One-Sidedness and the Inferior Function in Coriolanus and Timon of Athens

Abstract

For both Jung and Shakespeare, one-sidedness is the fundamental tragic trait. Jung proposed that as an individual develops, they inevitably associate their identity with certain modes of perception and interaction, and that this leads to psychological polarization. The preferred function takes on a dominant role as ontological filter of the individual’s worldview, while the disregarded function remains unhewn and volcanic, left largely outside of conscious control. Jung insists that one-sidedness, the over-development of one side of the personality at the expense of the opposite “inferior” function, is a dangerous weakness. Likewise, Bradley (1905, p. 21) observes that in almost all of Shakespeare’s tragic protagonists, “we observe a marked one-sidedness, … a fatal tendency to identify the whole being with one interest, object, passion, or habit of mind.” This article will outline the clear parallel between the structure of Shakespearean tragedy and the psyche as Jung understood it. It will do so through the juxtaposition of Coriolanus and Timon of Athens, in which the same functions are attributed opposite value. The contrast of these two plays seen through the lens of Jung’s Psychological Types will help us to understand the perils presented by one-sidedness and the under-theorized inferior function, and will flesh out the concepts of Introverted Thinking and Extraverted Feeling via amplification.