Abstract
The purpose of this research is to explore the relationship between the employment of archetypal characters and the themes in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. The theoretical basis of the thesis comes from Northrop Frye’s Anatomy of Criticism. Frye points out under the western religious and cultural background, archetype is myth and myth mainly refers to the biblical stories or Greek and Roman mythology and there may be some difference among the same kind of archetypes, but their core idea that satisfies human’s some basic need is the same. The author critically analyzed the application of archetypal characters (including characters’ archetypes and their symbolic meaning) and the themes of the novel, and found out that the employment of archetypal figures could highlight and strengthen the themes – regression and redemption – of the novel. The present research is significant in that it contributes to some important findings concerning the problems existing in the relationship between archetype and theme.
Key Words: Lord of the Flies, archetype, character analysis, theme, regression, redemption
Contents
Acknowledgements    I
摘要    II
Abstract    III
1  Introduction    1
2  Archetypal Analysis of the Characters    3
2.1 Northnop Frye’s Archetypal Criticism    3
2.2 Archetypal Analysis of the Characters    3
2.2.1 Archetype Analysis of Ralph and Piggy – Displacement of Pentheus    4
2.3 Archetypal Analysis of Jack and Roger    8
2.3.1 Jack – Displacement of Dionysus    8
2.3.2 Roger – Displacement of Agaue    11
2.4 Archetypal Analysis of – Displacement of Christ    11
3  Themes Highlighted in the Archetypal Characters    14
3. 1 Regression    14
3.2.Redemption    15
4  Conclusion    17
References    19