Essay: William Shakespeare’s Macbeth and William Golding’s Jack

January 30th, 1933, Adolf Hitler is appointed chancellor of Germany. He would eventually pave the way for himself to become a dictator and his rule would disturb the peace in society and cause the death of millions through genocide and war. Order in society is what allows stability and prosperity. However, when people like Hitler destroy this order, they cause chaos and people get hurt in the process. While relevant in history, people who destroy order are also seen in literature. In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the character Macbeth assassinated the King of Scotland and took his position as King. His usurpation causes others to resist. In William Golding’s Lord of The Flies, a group full of young boys are stuck on a remote island and need to survive. Two of them, Ralph and Jack try to establish authority over the group and conflict with each other . William Shakespeare’s Macbeth and William Golding’s Jack are both characters who destroy the contemporary order and fail because of their characteristics such as being innately evil, which causes them to be resisted by others. But both characters had multiple insights to their defeat, with one being oblivious and another more knowledgeable, as well contrasting attitudes shortly before their downfall, with one character being honorable and the other losing their rationale.
The lust for power caused Jack to want the role of chief over Ralph and also caused Macbeth to desire the title of King. Whilst Macbeth is by himself, contemplating his decision to kill Duncan, he states, “I have no spur/To prick the sides of my intent, but only/Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself/And falls on th’ other”(1.7.25-28) Macbeth’s reasoning for his desire in becoming king is simply his ambition. He doesn’t believe he would help Scotland more than the former king Duncan. He even states that King Duncan is a very honest and well loved leader, free from corruption. So his reasoning is purely selfish desire for power. After Ralph gathers everyone with the conch and the boys decided that there needed to be a chief to make decisions, Jack arrogantly states, “I ought to be chief, because I’m chapter chorister and head boy.” No one else spoke up and stated that they should be chief. However, Jack saw power for the taking and decided to seize any opportunity that would result in him being in control. His reasoning was that his position as a leader in a different context justifies his leadership now. Being head boy in the choir means Jack is a good singer, not a good survivalist. Jack doesn’t think his leadership will benefit the group, his disturbance of order is merely the effect of his ambitious desire for power. This is similar to Macbeth stating that his only motivation for killing Duncan and becoming king is a strong ambition. Proving that both Macbeth and Jack have blind ambition as their motivation for disturbing order in society.
Similarities between the reasons that caused two character’s failures are their innately evil and that they were both faced with the resistance of exterior forces as a result of their evilness. Macbeth innate evilness was shown after Ross and Angus inform him of his promotion to Thane of Cawdor and he says to himself, “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,/Shakes so my single state of man/That function is/smother’d in surmise,/and nothing is but what is not.”(1.3.152-155) Macbeth, after realizing that one of the witches prophecies came true, starts to fantasize about becoming king. Instead of coming up with other ways to become king, he immediately resorts to murdering Duncan. Reflecting that deep down, Macbeth has an evil nature. This is similar to Jack’s innate evil shown in his love for hunting. He uses the excuse that the boys need food but in reality, he enjoys the savagery involved. During one of the hunts, he toys around with the pig and instead of humanely ending its life quickly, prolonged its death to enjoy the power he has over the helpless pig. These cause both of them to fail because their evil nature eventually leads them to commit far more extreme actions. With the blind faith in the witches prophecies Macbeth thinks he can do whatever he wants and no one can stop him. Being away from society, Jack doesn’t have to worry about the rules and is free to be as evil as he wants. A repercussion of that is the resistance from their contemporaries. Macduff, having realized Macbeth killed Duncan and was an evil tyrant who people were afraid to stand up to him. This results in him to rally forces and invade Macbeth’s castle at Dunsinane Hill, kill him, and restore the throne to Duncan’s son Malcolm.This is similar to Ralph trying to take the power of chief away from Jack as he believes Jack is causing disorder. Whilst conversing with, Ralph questions,  “What makes things break up like they do?” (Golding). They both come to the conclusion that Jack is the main factor and that he is the reason for all the disorder on the island, such as the death of Simon. This causes Ralph to confront Jack at Castle Rock which results in Jack’s downfall after he attracted a Naval ship by burning down the forest to chase Ralph. The Naval officers eventually rescue the boys thus causing Jack’s destruction of order to be reverted.
Differences for the reasons Macbeth and Jack fail to destroy order are how their opponents were able to stop them and their attitudes that led to them being defeated. The reason the Naval officer showed up when he did was due to pure luck. As Jack and the other boys corner Ralph on a beach, the Naval officer confusingly states, “We saw your smoke. What have you been doing? Having a war or something?” (Golding) Luck played a major factor in allowing the Naval officer to be there at that exact time to rescue the boys and stop Jack’s rule. Had Jack burned down the forest an hour later, the ship may have passed by and Ralph would be dead. Leaving Jack to be the unchallenged ruler of the island with little chance of rescue. This is different in Macbeth’s case. His opponent, Macduff, didn’t appear at the end by luck. Shortly after Macbeth took power, Macduff allied himself with Malcolm and helped him rally rebellious forces at England. Macduff devised a plan to overthrow Macbeth and carried out that plan which allowed him to slay Macbeth at Dunsinane Castle after they invaded it. Macduff wanted to be at Macbeth’s castle but the Naval ship just happened to be nearby when the forest was burning down. There is also a stark difference between Macbeth and Jack’s attitudes that caused their downfall. Macbeth, when face to face with his opponent Macduff, realized that his chances of defeating him would be low. However, he boldly states, “I will not yield/To kiss the ground before young Malcolm’s feet/And to be baited with the rabble’s curse/Though Birnam Wood be come to Dunsinane/And thou opposed, being of no woman born/Yet I will try the last” (5.8.32-37). Macbeth, when faced with defeat, regained his honor and decided to go down fighting. Even though the prophecies the witches told him had come true, and he faced the man destined to kill him, Macbeth didn’t want to surrender his royal status and be disrespected by the common people. He fought to his death instead of being a coward and surrendering which may have allowed him to survive. Jack, on the other hand, failed because of his loss of rationale. When hunting down Ralph, he decides to burn down the entire forest to flush him out. That was a rash and stupid choice on Jack’s part and besides flushing Ralph out of hiding, would have no other benefit to him. The island was the domain in which he ruled and the forest provides the boys with food, wood to build shelter, and kindling for a fire. Burning down the forest quickly led to his downfall when it attracted a Naval ship which ultimately rescued the boys. But it would’ve resulted in his failure anyways as he destroyed the resources he needed to survive.
Macbeth and Jack disturb order in their societies and fail due to being evil and reflecting that towards others, causing resistance, and because of their specific attitudes shortly before their downfall. The similarities between the factors that caused Jack and Macbeth to fail are their innate evilness which in effect led to other character’s resistance. Macduff and Ralph both were intolerant of Macbeth and Jack because of how their evilness was hurting society. However, Macbeth and Jack differ because the final factor that contributed to Macbeth’s defeat was pre-planned whilst for Jack, it was all luck. Both character’s contrasting attitudes also led to their demise. Jack lost his rationale and Macbeth lost his cowardice. While Jack and Macbeth only represent characters from literature, their situation applies to the real world as well. People who try to disturb the order in society usually end up in similar situations to Jack and Macbeth. Those people are usually evil and are faced with the resistance from those who wish to return society to a peaceful state.