The Beast is a person, specifically a man. He has a personality, i.e. he has no use for women, but the spirit of antichrist is indeed a spirit which has been here since the birth of the Church, the Bride of Christ, and it has grown even more intense. The Bible speaks of them separately, but the Beast is indeed one man, the Satanic counterfeit of God the Son, as the False Prophet is the Satanic counterfeit of God the Holy Spirit.