Heroic Encounters

In last month's article I discussed the Jungian concept of the shadow, giving some of Jung's and other writers' views of its significance. Being a teacher of literature, I have often reflected upon what I see as manifestations of the shadow in our literary heritage. From the ancient Gilgamesh epic to the recent book and movie Chocolat', we can see evidence of the shadow. In this article I will mention a few of the reflections I see and will suggest what I think they may teach us.

As we discussed before, the shadow is the wild, natural, untamed part of us that lurks somewhere beneath the surface while the persona is the person we show to the world. The story of Gilgamesh gives us a good example of an encounter with and taming of both the shadow and the persona so that they can work together. Gilgamesh was the young king of Uruk in ancient Sumeria. He was strong and handsome, being of two-thirds divine origin; but having accomplished some early heroic tasks, he became a too-arrogant tyrant. The mother-goddess, responding to the prayers of the people, created his counterpart, Enkidu, as a wild man living in the fields and forests, grazing with the animals there. A hunter who saw Enkidu but was afraid to approach him reported his existence to Gilgamesh who then came up with a plan for taming the wild man.

I suggest that we look at Gilgamesh at this stage of his life as representing a persona that has become too detached from who he really is. He is living in the inflated world of his material successes and does not realize that is not all there is. He is wild and untamed in his own way. The mother goddess, the feminine, gives him another dimension in the form of Enkidu. Once the hunter has drawn Gilgamesh's attention to the existence of Enkidu, the young king does not ignore the fact but shows that he is cunning by having the hunter take a temple prostitute to the watering hole to seduce Enkidu. Like the mythological wild unicorn, Enkidu is tamed by the feminine. Then he is brought into town where he challenges Gilgamesh. As they confront each other, so well matched in strength, they wrestle fiercely. Both come away tamed and become fast friends who go on to face other tasks and challenges together in the early parts of the epic. Here persona and shadow are brought together into a relationship which transforms both.

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