The majority of the characters presented by William Golding have an objective: survive. Many of them are presented in groups but other ones, as Sammy in Free Fall or Christopher in Pincher Martin, have to survive alone, fighting against their own mind and the tension surrounding them.
In The Lord of the Flies this element is the motif of the characters since they have to organise themselves in order to stay alive in the desert isle. Because of that, the group of children tries to establish rules and create a sort of “adult society” but it doesn’t works at all. They are still children and they often forget their first intentions. Little by little, the concept of survival becomes more and more savage, highlighting the situation of Ralph, who at the end of the novel is seen as a hunted creature.
Our question now is: Why is this theme present in William Golding? Obviously it is closely related to the War frame we have already presented. Surviving a war is a quite difficult thing, but surviving a post-war could be even more difficult. The physical and specially, the psychological pain (as the one Sammy feels in Free Fall) are concepts that easily manipulate the essence of the human being itself.
The first element that we find in common among all these novels is the concept of war. It appears directly, like in The Lord of the Flies, Pincher Martin or Darkness Visible indirectly, like in The Inheritors. William Golding fought in the Second World War and this was reflected in his novels. In The Lord of the Flies, for example, we can clearly distinguish the essence of Hitler in the figure of Jack. His violent behavior and the way in which he treats the other children are evidences of this fascist reflection. In the case of Pincher Martin or Darkness Visible, Golding shows us the consequences of the war: Pincher Martin maybe becomes mad because of the despair of being alone, of having lost everything and Matty, the main protagonist of Darkness Visible, is a direct victim of a bombing attack during The Blitz.
In The Inheritors war is not as direct presented as in the other cited novels. However, it is the way in which the Homo sapiens treat the Neanderthals what reminds us how many countries were considered weaker and were invaded by those which considered themselves superior. Ironically, at the end of the novel, the Homo sapiens run away because they are supposedly afraid of the Neanderthals. This situation reminds us the way in which the first Puritans treated Native Americans when they arrived to the New World.
Shakespeare’s Comedies:
– General information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespearean_comedy
http://cla.calpoly.edu/~dschwart/engl339/plot.html
– A Midsummer Night’s Dream:
Complete work: http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/Texts/MND/Q1/scene/#tln-
Information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Midsummer_Night%27s_Dream
Quotations: Egeus: http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Annex/Texts/MND/Q1/default/#tln-48
– The Taming of the Shrew:
Complete work: http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Annex/Texts/Shr/F1/default/
Information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Taming_of_the_Shrew
Quotations: Baptista Minola: http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Annex/Texts/Shr/F1/scene/1.3#tln-350
– Twelfth Night:
Complete work: http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/Texts/TN/F1/default/
Information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelfth_Night
Elizabethan Era:
– Background information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabethan_era
– Society:
Patriarchal Society: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriarchy
http://www2.cedarcrest.edu/academic/eng/lfletcher/tempest/papers/KMartin.htm
http://elizabethan.org/compendium/41.html
Marriages: http://elizabethan.org/compendium/10.html
http://elizabethan.org/compendium/9.html
Women: http://www.elizabethi.org/uk/women/
http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/society/huswifery/duties.html
Men: http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-family-life.htm
Children: http://elizabethan.org/compendium/40.html
References:
Koci, Katherine; Feminism in a Patriarchal Society: http://uafortsmith.edu/Applause/FeminismInAPatriarchalSociety?skin=text
Pettit, Leann; A look at male gender roles in Shakespeare’s Renaissance:
http://www2.cedarcrest.edu/academic/eng/lfletcher/shrew/lpettit.htm
Elizabethan women: http://www.elizabethi.org/uk/women/
PREVIOUS -.,.- INTRODUCTION
William Golding:
– Information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Golding
– Web page: http://www.william-golding.co.uk/
Novels:
– The Lord of the Flies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_of_the_Flies
Complete work: http://www.zbths.org/165310818145034323/lib/165310818145034323/_files/LOTF.pdf
– The Inheritors: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Inheritors_%28William_Golding%29
– Pincher Martin: The Two Deaths of Christopher Martin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pincher_Martin
– Free Fall: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Fall_%28Golding%29
– The Spire: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spire
– Darkness Visible: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darkness_Visible_%28Golding%29
Historical background:
– Second World War: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II
– Democracy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy
– Fascism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism
– The Allies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allies_of_World_War_II
– The Axis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_powers
– Post-war: http://www.britannia.com/history/nar20hist5.html
– The Blitz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blitz
Concepts:
– War: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/
– Beast: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_of_the_Flies#The_Beast
– Freedom: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_freedom
References:
– Amal Gedleh, William Golding Symbolism in Lord of the flies; M.U.A. High, Scarborough, Ontario. January 2009: http://www.literature-study-online.com/essays/golding-lord-of-the-flies.html
– Frost’s Meditations: The Lord of the Flies http://www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/april2007/lord_flies.html
PREVIOUS-.,.- INTRODUCTION
After paying attention at the relationship between men and women in Shakespeare’s comedies, we can observe that what makes innovative the Shakespearean plays was the way in which he presented women. It is the female characters’ behavior the fact that forces the conflicts and the happy endings.
But, why did Shakespeare change the stereotyped image of women in his comedies? Although his works are framed by the patriarchal society ideals, the behavior of women is not the supposed one. Maybe it was a technique to catch audience’s attention and provoke laugh since, for them, the presented situations in which a woman rebels against the male authority could be considered absurd. However, Queen Elisabeth herself was a symbol for women’s freedom, and it is possible that Shakespeare wanted to show Elizabethan society that women could have a place in the social life.
As a conclusion we can say that William Golding was very concerned with the reality in which he was living. He used his novels as a mechanism to encourage people to think about what was happening in the world and why did that happen. He, clearly or not, showed his opinions and ideas and used them to recreate characters and situations that allow people to understand the world in which they were living during and after the war.
Golding is one of the several authors that through history have used their writings as hidden criticism to the politics and society. Thus, we cannot separate the fact that politics and literature are elements that grow together in both ways: as allies or as enemies. It is our work to discover where is really the truth and our responsibility to learn how to read a book not superficially but taking into account all the factors that it involves.