This essay is a character study of Ralph, who is one of the main characters in William Golding's 'Lord of the Flies'. I have chosen to analyse Ralph's character, as it is the character with which I feel that I can relate most closely. Ralph is probably the novel's main character. This essay will include my identification of the major aspects of Ralph's character and how he symbolises different themes, which are portrayed in the novel. I will cover in this what Ralph contributes to the plot of the novel, a description of Ralph's appearance, his dreams, his attitude to being stranded on the island, how he relates to the other boys and how he organises the boys into becoming a self-dependent society.

Ralph's character plays a major part in the plot of 'Lord of the Flies'. Ralph is the first character we meet in the novel and at first he seems to be very relaxed about the situation of being in unknown territory. The plot begins opens when Ralph and another boy, Piggy, discover each other and eventually decide through Piggy's constant persistence to blow through a conch shell to see if there are any other people around. It turns out that there are many

and become his rival. Ralph has tried to establish a democracy, where everyone has the right to vote, but he is beaten by Jack who operates a dictatorship and gives no one else the opportunity to make decisions. However, sometimes the strongest person is not the best choice. Authors often show how humans select this stronger person, in order to give an understanding of the different powers that some people can posses over others. In William Golding's novel, Lord of the Flies Ralph though not the stronger person, demonstrates a better understanding of people which gives Ralph better leadership qualities than Jack, although he is ultimately not succesful.

"There was a stillness about Ralph as he sat that marked him out: there was his size, and attractive appearance; and most obscurely, yet most powerful, there was the conch." (p. 24)

Suspicion arises that there may be a beast on the island and Jack the main choir boy, who is Ralph's chief rival for leadership, forms a tribe and begins to encourage the other boys to ignore Ralph's rule. Gradually many of the boys turn into savages and treat the island like their own playpen, with an incremental build up of evil in their behaviour. Another major character, Simon, is a deeply good individual, who performs many acts of thoughtfulness and kindness. Simon sees visions but is very frail. Simon becomes the first victim of what the boys of as the beast, 'the Lord of the Flies' or 'Beelzebub', when he goes to his sanctuary and finds there a pig's head on a stick, with which he starts to have an imaginary conversation. When he tries to tell the boys the truth about there situation and that the beast is in all of them, he is beaten to death by the other boys. Ralph tries to face up honestly to what has happened and admits that Simon's death is murder, while Piggy argu!

other boys stranded on the island and they begin to form a small community, which is controlled by Ralph who becomes the leader. Throughout the novel Ralph tries to keep the boys in order and to preserve a civilised society by showing constant faith that if they work together they will be rescued. He does this by encouraging them to keep a fire burning, which represents that

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Approximate Word count = 1482
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)