The Humans: Ralph vs. Jack
From the very beginning of the novel there is a clear and distinct contrast between Ralph and Jack. If we were to read the novel in “the light of the Apollonian-Dionysian dichotomy” while comparing that dichotomy to the play that Golding intensely studied, Bacchae, two different opposing sides can be made (Dick 3).
“Lord of the Flies introduces a structural principle that has become Golding's hallmark--a polarity expressed in terms of a moral tension: the rational (fire-watchers) pitted against the irrational (hunters)” (Dick 2).
“Lord of the Flies introduces a structural principle that has become Golding's hallmark--a polarity expressed in terms of a moral tension: the rational (fire-watchers) pitted against the irrational (hunters)” (Dick 2).
Pentheus (Apollonian)
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Dionysian
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By using these parallels between his novel and Bacchae, Golding is able to intertwine multiple perspectives of two different opposing archetypes to both further increase his novel’s literary merit and make his ideals of the darkness within man available on both a very basic, or very complex level of interpretation.