The Biblical Allusions in William Golding's The Spire

• Main Authors: Chang Tzu-hui, 張慈蕙
• Other Authors: Liao Pen-shui
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2008
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/gjs4w7

碩士 === 國立高雄師範大學 === 英語學系 === 97 === Abstract For ages, the Bible has had a great influence on the Western world in many aspects, especially in literature. Without the Bible, the Western literature would pale into insignificance. The Bible stories as well as the Biblical allusions not only enrich the content but also heighten the value of the Western literature. William Golding, a Nobel laureate, seems to specialize in portraying the good and evil of the human nature in his novels through the Biblical allusions. His fifth novel, The Spire, is a book with a lot of Biblical allusions. The Spire begins with Dean Jocelin’s ambition to set up the highest spire on earth, but ends up with the falling of the spire together with the death of Jocelin. In the course of the construction of the spire, Jocelin’s excessive pride, his forbidden sexual desire for Goody Pangall, and even his shaking religious belief for God are uncovered one by one. Jocelin intends to build a tower which will reach the heaven, but, ironically, he builds a Tower of Babel, a tower full of confusion and chaos, also a tower nourished with the human blood and flesh. History repeated that it is of no use to fight against God; Jocelin’s folly not merely sacrifices other innocent people dear to him but also directs him to the road of destruction. Therefore, this thesis attempts to examine the Biblical allusions in William Golding’s The Spire. This thesis is composed of five chapters. Chapter One briefly surveys the religious background of William Golding and the Biblical thinking that inspires him to write The Spire. Chapter Two chiefly underlines Dean Jocelin’s pride and lechery (two of the “Seven Deadly Sins”) through his merciless sacrificing the happiness of the two couples (The Masons and The Pangalls). Chapter Three aims to present Dean Jocelin’s ridiculous act by connecting two Biblical stories of the Abraham-Isaac story and The Tower of Babel with Jocelin’s spire. Chapter Four explores two sub-themes of The Garden of Eden: The Fall and the Apple Tree, which echo all the tragedies the characters in The Spire have encountered as a result of their fallenness and desire. Chapter Five concludes Golding’s The Spire with the influence of the Bible, and highlights that rich Biblical allusions make The Spire become a significant novel worth repeated reading.