Similarities Between Romeo And Juliet And Lord Of The Flies

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The play ‘Romeo and Juliet’, written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1594 and 1596, and the novel ‘Lord of the Flies’, written by William Golding in the 1950s, are both based upon tragic conflict between two sides. Romeo and Juliet shows the family feud between the Capulates and the Montagues and the couples heartbreaking love tail ending in their deaths and Golding’s classic tale of school boys on an island too ends in tragedy and shows the boys blood lust and division upon the island. On the surface, it seems the two are not similar but on a deeper level, their conflict is parallel in many ways. Both authors examine the nature of conflict through methods like pathetic fallacy and the type of conflict through their characters. The…show more content…
Golding has chosen to use only boys as it is them we often associate as being drawn into the violence and having an aggressive nature. We naturally associate men and boys as testosterone creatures, using chants such as ‘kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!’ to urge them on, where as women are nurturing, loving and rational. This seems that it is the gender that affects the conflict and as traditions followed then, it was the men that ran society and made the decisions for women. Romeo and Juliet also takes place in a masculine world in which notions of honour, pride and status are all major to everyone and these factors can escalate to violence. The violence in the play’s social environment is a dramatic tool that Shakespeare creates to make the lover’s romance seem even more precious, valuable and fragile: their relationship is scene by society as an insignificant feeling of love in a significant world of hate. The fights between Mecutio and Tybalt and then Romeo and Tybalt are surreal. Passion outweighs reason at every point and Shakespeare wants to highlight the young love in this masculine society as well as show it is the men that cause conflict and a world of hate. Therefore, the audience feels a bond for the characters- especially Romeo and Juliet due to pity and admiration, and Piggy, Simon and Ralph as they are the targets of this boisterous, savage
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