Avenger (Avenging Angel, Savior, Messiah)

This archetype and its related manifestations respond to a need to balance the scales of justice, sometimes by employing
aggressive techniques. Attorneys who work for the impoverished or disadvantaged, or who volunteer part of their time for pr
bono work are modern avengers. Bringing war criminals to trial or legally pursuing corporations that harm society are examples
of the Avenger on a global scale, fueled by a sense of righteousness in behalf of society. One can also be motivated to avenge an
injustice against oneself or one's family. The Avenging Angel is an expression of this archetype of mythic proportions that
& suggests that one is on a mission from God, as in the case of Joan of Arc.

On the global level, the shadow manifests as avenging perceived immoral behavior by resorting to violence, from acts of
ecoterroism to bombing abortion clinics. The "rightness" of one's cause can never justify harming innocent third parties. (Gandhi
countered the shadow of social vengeance by emphasizing passive resistance to illegitimate authority.) In evaluating your
connection to this archetype, review your life for experiences in which your primary motivation was to defend or represent a
cause in behalf of others. One instance is not enough. You need to relate to this archetype as a primary force through which many
of the choices and actions of your life are directed. A burning desire to get even can be so forceful that you organize a lifetime
around meeting that end.

Films: Ingrid Bergman in The Visit; Jane Fonda in Cat Ballou; John Wayne in The Searchers; Julia Roberts in Erin Brokovich; Jane
Fonda, Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin in Nine to Five; Vincent Price in Theatre of Blood (shadow--an actor who kills his critics); Al Pacino
in The Godfather (shadow); Robert de Niro or Robert Mitchum in Cape Fear (shadow).

Television: The Avengers.

Drama: The Oresteia by Aeschylus; Hamlet and Macbeth by Shakespeare.

Fiction: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper S. Lee.

Religion/Myth: The Furies or Erinyes (avenging spirits of Roman and Greek myth, respectively); Bastet (Egyptian cat-headed
goddess who is the instrument of Ra's vengeance); Durga (vengeful warrior goddess of the Hindu pantheon); Kali (Hindu mother
goddess and symbol of destruction who annihilates ignorance and maint