Shadow Hero?

In psychology, we discussed the different archetypes that Carl Jung created. While I was reading the different passages I noticed some key points that really helped put Grendel into perspective, and put it in a way that seemed to capture Grendel specifically.

The first aspect that stood out was “the shadow” character that Jung argued is found in every single work. The Shadow can also be called a villain. What stood out the most though was that, the shadow is neither good nor bad, but is similar to an animal. It stated that an animal is capable of tender care for its young and vicious killing for food, but it doesn’t choose, it does what it has to do. But in the perspective of a human, the animal looks harsh and inhuman, so we as human beings push it aside. This brings back the question of whether Grendel is good or bad. Although in Beowulf, it characterizes him as a ruthless killer for just sport; his personal narrative shows his true proposes. It is hard to characterize whether Grendel is good or bad, and it is difficult to determine if what he is doing is moral or not. He needs to attack to eat, but he also doesn’t need to attack the specific people of Herot (Hart). Grendel was born into the monster that he is, and although he tried desperately in the beginning to gain the trust and love of the humans, they saw him as a threat and treated him as such. This makes the humans look like the monsters. It makes me wonder who is right and who is shaping our ideas to make their own ideas sound better.

The other character that Jung created was called “The Persona”. This character represents the public image of a character and it also comes from the Latin for mask. It can be a good impression or a false one, depending on the individual. Both of these sides show Grendel. He wants to be accepted by the people, but he knows the consequences that will follow. The mask that he puts on could be his “monstrous face” or his gentle side. Both have been seen. Sometimes Grendel kills ruthlessly without a care. Other times he gently treats people; him lifting Unferth up and carrying him home. The characters in the mead hall only see his public face, which shows that he is violent and filled with rage, while he stomps around the castle killing people. The private side shows that he is still scared of weapons, even though he knows they cannot harm him. The different masks that Grendel puts on, helps increase the complexity that arises in determining whether he is good or bad.

We read this passage today in psychology class, and it just jumped out at me how similar it was to Grendel, and how it shows that this difficulty in determining whether the “villain” is good or bad is found in all different kinds of works. It also helped to word the mixed feelings that I was trying to express about Grendel.