Where does the beast lay?

In all literature, tv, and movies there are so few examples of shifters, like werewolves, living with their humanity intact. They are always the beasts, the monsters that stalk the night mindlessly looking for prey. Their animal nature completley controlling their needs and urges. The few that allow their monsters to maintain some level of their humanity still allow their creatures to be ruled by strong emotions like anger, jealousy, lust.

the issue with this is that all the humans in these tales become some type of hero. It is far more believable that the true monster lay within the humans. Even when the were-animal is predatory caving to its primal needs; it still exhibits no human undercurrent of emotion until it is hunted. At that point there is no hero, they are all monsters. Iit's just who comes out on top, and everyone likes a tidy ending. So humans win.

Here is where I detour from traditional pop culture. My were-beasts retain their humanity, their minds, their emotions in either form. Obviously, something become more enhanced in certain forms. I concede that as a were-animal born to their form they will have more experience. So a bitten were-animal will have trouble with overwhelming senses and emotions. But they have the choice to become more than what they were. At most being bitten will enhance underlying personality traits. So, they become monsters.