows us that he is a physically well able and “mildness and proclaimed no devil”. All these things are good and there is no sign of any evil. However on the other hand there is Jack, who most of the time is described as completely the opposite of Ralph. Early on in the book he is described as a “floating cloak”, this gives us the feeling that he is hiding away and most be hide away because there is something bad in them. Jack’s appearance is described as “tall thin and Bony”, “ugly without silliness” this suggest that there is a lack of wit in his face, and it is very plain. Presenting the evil in Jack this way is very common as in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Mr Hyde is described as; “there is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable” these are very strong word suggesting the true ugliness of the person. However there is a sharp contrast Between Mr Hyde and Dr Jekyll as he is described as “well made, smoothed faced man”, giving him a handsome and respectable look. Golding and Stevenson both express evil in the appearance of their characters this meaning that both writers thought that the outside appearance of somebody had a lot to do with there inside wickedness. Later on in both books the appearance of Mr Hyde and Jack don’t improve, Mr Hyde is described as “with ape like fury”; I think Stevenson is only describing the appearance of Mr Hyde as it would be incorrect to say an ape was a savage as Mr Hyde. In the book Stevenson also uses the word Satan when describing Mr Hyde, “ I never saw a circle of such hateful faces; and there was the man in the middle, with a kind of black sneering coolness-frightened too, I could see that-but carrying it off, sir, really like Satan”. This is full proof that Stevenson wants us to portray the appearance of Mr Hyde as being evil. Golding also portrays Jack as being an ape, “ape like” and being the devil, “hiss of indrawn breath” and “recoiling” this giving us the suggestion of the hiss of a snake, the snake in biblical sense is the symbol of temptation and evil. I think both Golding and Stevenson are indicating that evil can come from being primitive, for example when Jack is hunting naked and the way Mr Hyde is described as being primitive human with his ape like features. This can be true as when primitive humans attacked Mammoths; they have said to attack them savagely, this savage attacking has evolved through life and the modern version is the attacking of humans in wartime. This is also true as Jack started of using his hunting skill for hunting food but by the end he uses it to hunt down Ralph. It is remarkable how both writers use such evolutionarily understanding to convey evil. This understanding is mainly due to the time the writers lived. As Stevenson had the experience of classes, and the middle and upper class, which have the capacity for such evils (as explained in the introduction). This may suggest that if middle and upper class citizens have capability to perform evil then everyone can have that capability. Stevenson also suggests that before Jekyll makes the potion that Jekyll is already made up of two parts, “profound duplicity of life”. So Stevenson suggest that Dr Jekyll created Mr Hyde to release that evil part of him, which he wasn’t able to do as Dr Jekyll. However when the two are apart from each other, the evil and the good, then there is nothing to balance out the evil so Mr Hyde is pure evil. However Jekyll suggests that if he was in the right frame of mind when taking the potion then he could be an “angel”, however this wasn’t the case because each time Stevenson took the potion he wanted to be the evil inside of him. This is true in our modern society as most of us keep our evil locked away mainly because the consequence of releasing that evil can result in us being punished. However if we had the chance to display our inner evil without the consequences then we all would. In society there is people who can’t control this evil for many reasons, one being “pleasure of the flesh” and these people most of the time are never given the chance to lock up that evil and bring up the good. The experiences Stevenson had on this was from people like Jack the Ripper. The reason for why evil wasn’t so obviously prominent in Lord of the Flies was because the boys were brought up in a society where they were taught to control their evil so this control was kept on the island as it was a microcosm of real life. Another example of the children following human conditioning is when Roger threw stones near Henry, “taboo of old life”, this means that Roger didn’t throw the stones at Henry because in normal life the law would protect Henry. This act is an act of instinct, and in modern life people keep their instincts as it helps them lock in that evil. However if these instincts are elapsed then this gives way to evil, thus suggesting that the evil in both books be from inside of the character. If this is true then the beast that was on the island was just a figure of the imagination and by this Golding suggest that some biblical reference of the Devil may be incorrect due to it just being in the imagination of the person. This however isn’t certain as some theories have suggested that the man’s brain always tries to find answers and if the answers aren’t there or aren’t obvious then the brain invents something in its place. As in Lord of the Flies the brain can’t find an answer for the evil happening so it invents the beast. Now because Golding can’t really find evidence of there being some devil inside of the children, Goldings brain comes up with the theory that evil is a product of human natural instinctive actions. However Stevenson’s theory is that there is a split person with one side pure good and one side pure evil. When they are together the evil is controllable but when evil is with out the good it is very dangerous. Both of these theories are acceptable, and both Golding and Stevenson have done well to assemble their books around each of their theories. I think it is impossible to really tell which theory is correct but the purpose of this essay was to view the way each author presented evil and that I have achieved that.
