Understanding Actions and Motives: The Ideal ‘I’ and Signifiers in Lacanian Psychoanalysis

Abstract

The Mirror Stage (1949) and The Formation of the Unconscious (1957) by Jacques Lacan are important concepts in the field of Psychoanalysis. This paper understands the arguments put forth in the concepts and concludes their importance in literary criticism. They also help determine the factors that influence Lacan’s theories. Through this paper, we understand the argument of The Mirror Stage, its role in literary criticism and analyze The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) in context to The Mirror Stage. Later we look at the Formation of the Unconscious, its structure similar to that of the language, and the role of signifiers in the human psyche