Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist, coined the term “Shadow” as the side of an individual’s personality that resides in the unconscious—a compilation of characteristics that society rejects and labels as monstrous, unacceptable, and anti-social (Jung 85). According to Jung, humans are rarely aware of their “Shadow” side, but when they suspect that human nature has the capability to become a raging monster, they sweep it under the rug. Jung implies that when these unconscious characteristics are rejected, the darker side of the self will grow larger and become uncontrollable, freeing the “Shadow” side to commit atrocities, ultimately annihilating the self. If we compare Jung’s definition of the “Shadow” side to Frankenstein, it is clear that the monster in Shelley’s novel symbolizes Victor’s darker side. The monster is Victor’s “Shadow” side, the externalization of his deepest, darkest instincts. Victor rejects, fears, denies, and fights his “Shadow” side instead of fully accepting it. If individuals step back and see their “Shadow” sides for what they really are—their basic humanity—then it becomes far less dark than what they believe it to be. Carl Jung once said, “everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker…it is” (Jung 30).
My pencil, marker, and paint artwork is my artistic interpretation of Victor Frankenstein and his “Shadow,” the monster. At the forefront of this piece, two figures stand face to face. On the left is the monster, with his cruel smirk, taunting the stoic Dr. Frankenstein, who stands opposite him on the right. The monster’s “yellow skin” is patchworked from multiple corpses with “lustrous black” hair, “pearly white” teeth, and “dun-white” eyes (Shelley 60). His clothes are bloody and dirty and his overall look is extremely disheveled. Victor, on the other hand, is the epitome of class—his stoic expression complements his clean, well-fitting shirt and his intelligence is highlighted by the reading glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. This dichotomy, therefore, reveals the two sides of Victor’s self: the dirty, near-disgusting side represents the “Shadow,” or the monster, while the orderly side represents the ordinary Dr. Victor Frankenstein. The monster dwells outside and is shrouded in darkness, while Victor dwells in a library surrounded by the “genius” that “regulated [his] fate”—a dichotomy that emphasizes how the original side of the self is accepted by society, but the “Shadow” is exiled and shunned (Shelly 24). The colors that surround the figures create yet another dichotomy: the light green bookcase—I chose this color because it is often associated with life—contrasts the dark blue and dark green background—I chose these muted colors to represent the monster’s association with horror and destruction. Despite the many differences in their clothing, expressions, and surroundings, the two figures share the same visage, forever intertwining their fates as they exist, and will continue to exist, as one. In the center of my artwork, there is an ornate mirror with a blackened silhouette. This silhouette shares the same hair, clothing outline, and general shape as both the monster and Victor. After the monster’s creation, Victor is forced to face his “Shadow” side. Victor’s adamant rejection of the monster, however, irrevocably fractures the self. By virtue of Victor’s lack of acceptance and nurturing of his “Shadow” side, the monster takes over in a violent rage. While Victor Frankenstein is indeed the man who stares at the silvery panes of the golden mirror, it is the monster inside of him that ultimately stares back.
Work Cited
Jung, C. G. Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Volume 7: Two Essays in Analytical Psychology. Edited by GERHARD ADLER and R. F. C. HULL, Princeton University Press, 1966.
Jung, C. G. Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Volume 11: Psychology and Religion: West and East. Princeton UP, 2014.
Shelley, Mary W., and J. P. Hunter. Frankenstein: The 1818 Text, Contexts, Nineteenth-century Responses, Modern Criticism. W. W. Norton, 1996.
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