The shadow gains insight into the dark side of human behaviour, then returns to the man and enslaves him.

[1] Jacqueline Banerjee suggested that Andersen wrote the story as a form of indirect revenge against Edvard Collin, the son of Anderson's patron, who had rejected him.

[1] Literary critic Jack Zipes took the story to represent the Hegelian dynamic of master and slave.

Andersen's story in turn appears to have influenced Oscar Wilde's "The Fisherman and His Soul".

Evgeny Shvarts explicitly based his Tyen (The Shadow) play on Andersen's tale, introducing additional characters and plot lines and a different ending.

[4] Skuggaleikur (Shadow Play) is an opera by Icelandic composer Karólína Eiríksdóttir with libretto by Sjón.

The image, which at first copies his movements in complete synchrony, seamlessly emerges from the mirror frame (through changes in lighting) as another dancer in a gray full body stocking.

[6] In 2021, Danish director Mikael Fock and a team of engineers, designers, and generative artists produced Sh4dow, the first theatrical production with AI as a full actor in the narrative.

Using the Pepper's Ghost illusion, the AI actor appeared onstage alongside a single actress.