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Lacan Stages of Psycho Analysis
Lacan Stages of Psycho Analysis
During the Real Stage, an infant is incapable of distinguishing oneself from his
parents. As a result, to move into the following stage, the Mirror Stage, the
infant must learn that, while he may be an extension of his parents, he is also his
own person. Shelley enables Victor to leave this stage by the death of Victor’s
mother. Only after her death is Victor able to leave his home “My departure for
Ingolstadt, which had been deferred by these events, was now again determined
upon.” (Shelley 68) This is the culmination of Victor’s Real Stage. Her death
allows Victor to separate himself from his parents, much like the infant who
looks in the mirror.
Like in life, Victor is unable to fully separate himself from his mother
and rather than accepting her death he simply finds a replacement. Freud would
interpret Elizabeth’s role as the surrogate of Victor’s mother as a branch of
the Oedipus complex. Additionally, instead of Victor’s mother being portrayed
as the ideal mother, Elizabeth is portrayed as such. Meaning, Victor never fully
leaves the Real Stage.
The monster’s journey throughout the novel is his struggle to leave the Mirror
Stage and enter the Symbolic Stage, the stage where an infant acquires
language. This typically occurs anywhere from 18 months to four years of age.
As can be seen in the novel, only once Victor hear the eloquence of the
monster’s speech does he allow him to tell his tale, “I consented to listen, and
seating myself by the fire which my odious companion had lighted, he thus
began his tale.” (Shelley 122)
The creature’s telling of his tale focuses on the family of cottage dwellers that
he forms an attachment to. It is where he enters the Mirror Stage and struggles
to cross over into the Symbolic Stage. The last stage of the process involves
the discovery of symbolic order, in which one learns the norms of his society.
The monster attempts to accomplish this by observing the cottagers and
succeeds until he is discovered, “At that instant the cottage door was opened,
and Felix, Safie, and Agatha entered. Who can describe their horror and
consternation on beholding me? Agatha fainted, and Safie, unable to attend to
her friend, rushed out of the cottage. Felix darted forward, and with supernatural
force tore me from his father, to whose knees I clung, in a transport of fury, he
dashed me to the ground and struck me violently with a stick.” (Shelley 160)
This encounter is a primary obstacle in the monster’s effort to cross over into
the final stage.
A psychoanalytic interpretation of Frankenstein allows for it to be read
inLacan’s stages of human development. The monster’s journey from the Real
Stage to the Mirror Stage and his struggle to enter the final stage, The Symbolic
Stage shape the novel. The three dreams in the novel parallel the stages the
creature and Victor undergo allowing the novel to be interpreted using
psychoanalysis.