Antagonist

Character Role Analysis

Zeus

It's a big tip-off that Zeus spends much of The Flies arguing with our protagonist. Because the interactions between these two are verbal and not physical, you can think of Zeus as an ideological antagonist. Orestes embraces freedom; Zeus tries to take it from him. Orestes promotes awareness and consciousness; Zeus condones bad faith. The territorial war they wage over Electra also pits these two opposite each other on the mental battlefield.