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A shoulder angel is a plot device used for dramatic and/or humorous effect in fiction, mainly in animation and comic books/strips. The angel represents conscience and is often accompanied by a shoulder devil representing temptation. They are a useful convention for depicting the inner conflict of a character.
The shoulder angel often uses the iconography of a traditional angel, with wings, a robe, a halo, and sometimes a harp. The shoulder devil likewise usually looks like a traditional devil with reddish skin, horns, barbed tail, a trident, and in some cases, cloven hooves. Often, both resemble their host, though sometimes they will resemble other characters in the story who are responsible or mischievous. In Western culture the idea develops the Christian concept of a personal guardian angel, who was sometimes considered to be matched by a personal devil who countered the angel's efforts, especially in popular medieval dramas like the 15th century The Castle of Perseverance . In both this and Christopher Marlowe's play The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus , of about 1592, the "Good Angel" and "Bad Angel" offer competing advice (Act 2, scene 1, etc.) to the hero.
The non-canonical early Christian book The Shepherd of Hermas , of around A.D. 140–150, [1] has a reference to the idea of two angels: "There are two angels with a man—one of righteousness, and the other of iniquity". [2] These angels in turn descend into a person's heart, and attempt to guide a person's emotions. Hermas is told to understand both angels, but to only trust the Angel of Righteousness. The concept is similar to ideas of personal tutelary spirits that are very common in many ancient and traditional cultures.
In some Christian folklore, each person has a dedicated guardian angel whose task is to follow the person and try to prevent them from coming to harm, both physical and moral. At the same time each person is assailed by devils, not usually considered as single and dedicated to a single person in the same way as the guardian angel, who try to tempt the person into sin. Both angels and devils are often regarded as having the ability to access the person's thoughts, and introduce ideas.
In the ancient midrash, Genesis Rabbah, the concept appears in connection with the trick used by Jacob in order to steal the first-born blessing from his brother Esau: "When [Isaac] told Jacob, "Come closer that I may feel you, my son" (Genesis 27:21), Jacob urinated onto his calves, and his heart became as soft as wax, and God assigned to him two angels, one on his right and one on his left, in order to hold him up by his elbows." Genesis Rabbah 65:19. [3] [4]
There is a similar Islamic belief of Kiraman Katibin, two recording angels residing on either shoulder of humans which record their good and bad deeds. However, these angels do not have influence over the choices one makes, and only record one's deeds. However, there is a concept which is more similar to the shoulder angels: the qareen, which, according to Islamic literature, is a (possibly evil) personal companion, and the guardian angels assigned to each person.
In Japanese Buddhism, the Kushoujin are a pair of beings – Dōmyō (同名, Same Name) and Dōshō (同生, Same Birth) – which sit on a person's shoulders, observing and reporting all his deeds. Dōmyō records good deeds, but Dōshō reports bad ones.
In Ancient Greek philosophy, Plato writes in Phaedrus about a speech given by Socrates that splits the soul into three parts: a "charioteer," or the man that participates in everyday life, a "good horse" that knows of self-control, moderation, and shame, and a "bad [horse]" who "does everything to aggravate its yokemate and its charioteer." The bad horse, who "barely yields to horsewhip and goad combined," tempts the charioteer in matters of eros and lust. The good horse, meanwhile, "is obedient to the charioteer" and "still controlled ... by its sense of shame," and meant to steer the charioteer away from the shameful and towards the divine. Both horses are present in the life of the charioteer at every moment, and act in a very similar fashion to the shoulder angel and shoulder devil plot device.
In several modern fictional stories, a character can be marked as especially evil or mischievous by receiving similarly bad advice from both shoulder figures, having a second shoulder devil instead of the angel, or being persuaded by the devil to kick the angel out.
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Angel on My Shoulder is a 1946 American fantasy film about a deal between the Devil and a dead man.
The Adventures of Tintin comics used this concept in at least two stories. In The Red Sea Sharks (1958), Captain Haddock's bad angel persuades him to drink a bottle of whisky, but the bottle smashes before he is able to drink it, leaving the good angel victorious. In Tintin in Tibet (1960), Snowy is tempted by his demon to lap up Captain Haddock's whiskey leaking from his rucksack. In an later instance from the same book, his demon tempts him to enjoy a huge bone rather than deliver a vital message. His good angel loses the argument, leaving in tears, and he gnaws the bone while the message blows away. Realizing his mistake, Snowy makes amends by reaching a local monastery and brings the monks to help. In both examples, the angels resemble good or bad versions of their subject, with horns and angel wings.
In 1960, the original Hanna-Barbera cartoon, The Flintstones season 1, episode 12, “The Sweepstakes Ticket,” features Fred Flintstone with an angel conscience on one shoulder and a devil conscience on the other. These characters look like Fred dressed up in angel/devil costume, and they encourage him to trust those around him or to behave dishonestly and greedily.
In 1993, in The Simpsons episode "Whacking Day," Homer presents the concept that everyone has a good and a bad self to Lisa. A fantasy sequence set in Homer's imagination then begins, showing Homer's bad self, visually depicted as Homer in a devil costume, dancing on the grave of the good Homer while singing 'I am Evil Homer, I am Evil Homer', implying that within him the battle for good and evil has long ago been won by his bad angel.
The trope is used in a 1996 Wendy's commercial for a spicy bacon cheeseburger. Founder Dave Thomas is indecisive about the new recipe, and his shoulder angel and devil are him dressed in a white and red suit respectively. Both character appear morally good, but with different personalities, as they are not meant to represent good and evil, but food preferences (with the "angel" representing mild food and the "devil" representing spice). The "devil" Dave wins the debate to add spicy pepper jack cheese to the burger, and the "angel" Dave suggests he be careful while eating the burger. The founder tells his angel to "mind his own business."
In the webcomic Sluggy Freelance (beginning in 1997), all three of the main characters have been shown debating with their shoulder angels and demons, each of whom reflects aspects of their respective hosts: Riff's are both unwilling to commit to a course of action, saying 'don't know' when asked for guidance; Torg's are both childish; and Zoe's demon dresses in revealing outfits, while her angel wishes she could dress in the same fashion.
The 2000 Disney animated film The Emperor's New Groove , its sequel Kronk's New Groove , and the animated series The Emperor's New School feature the concept of shoulder angels and devils, most notably in the character of Kronk. His appear at various points of moral crisis in the franchise for Kronk, but often spend more time antagonizing each other than actually trying to take Kronk down one path or another. The Oscar-winning Disney short Lend a Paw also featured Pluto being influenced by a shoulder angel and devil. In Mickey Mouse Clubhouse , a Disney animated series aimed at preschoolers, Pete has similar manifestations—though simply colored white and red rather than depicted with wings and a halo/horns and a pitchfork, respectively.
In the Discworld novel Nightwatch (2002) by Terry Pratchett, the killer Carcer was considered by the hero Samuel Vimes to have a demon on each shoulder, not opposing each other but in competition to urge Carcer on to worse deeds. It was said that if Vimes looked deep into Carcer's eyes, he could see the demons looking back.[ citation needed ]
In the feature film Cloud Atlas (2012), Old Georgie (Hugo Weaving) whispers bad and good advice to Zachry (Tom Hanks). Old Georgie appears only in critical points of the story, where Zachry's mind is split between right and wrong choices.
BYUtv's sketch comedy series Studio C makes use of the concept in several sketches, with the physical comedy aspect of the angel or devil – a full-sized being played by an actor – having to physically climb up onto the shoulder of the one they are attempting to influence for good or evil.
A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in media including comics, fiction, film, television, and video games. Belief in demons probably goes back to the Paleolithic age, stemming from humanity's fear of the unknown, the strange and the horrific. In ancient Near Eastern religions and in the Abrahamic religions, including early Judaism and ancient-medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered a harmful spiritual entity that may cause demonic possession, calling for an exorcism. Large portions of Jewish demonology, a key influence on Christianity and Islam, originated from a later form of Zoroastrianism, and was transferred to Judaism during the Persian era.
A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of the devil can be summed up as 1) a principle of evil independent from God, 2) an aspect of God, 3) a created being turning evil, and 4) a symbol of human evil.
Lilith, also spelled Lilit, Lilitu, or Lilis, is a female figure in Mesopotamian and Jewish mythology, theorized to be the first wife of Adam and a primordial she-demon. Lilith is cited as having been "banished" from the Garden of Eden for not complying with and obeying Adam.
Satan, also known as the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an entity in Abrahamic religions that seduces humans into sin or falsehood. In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the yetzer hara, or "evil inclination". In Christianity and Islam, he is usually seen as a fallen angel or jinn who has rebelled against God, who nevertheless allows him temporary power over the fallen world and a host of demons. In the Quran, Shaitan, also known as Iblis, is an entity made of fire who was cast out of Heaven because he refused to bow before the newly created Adam and incites humans to sin by infecting their minds with waswās.
A plot device or plot mechanism is any technique in a narrative used to move the plot forward. A clichéd plot device may annoy the reader and a contrived or arbitrary device may confuse the reader, causing a loss of the suspension of disbelief. However, a well-crafted plot device, or one that emerges naturally from the setting or characters of the story, may be entirely accepted, or may even be unnoticed by the audience.
Samael is an archangel in Talmudic and post-Talmudic lore; a figure who is the accuser or adversary, seducer, and Destroying angel.
Christian demonology is the study of demons from a Christian point of view. It is primarily based on the Bible, the interpretation of these scriptures, the writings of early Christianity philosophers, hermits, and the associated traditions and legends incorporated from other beliefs.
There have been various attempts at the classification of demons within the contexts of classical mythology, demonology, occultism, and Renaissance magic. These classifications may be for purposes of traditional medicine, exorcisms, ceremonial magic, witch-hunts, lessons in morality, folklore, religious ritual, or combinations thereof. Classifications might be according to astrological connections, elemental forms, noble titles, or parallels to the angelic hierarchy; or by association with particular sins, diseases, and other calamities; or by what angel or saint opposes them.
Fallen angels are angels who were expelled from Heaven. The literal term "fallen angel" does not appear in any Abrahamic religious texts, but is used to describe angels cast out of heaven or angels who sinned. Such angels often tempt humans to sin.
Bereshit, Bereishit, Bereshis, Bereishis, or B'reshith is the first weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. The parashah consists of Genesis 1:1–6:8.
A Qareen is a spiritual double of a human, either part of the human himself or a complementary creature in a parallel dimension. Due to its ghostly nature, the Qareen is classified among the Jinn-type creatures, although usually not actually a Jinni. The Qareen as an accompanying spirit should not be confused with the Qarinah, a female "childbed demon" in Middle Eastern traditions.
In Christian theology, the world, the flesh, and the devil have been singled out "by sources from St Thomas Aquinas" to the Council of Trent, as "implacable enemies of the soul".
The Devil, appears frequently as a character in literature and various other media. In Abrahamic religions, the figure of the Devil, Satan personifies evil.
In Judaism, yetzer hara is a term for man's congenital inclination to do evil. The term is drawn from the phrase "the inclination of the heart of man is evil", which occurs twice at the beginning of the Torah.
In Christianity, the Devil is the personification of evil. He is traditionally held to have rebelled against God in an attempt to become equal to God himself. He is depicted as a fallen angel, who was expelled from Heaven at the beginning of time, before God created the material world, and is in constant opposition to God. The devil is conjectured to be several other figures in the Bible including the serpent in the Garden of Eden, Lucifer, Satan, the tempter of the Gospels, Leviathan, and the dragon in the Book of Revelation.
Hermas was a well-to-do freedman and earnest Christian, who lived in Ancient Rome. He was a brother of Pius, Bishop of Rome about the middle of the 2nd century. Some later writers confuse him with Hermas of Dalmatia, mentioned in Romans 16:14. Hermas the freedman was the character and, by some estimations, the author of the work titled The Shepherd of Hermas, which, in the early Church, was sometimes classed among the canonical "Scriptures".
Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. They also provide the basis for the doctrines of the fall of man and original sin, which are important beliefs in Christianity, although not held in Judaism or Islam.
Death is frequently imagined as a personified force. In some mythologies, a character known as the Grim Reaper causes the victim's death by coming to collect that person's soul. Other beliefs hold that the spectre of death is only a psychopomp, a benevolent figure who serves to gently sever the last ties between the soul and the body, and to guide the deceased to the afterlife, without having any control over when or how the victim dies. Death is most often personified in male form, although in certain cultures death is perceived as female. Death is also portrayed as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Most claims of its appearance occur in states of near-death.
A shaitan or shaytan is an evil spirit in Islam, inciting humans and jinn to sin by whispering in their hearts. Although invisible to humans, shayatin are imagined to be ugly and grotesque creatures created from Hellfire.