Macbeth & Lord of the Flies

The novel, "Lord of the flies," written by William Golding and the tragedy play, "Macbeth," by William Shakespeare share many things in common. Both works deal a lot with characterization and obviously represent the dark side of ambition. Characters are used to underscore Golding's central theme civilization versus savagery. Golding introduces the protagonist, Ralph, to demonstrate the need for civilization versus Jack as the antagonist who is the representative of evil. However, Jack shares many similarity to Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Shakespeare depicts an innocent and brave soldier, Macbeth, at the beginning of the play which then is clouded by greedy and ambitious. Consequently, he becomes tyrannical leader. Lady Macbeth plays the only main female character, but she holds her dominant stature by rejecting her femininity and embracing the masculinity that dominance holds. People's sinful nature is revealed through the thoughts and actions of the characters. Therefore, these two works show how easily people can be manipulated by evilness and how dark a person's heart can become.

Early on in the novel, Jack sticks to the behavior considered socially acceptable and given a position of responsibility over the choir but he rapidly becomes dissatisfied with his lack of power over the group and starts to push the boundaries of his subordinate role. As a result, the boys' society starts to fall apart as Jack becomes less civilized and the other boys gradually follow his example. Jack becomes more violent as the novel progresses by stealing the conch, Piggy's glasses, and trying to kill Ralph. Macbeth, on the other hand, starts killing whoever that opposes him in order to get and keep the throne. Anyhow, Jack fights Ralph for power in a more direct way than Macbeth fights Duncan. However, the result is the same as Jack creates his own little kingdom out of the choirboys and Macbeth rules the people of Scotland after murdering King Duncan. Even though, Macbeth does not want to be king at first but after he is told by the witches that he will be thane of Glamis, thane of Cawdor, and King Macbeth cause him goes astray. He allows his actions to be influenced by superstitious beliefs and is clouded by greedy and pride.

Macbeth and Jack are also used to portray the distressing truth that power corrupts all those who seek it. Jack is aggressive, dominant, arrogant and envious. From the beginning of the novel, it is obvious that Jack desires power, "I ought to be chief," said Jack with simple arrogance..." (Golding, 18.) It appears that the more savage he becomes, the more control he has over the rest of the group. Indeed, the majority of the group follow Jack in casting off moral restraint and embracing savagery. On the contrary, Macbeth is certainly a noble and courageous person at the beginning of the play. In addition, he is extremely loyal and honorable. If it had not been for the witches telling him that he was to be Thane of Cawdor, Thane of Glamis, and King of Scotland and the coax by Lady Macbeth, Macbeth would remain his ordinary self. Contrastingly, Jack is given the opportunity to