The Nature of Evil in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies and Manik Bandapaddhaya’s Padma Nadir Majhi: An Analysis

Abstract

This paper explores the nature of evil discussed in Lord of the Flies by William Golding and Padma Nadir Majhi by Manik Bandapaddhaya. In both of the novels, evil is a common phenomenon though the presentations may be different in some cases. In Lord of the Flies, the evil, solely innate in nature, is presented through the children who have turned into savages with the progress of the story. On the island, they do unlawful activities and behave in a way as if they were part of an uncivilized society. On the other hand, in Padma Nadir Majhi evil is presented in the forms of carnal desire and societal exploitation. Many of the characters of the novel are involved in extramarital affairs to fulfill their carnal desire and in this way, they commit evil deeds. Another form of evil depicted in Padma Nadir Majhi is the evil created by the socio-economic system in society. It is important to note that no matter what a person’s age, status, culture, or gender is, he/she possesses evil in his/her character–evil exists everywhere in multidimensional forms and natures. This paper will problematize this issue.