Carl Jung’s Shadow Work: a summary of Goethe’s Faust and lessons from the black dog symbol
Summary of Goethe’s Faust (a key text for Shadow Work and Jungian Analysis)
Hi, I am Harry Venice, an Attachment, Trauma, and Jungian Therapist who is also certified to score the Adult Attachment Interview for Reflective Function.
If you want to explore individuation, Jungian Analysis, Shadow Work, trauma healing or to repair insecure attachment, book a Free 1:1 Discovery Call with me today: https://calendly.com/harryvenicepsychology/30min
Photo: A representation of the Black Dog symbol in Goethe’s Faust
Summary of Goethe’s Faust (a key text for Shadow Work and Jungian Analysis)
In the Harry Venice Psychology podcast episode 14, I provided a summary of "Faust" and explains the roots of the shadow work concept. You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/paKNAknwFIw
For an introduction to Goethe’s Faust, read my Part One blog post which is an introduction to the story of Faust and its relevance to shadow. It will give you a better understanding of the story before reading this new post.
In this blog, I provide a summary of the story of Faust and explain the importance of the black dog as a symbol for shadow work and dream interpretation.
Why Faust matters for shadow work?
Shadow work has its roots in the story of "Faust" by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Carl Jung often wrote about the book of Faust and the Black Dog which appears in that story. The dog represents the shadow. This is the Jungian Psychology concept of the shadow, commonly known now as shadow work.
Photo: a depiction of Mephostopheles, the shadow figure.
How does the shadow figure, Mephostopheles influence Faust psychologically
After Mephosotpheles first appears in disguise as a black dog, he ‘helps’ Faust pursue this goal of having a pleasurable transcendent experience to make him want to continue living.
This begins with Faust winning over the love of a lady named Margaret. Faust uses the tricks of Mephostopheles to win over this innocent lady who has had a difficult life with many struggles. After doing so, Faust’s conscious kicks in and he decides to run away from Mephostopheles (who represents the dark side of the shadow). However, Mephostopheles finds him and wins him over.
Firstly, Following this, a number of related tragedies ensue:
Firstly, Faust ends up poisoning Margaret’s mother. He used a sleeping potion to put the mother to sleep so that he could sleep with Margaret but the mother does not wake up from the potion and dies.
This leads to a duel with Margaret’s brother who was angry that Margaret also was pregnant out of wedlock. Faust kills Margaret’s brother in this duel and flees Margaret and the city to avoid punishment.
Faust later re-appears but he finds that Margaret is about to be executed for having killed her baby. Her mind state in doing this was related to Faust abandoning her. Mephostopheles hid this fact from Faust which gave him another moment of insight into the shadow and a chance to reflect.
Another opportunity for Faust to confront and integrate his shadow
It is at this point of shadow work introspection that Faust sees his shadow and the damage he has done to Margaret. He met Margaret as this innocent lady but now, after Faust’s influence, she is in a bad state. He realises that his selfish, trickster actions have caused this damage to her life and psyche. He vows to save her with the help of Mephostopheles. The problem here is that Faust still uses the dark side of the shadow to try ‘save’ Margaret. He can’t see the shadow for what it is. He doesn’t need to use ‘the black dog’, the darkness, deceit, and trickery to save Margaret. But at this stage of the story, Faust does not understand this. He doesn’t have the insight; the shadow work integration has not occurred.
However, Margaret now sees ‘the shadow’ and sees through the bullshit and tricks of Mephostopheles. She refuses his help. Instead of joining Margaret in the light and expanding his consciousness, Faust remains with Mephostopheles. He remains unconscious of the ‘Black Dog’ symbol, the archetype which has “possessed” him.
Margaret, by not being “possessed” by the unconscious contents of her psyche and by not being so unconscious of the shadow, is redeemed. An image appears which says that she will be saved and welcomed in Heaven because she sought help from the light, from God, and not from the darker nether realms of the shadow. It is at this point that Act 1 of Faust ends and the second Act begins.
Photo: the Shadow as described in Shadow Work and Jungian Analysis.
Act 2 of Faust: possession by the Shadow and material pursuits
Faust, guided by Mephostopheles, gains power and becomes a ruler of many people. He becomes driven by material and concrete worldly gains.
Act 2 of Faust: integration of the Shadow
However, things change on Faust’s last day on Earth. Faust has a beautiful vision and sees the comfortable life he has created for the people he ruled. This is the moment that he finally feels the “euphoria”, the pleasure, and the transcendent moment he was searching for when he first met ‘The Black Dog’. It wasn’t a personal, individualistic, material pleasure that gave him happiness and this transcendent experience. It wasn’t the gold, respect or social prestige he amassed over the years. Instead, it was a collective experience where he focused on others, beyond the personal. Finally, he was not focused on selfish, materialistic or self-serving endeavours.
The Black dog or ‘the devil’ comes to collect on his bet
Although Faust has this moment of purity and clarity, the devil wants to collect on his bet. He wants Faust’s immortal soul to serve him in hell. However, angels intervene much like they did with Margaret. This is because Faust focused on helping others and learned right from wrong. Interestingly, he needed his shadow, the Black Dog to be able to do this. So the angels said that he only lost half the bet and should not be banished to hell.
Ultimately he was able to meet up in heaven with his lover Margaret.
Photo: Carl Jung the founder of Jungian Analysis and the original Jungian Analyst
Jungian Psychology lessons: why Carl Jung associated Faust with Shadow work
The story of Goethe’s Faust brings up the following themes which are relevant for a Jungian Analyst and Jungian Analysis:
The collective versus the personal: when Faust focused beyond himself he was able to see the shadow and integrate (e.g. he was able to focus on the collective, something greater than himself). However, when he focused just on the individual psyche and personal consciousness, he could not see his shadow and was unhappy despite all his concrete material wealth. This ties in with the fact that individuation requires the collective: both the collective in the sense of people and society and also the collective unconscious.
Archetypal versus personal consciousness: the shadow is symbolised by ‘the black dog’. Faust needed to engage the archetypal symbol of the black dog to access his shadow.
Individuation is not a self-serving process, it is collective: when Faust focused on the good of others, something greater than himself he individuated. Individuation is not an isolating and self-serving process. It requires us to have a meaning and purpose beyond the individual psyche.
Material (the concrete) versus the spirit: concretising, focusing on material matters, identifying with personas and “psychic personalities” (See Collected Work 13 for example) at the cost of the soul has a devastating effect on the psyche and soul. We must unite the opposites. Not concrete the material or spiritual realm.
Broader themes include: shadow work process, love, selfishness, narcissism, ego, persona identification, and circular and circumambulatory process of individuation.
If you want to explore individuation, Jungian Analysis, Shadow Work, trauma healing or to repair insecure attachment, book a Free 1:1 Discovery Call with me today: https://calendly.com/harryvenicepsychology/30min
Always Believe. Stay Brave. Never Give Up.
Harry Venice
Attachment, Trauma, and Jungian Therapist
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