Ambition vs. Conscience is a significant theme that influences the plot advancements of both William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies and William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. In the end, the ambitious nature of Macbeth and Jack win out, and this ultimately leads to their demise. In the beginning of their respective pieces, both characters are humane and conscientious people. Jack is a young British boy who is a choir leader and Macbeth is a loyal and honourable thane to the King of Scotland. But after receiving the prophecies from the witches, Macbeth realizes how badly he wants to be the King of Scotland; he does not stop at anything to achieve this dream. After Jack was humiliated after not killing the first pig, his only priority was to
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They run across a pig which gets stuck in the undergrowth, and all Jack has to do is swipe down at its neck to kill it. He hesitates and the pig untangles itself and ran away. Here, his conscience wins out because he realizes the action which he was about to perform, as the text says, “They knew very well why he hadn’t: because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh; because of the unbearable blood.” (Golding, 29). This event, would lead him on the path towards utter savagery. Later on in the novel, Jack decides to break off with the other boys because he wants to follow his own rules. He told them if they want to hunt, feast and be protected, they should go to him. Basically every single boy on the island chooses Jack’s leadership over Ralph’s, because they all had a fear of the ‘beast’ on the island. Here Jack feels extremely empowered, and it shows as Golding states, “Power lay in the brown swell of his forearms; authority sat on his shoulder and chattered in his ear like an ape.” (Golding, 165). So not only does the transfer of power to Jack further lower him into an even more savage state, but all the other boys follow suit as well. Jack’s ambition fully takes over and leads him to perform several horrific …show more content…
Lady Macbeth was an honourable wife, but you could tell that right after she received that letter from Macbeth (stating the witches’ prophecies), her first instinct was to kill Duncan, as she says to Macbeth “O, never/Shall sun that morrow see!” (I, v, 67-70). That one letter that Macbeth sent, would start their journeys onto actually performing the deed. Then, throughout the play, Lady Macbeth suffered from night terrors and committed suicide because she couldn’t bear the weight of taking so many lives. Macduff’s family consisting of an innocent child and wife, was brutally murdered by Macbeth’s will, because Macduff fled to England to join forces with Malcolm (Duncan’s son). The family of Macduff was killed, for no reason other than being related to him, and it shows how Macbeth’s inhumanity costed several people their lives. In regards to Jack, people such as Piggy and the choir in general were affected by his actions. William Golding depicted very well how Jack had a heavy influence over the boys because of his size, stature and confidence; the boys switched over to his side because of his ability to cater to their weaknesses (i.e. lack of meat and fear of the beast). His savageness turned the entire choir from good British boys, into a band of savage hunters, and him breaking Piggy’s spectacles symbolizes how he was slowly
They run across a pig which gets stuck in the undergrowth, and all Jack has to do is swipe down at its neck to kill it. He hesitates and the pig untangles itself and ran away. Here, his conscience wins out because he realizes the action which he was about to perform, as the text says, “They knew very well why he hadn’t: because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh; because of the unbearable blood.” (Golding, 29). This event, would lead him on the path towards utter savagery. Later on in the novel, Jack decides to break off with the other boys because he wants to follow his own rules. He told them if they want to hunt, feast and be protected, they should go to him. Basically every single boy on the island chooses Jack’s leadership over Ralph’s, because they all had a fear of the ‘beast’ on the island. Here Jack feels extremely empowered, and it shows as Golding states, “Power lay in the brown swell of his forearms; authority sat on his shoulder and chattered in his ear like an ape.” (Golding, 165). So not only does the transfer of power to Jack further lower him into an even more savage state, but all the other boys follow suit as well. Jack’s ambition fully takes over and leads him to perform several horrific …show more content…
Lady Macbeth was an honourable wife, but you could tell that right after she received that letter from Macbeth (stating the witches’ prophecies), her first instinct was to kill Duncan, as she says to Macbeth “O, never/Shall sun that morrow see!” (I, v, 67-70). That one letter that Macbeth sent, would start their journeys onto actually performing the deed. Then, throughout the play, Lady Macbeth suffered from night terrors and committed suicide because she couldn’t bear the weight of taking so many lives. Macduff’s family consisting of an innocent child and wife, was brutally murdered by Macbeth’s will, because Macduff fled to England to join forces with Malcolm (Duncan’s son). The family of Macduff was killed, for no reason other than being related to him, and it shows how Macbeth’s inhumanity costed several people their lives. In regards to Jack, people such as Piggy and the choir in general were affected by his actions. William Golding depicted very well how Jack had a heavy influence over the boys because of his size, stature and confidence; the boys switched over to his side because of his ability to cater to their weaknesses (i.e. lack of meat and fear of the beast). His savageness turned the entire choir from good British boys, into a band of savage hunters, and him breaking Piggy’s spectacles symbolizes how he was slowly