“You can’t keep a good monster down!” ~ publicity for Ghost of Frankenstein

The archetype known as the Shadow represents the energy of the dark [Publications] side, the unexpressed, unrealized, or rejected aspects of something.  Often it’s the home of the suppressed monsters of our inner world. Shadows can be all the things we don’t like about ourselves, all the dark secrets we can’t admit, even to ourselves.  The qualities we have renounced and tried to root out still lurk within, operating in the Shadow world of the unconscious.  The Shadow can also shelter positive qualities that are in hiding or that we have rejected for some reason.

The negative face of the Shadow in stories is projected onto characters called villains, antagonists, or enemies. Villains and enemies are usually dedicated to the death, destruction, or defeat of the hero. Antagonists may not be quite so hostile – they may be Allies who are after the same goal but who disagree with the hero’s tactics.  Antagonists and heroes in conflict are like horses in a team pulling in different directions, while villains and heroes in conflict are like trains on a head-on collision course.

PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTION

The Shadow can represent the power of repressed feelings. Deep trauma or guilt can fester when exiled to the darkness of the unconscious, and emotions hidden or denied can turn into something monstrous that wants to destroy us.  If the Threshold Guardian represents neuroses, then the Shadow archetype stands for psychoses that not only hamper us, but threaten to destroy us.  The Shadow may simply be that shady part of ourselves that we are always wrestling with in struggles over bad habits and old fears.  This energy can be a powerful internal force with a life of its own and its own set of interests and priorities.  It can be a destructive force, especially if not acknowledged, confronted, and brought to light.

Thus in dreams, Shadows may appear as monsters, demons, devils, evil aliens, vampires, or other fearsome enemies.  Note that many Shadow figures are also shapeshifters, such as vampires and werewolves.

DRAMATIC FUNCTION

The function of the Shadow in drama is to challenge the hero and give her a worthy opponent in the struggle. Shadows create conflict and bring out the best in a hero by putting her in a life-threatening situation. It’s often been said that a story is only as good as its villain, because a strong enemy forces a hero to rise to the challenge.

The challenging energy of the Shadow archetype can be expressed in a single character, but it may also be a mask worn at different times by any of the characters. Heroes themselves can manifest a Shadow side. When the protagonist is crippled by doubts or guilt, acts in self-destructive ways, expresses a death wish, gets carried away with his success, abuses his power, or becomes selfish rather than self-sacrificing, the Shadow has overtaken him.

MASK OF THE SHADOW

The Shadow can combine in powerful ways with other archetypes. Like the other archetypes, the Shadow is a function or mask which can be worn by any character.  The primary Mentor of a story may wear the Shadow mask at times.  In An Officer and a Gentleman the drill sergeant played by Louis Gossett, Jr. Wears the masks of both Mentor and Shadow.  He is Richard Gere’s Mentor and second father, guiding him through the rigorous Navy training.  Btu in terms of the life-and-death heart of the story, Gossett is also a Shadow who is trying to destroy Gere by driving him out of the program.  He tests the young man to the limit to find out if he has what it takes, and almost kills him in the process of bringing out the best in him.

Another strong combination of archetypes is found in the fatal Shapeshifter figures discussed earlier. In some stories, the person who starts out as the hero’s love interest shifts shape so far that she becomes the Shadow, bent on the hero’s destruction.  Femmes fatales are often “shady ladies”.  This might represent a struggle between a person’s male and female sides, or obsession with the opposite sex turned into a psychotic state of mind.  Orson Welles created a classic story on this theme in The Lady from Shanghai, in which Rita Hayworth dazzles Welles’ character, shifts shape, and tries to destroy him.

A Shadow may also wear the mask of other archetypes. Anthony Hopkins’ “Hannibal the Cannibal” character from The Silence of the Lambs is primarily a Shadow, a projection of the dark side of human nature, but he also functions as a helpful Mentor to Jodie Foster’s FBI agent, providing her with information that helps her catch another insane killer.

Shadows may become seductive Shapeshifters to lure the hero into danger. They may function as Tricksters or Heralds, and may even manifest heroic qualities.  Villains who fight bravely for their cause or experience a change of heart may even be redeemed and become heroes themselves, like the Beast in Beauty and the Beast.

HUMANIZING THE SHADOW

Shadows need not be totally evil or wicked. In fact, it’s better if they are humanized by a touch of goodness, or by some admirable quality.  The Disney animated cartoons are memorable for their villains, such as Captain Hook in Peter Pan, the demon in Fantasia, the beautiful but wicked queen from Snow White, the glamorous fairy Maleficent in The Sleeping Beauty, and Cruelle D’Eville in One Hundred and One Dalmatians.  They are even more deliciously sinister because of their dashing, powerful, beautiful, or elegant qualities.

Shadows can also be humanized by making them vulnerable. The novelist Graham Greene masterfully makes his villains real, frail people.  He often has the hero on the verge of killing a villain, only to discover the poor fellow has a head cold or is reading a letter from his little daughter.  Suddenly the villain is not just a fly to be swatted but a real human being with weaknesses and emotions.  Killing such a figure becomes a true moral choice rather than a thoughtless reflex.

It’s important to remember in designing stories that most Shadow figures do not think of themselves as villains or enemies. From his point of view, a villain is the hero of his own myth, and the audience’s hero is his villain.  A dangerous type of villain is “the right man”, the person so convinced his cause is just that he will stop at nothing to achieve it.  Beware the man who believes the end justifies the means.  Hitler’s sincere belief that he was right, even heroic, allowed him to order the most villainous atrocities to achieve his aims.

A Shadow may be a character or force external to the hero, or it may be a deeply repressed part of the hero. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde vividly depicts the power of the dark side in a good man’s personality.

External Shadows must be vanquished or destroyed by the hero. Shadows of the internal kind may be disempowered like vampires, simply by bringing them out of the Shadows and into the light of consciousness.  Some Shadows may even be redeemed and turned into positive forces.  One of the most impressive Shadow figures in movie history, Darth Vader of the Star Wars series, is revealed in Return of the Jedi to be the hero’s father.  All his wickedness is finally forgiven, making him a benign, ghostly figure, watching over his son.  The Terminator also grows from being a killing machine bent on destroying the heroes in The Terminator to being a protective Mentor to the heroes in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Like the other archetypes, Shadows can express positive as well as negative aspects. The Shadow in a person’s psyche may be anything that has been suppressed, neglected, or forgotten.  The Shadow shelters the healthy, natural feelings we believe we’re not supposed to show.  But healthy anger or grief, if suppressed in the territory of the Shadow, can turn to harmful energy that strikes out and undermines us in unexpected ways.  The Shadow may also be unexplored potential, such as affection, creativity, or psychic ability, that goes unexpressed. “The roads not taken”, the possibilities of life that we eliminate by making choices at various stages, may collect in the Shadow, biding their time until brought into the light of consciousness.

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The psychological concept of the Shadow archetype is a useful metaphor for understanding villains and antagonists in our stories, as well as for grasping the unexpressed, ignored, or deeply hidden aspects of our heroes.