The Shadow Archetype in Greek Mythology

In Euripides, “Bacchae,” several archetypes are portrayed by the characters. Perhaps the most evident is the shadow archetype, present in Agave, Pentheus’ mother. She fits this archetype as, under the Bacchic spells of Dionysus, she loses her identity as a mother as well as her inhibitions as a woman, exemplifying the primitive brutality or dark side of nature, found in all men. Specifically, as Agave was not consciously aware of her identity, or the identity of others, coincidentally she ended up murdering her son in a chaotic rage.

By definition, or in accordance to Jung’s theory, the shadow archetype has the “potential of experiencing the unconscious side of our ]unique personalities…we project our dark side onto others and thus interpret them as ‘enemies’ or as ‘exotic’ presences that fascinate.” The image of wilderness is also a common theme within this representation. In the “Bacchae,” god Dionysus is angered when his divinity is questioned and debated, particularly by those in power and by those related to him. As the son of Semele and Zeus, Dionysus indeed was a respected god but did not receive any such respect from people like his mother’s sisters, who disbelieved that their mortal sister conceived with the mighty Sky god, and even from Hera, who out of revenge, attempted to destroy Semele’s burial-place.

To avenge these acts of disrespect, Dionysus strikes hordes of women, including his mother’s sisters, to Mount Cithaeron (wilderness) where the women reside under his enchantment, drinking wine in a Bacchaic frenzy. Agave is one of these women, who has gone mad on the mountain, orgistically and religiously drinking the vine and praising Dionysus. At one point, a herdsman talks of this barbaric disorder, explaining to Pentheus what him and his herdsman saw in attempt to retrieve Agave and return her to Pentheus. In essence, the women lashed out at this attempt, chasing the men down and attempting to kill them. The men just escaped, but their cattle were destroyed, ripped and clawed to pieces by the maenads. This is an example of the shadow behavior present in the women while they’re under Dionysus’ spell, and why men like Pentheus were threatened by this violent behavior and sought to put an end to it.

Furthermore, perhaps the main rising action of the story, Agave, still under this spell, ends up murdering her son Pentheus, as he was tricked and led into the mountains by Dionysus himself. A messenger who delivers the news to Cadmus of his grandson’s death, describes details of what he saw on the mountain that day: ” His mother (Agave,) as priestess of the ritual killing, was first to fall upon him…There was no corner of her mind not possessed by Bacchus. She was insane, oblivious to her son!…It was not her strength that did it, but the God’s power racing in her blood…” Even Agave, still unaware of what she had done, admits to the murder herself as she shows off her winning prize to the people of Thebes; her son’s head: ” With our own hands, we captured this beast of prey and ripped it from limp to limb…” In essence, Agave represents the shadow archetype because she lost her own identity, and in doing so, failed to recognize her son as the person she gave birth to. Instead, she saw him as a threatening beast that invaded on her territory and disrespected her god.

Right before he breaks the news to his daughter, Cadmus tries to explain to Agave why she will soon feel the disgrace of the crime she committed while under Dionysus’ impression: ” If you ever come out of this and know what you have done, you’ll suffer pain insufferable. And if your mind remains forever drugged against reality, your happiness, being all delusion, is but the greatest misery…when guilty people are struck mad, their madness knows no guilt.” Conclusively, after Agave realizes the terror of her heinous act, she wallows in guilt and ends up being banished from Thebes, while Cadmus is left in shame at what now lies in the future for his ruling family. At the end of the novel, the chorus quotes on the undeniable power of Dionysus, stating in essence why people portray their shadow archetype when under his illusion: ” A free an open mind is safe against the excesses lurking in the secret juices of your plants. But those who try to strangle you in the roots of their own nature, who oppress and are oppressed, through you, achieve their own destruction.”

By rejecting the values of Dionysus. Agave was struck mad into the mountains to drink, have sex, and act primitively, in high contrast with the typical behavior and expectations of women in mythological times. Unfortunately, she was also was made an example of, by killing her son in a brutal rage, therefore causing her banishment from Thebes. In representing the shadow archetype, Agave was experiencing the unconscious qualities to her personality, which were the primitive moods and temperaments that are found in the root in all nature of mankind. Even her son, Pentheus, was led to his destruction from his initial questioning of Dionysus’ values, to his curiosity of the orgiastic behavior of the women on the mountain. Therefore, men and women alike have an inner primitive nature that longs to rebel and be liberal in all aspects of life, whether that includes drinking, having sex, or simply being free from all the rules of conformed society. This “dark side,” that was shown within Agave and the other women in the story, is what the shadow archetype represents in all human beings.