Notwithstanding that both William Golding and Mary Shelley created hypothetical situations to explore the nature of humans, their approaches and motives significantly differ. However, the given paper will prove that simultaneously they share the research on how the environment influences people and on what the inner nature of these creatures is.
During the 20th century, the scholars viewed The Lord of the Flies as a warning novel, a novel indicating how the civilization’s commitment to the ideas of Nazism and Fascism could end. Meanwhile, the political component of the work is just one of the historical particulars, while the meaning of The Lord of the Flies is more extensive and comprehensive. In his novel, Golding showed not specific ideas characteristic of a certain time, but the timeless essence of human nature – sinful, terrible, and descending to the cruelest crimes in the absence of positive restraining power. The given paper will prove that Golding had a reason for doubts about the infallibility of a civilized man.
The author tells the reader a story in which children, due to the absence of rules and restrictions of a civilized society, turn into savages, for whom strength is the main weapon for survival on the island (Singh). Despite this, children still attempt to build a disciplined and organized society, but as the boys are divided into groups, their behavior also changes. Jack, ultimately, establishes a hierarchy between the boys, and, ultimately, this leads to terrible consequences. “I should have thought that a pack of British boys…would have been able to put up a better show than that….” (Golding 184). One group still seeks to maintain order and adhere to the established action plan, the other, in turn, is already seeking anarchy and violence, which leads children to sad consequences in which Piggy dies and Ralph is seriously wounded.
The author claims that a person is born uncivilized. Children are born innocent and are shaped by society. Children need not only material goods, but also spiritual support from an all-knowing adult mentor. In the history written by W. Golding there is an almost complete absence of adults; all the boys, young and old, are alone on the island. There are no adults who could help with advice and direct, thus the island manifests their universal human nature, which contains evil and animal instincts. For adults it would be much more difficult to adapt to new conditions, but children with unformed values transformed easily.
The first book of an aspiring author, who is only nineteen years old, rarely becomes the property of national literature. Mary Shelley is an English writer, who wrote Frankenstein at the age of nineteen, completing the task of a literary competition. The terrible story was published and instantly became popular, bringing the author world fame. An ugly creature created by Victor still had a kind human soul, capable of gratitude, good and evil deeds; he needed the guidance of his creator, his help and training. However, the creator was only a frightened young man, who was afraid of his creation. It seems that the most important leading aspect of the novel is the warning message about responsibility to oneself and to others. Only at the end of the novel and at the end of his confession, the scientist admits that if he created this monster, then he should have given him upbringing and education, should have introduced it to the society. The scientist, having made a discovery, abandoned it, thereby dooming himself to eternal fear and endless suffering the result of his searches. Victor Frankenstein is a bad father who abandons a child because he is ugly (Singh). A monster is a collective image of someone who is not pleasing to society, he absorbs the full potential of both evil and good. It is not only about a scientific experiment but also about the models of social and everyday life. A monster is also a separate nation that is discriminated against by language, skin color, traditions, and religious beliefs.
The conclusion can be made that in the Lord of the Files we can see the essence of human nature. Both authors share the research on how the environment influences people and their inner nature. If a person lives in a civilized society, he or she is cultured. However, if a man is brought up in conditions where there are no restrictions, they are uncivilized and follow animal instincts that are present in every person. The influence of the environment on a man’s character is considered in both novels. While the deprivation of human society, its care, and love are responsible for the evil in Frankenstein, in Lord of the Flies it is the deprivation of a society that allows the inner evil inherent in boys to manifest. Thus, for Shelley, the absence of a society leads to evil, but for Golding, it is the absence of society that gives the chance the evil nature of humans to manifest.
Works cited
Golding, William. Lord of the Flies (Print ed.). Boston: Faber & Faber, 1958.
Singh, Minnie, “The Government of Boys: Golding’s Lord of the Flies and Ballantyne’s Coral Island”, Children’s Literature, vol. 25, 1997, p. 205–213. Project MUSE.
Shelley, Mary. Frankestein. 1818. edited by J. Paul Hunter, New York, W. W. Norton & Company, 2012.