In one of my other English classes we've been reading about Carl Jung. He has thought on the subject of heroes very deeply and has written many articles about it. Jung argues that every human being has a 'shadow.' This shadow is a part of the person, a dangerous piece. It is the creativity and spontinaity, but it is also prideful and powerful. Jung discusses how each person runs the risk of being 'eaten' or destroyed by their shadow if the shadow is completely ignored.
There is a balance in all things. Reason and intuition, good and bad, light and dark. The problem is in finding equilibrium. Reading Richard III, this play deals with issues of morality and ethics. So too does every story or play that deals with life.
What does this shadow mean? Are there some wrong things that aren't really evil? Lines so often times seem blurred and unclear. Right is always right. But the question is posed: what of it? They killed the dragon, they saved the fair maiden, they defeated the army, they overcame their fears . . . But, as Hamlet states at the graveyard, in the end all men die. Once they are gone and buried they are all equal, good or bad, rich or poor - the worms certainly don't discriminate (sorry that's gross.)
I suppose its in the times of our trials and struggles that we truly learn who we are. Hamlet found he didn't know who he was, he was scared of himself. Richard is ambition and jealousy, willing to stoop to anything and everything to become king. Lear can't live with what he's done to his daughter and goes crazy. Macbeth looses all sight of who he is and becomes his shadow.
What should we learn from all of this? Probably to be prepared before we're faced with problems and struggles.
As Shakespeare penned in The Tragedy of Richard III:
"When clouds appear, wise men put on their cloaks;
When great leaves fall, the winter is at hand;
When the sun sets, who doth not look for night?
Untimely storms make men expect a dearth." - Third Citizen
