c;,L;J Tqh s I (ar) " t2--Lq -

The Family Complexes

sy JeceuesLacaN

Translated by Carolyn Asp his psychic structure will the child have a chance of
Marquette University avoidin g mental illness.
In the second part of the monograph, Iacan in-
Translator's Introduction vestigates the family complexes as sotuces of mentrl
illnesses; psychoses, neuoses, and penonality dis- !
Modern family studies have been influenced by orders. In psychoses, the family complexes operate i
the empirical and theorerical texts of Engels, Laslett, as either causes of psychotic reactions or themes of a
tfvi-Strauss, Shorter, Stone, and others. These in- psychotic thinking. Neuroses (hysteria and obses- t
quiries into the family move between statisticaV sion) reveal irregularities in repression or sublima-
demographic sudies on Lhe one hand and Marxist- tion, effects of tlre Oedipus complex. personality T

Freudian theoretical speculat"ions on the other. The disorders are connected to the family environment, I
growing influence of Jacques Lacan, the major con- i.e., lhe role and function of the parens. Disharmony (

temporary Freudian theorist, has prompted family between the parents or an imbalance in the hierarchy (

studies to look for a "Lacarrian perspective" on the of authority can have deleterious effects on the l

family. This long monograph, divided into two parts, child's normal development. But, fine dialectician I

was frst published in 1938 in L'EncyctopCdie Fran- tlnt he was, Lacan saw that this disharmony is para-
gaise and is known to the English-speaking world doxically a long range effect of the Oedipus complex,
only through citation and reference. Lacan's mono- i.e., woman's protest against male authority. The
graph on the family is one of the most readable of all essay ends with a discussion of the prevalence of the
lacari's texts in print because it is one of rhe few male principle which, ironically, leads o its under-
long studies that Lacan actually "wrote." His other side, "the dissimularion of the feminine principle un-
publications are primarily edited transcriprs of derneath the masculine ideal: or 'psychic inversion.",
seminars. Caught in "the imaginary impasse of sexual plartr:.
Some of Lacan's most important ideas (concepts tion," the family is under siege by its own models.
of thc minor stage and rhe Symbolic Order) were in- Although the French version of La Famille was
troduced at psychoanalytic conferences in and around published in 1985 under the editorship of Jacques-
1936. La Famille conrains lengrhy and imporlanr Alain Miller (Paris: Seuil), rhere has been, ro date, no
discussions of these irnportrnt concepts. In the first official English translation of the text. This transla-
part of his monograph, Lacan presenn child develop- tion and abridgement of Lacan's monograph is an un-
ment as a series of complexes which.demand that the official anticiparion of the complete translation in
child accept what ir does not want and will never process of preparation. Interpolations are indicated
completely accepc separation from the motier and by brackers.
insertion into the Symbolic Order. The child encoun-
ters tlree radical frustrations of h'is deepest needs and Editors' note: We wish to thank Jacques-Alain
desires. These frustrations are organized around Miller for permitring Critical Texts to publish rhis
three complexes: weaning, intrusion, and castration translation, and we are also grateful to W.W. Norton
(the Oedipus complex). Only by satisfacrorily inte- & Company, who will be issuing the definitive com-
grating the losses demanded by these complexes inlo plete text in English of The Family Complexes,tans-
lated by Cormac Gallagher, in the fall of 1989.

t2
 The FamilY ComPlexes

The com'
emotional reactions to adaptive behaviors'
TNTRODUCTION: THE INSTITUTION OF aura of realiry in two ways:
plex reproduces a certain
THE FAMILY
tt) itr io* represents this reality in what is objec'
tively specific to a given stage in psychic develop-
lln the inkoductory part of his essay' lacan ,nenq tl,at sLage accotults for the origin of the
form:
warns the reader against making inaccurate compar- of reality
such (2) ia activity it un existential illustration a
isons between nut*ul biological group functions
of the iixeO into an unalterable form each time that certain
as we see in animal behavior and the functions objectifi-
ir experiences occur which might demand an
human family, which is a culural 'tudon' experiences
Of all human groups the fami-v has the primary
.uion trunt"ending that reatity; these
If other social specifically determine the condidoning of the
role in the transmlsion of culture'
complex.
groupt have claimed for themselves the transmission 'Tt
i. O"nniton of itself implies tlnt the complex
3f spitituat traditions, thc safe-keeping of rites and
is dominated by culrural facton: in iis contents'
customs, the conservation ol technical methods
and
family is the dominant influ- which represent an object; in its form, which is bound
laws of inheritance, the
to a tived stage of objectification; and finally' in
its
ence in early educarion, in the repression
of instincts'
of aptly called "the revelation of an objective deltciency vis-d-vis the
and in the acquisirion language,
present situation. In is ttueefold aspect of (l)
the
*othe, tongue"' In rhis way the family conuols the (2) the configuration
i'e" tle or- communication of knowledge,
basic proceises of psychic development'
to patterns condi- of affective organization, and (3) the ordeal caused
guni^tion of emotions according
which, according by the shock of the real, the complex can be under-
iioned by the family environment, iden'
In siooo rttrougtt is relation o an object' Since all
ro Shand, is the foundation of all feeling states'
those structures of be- dfication *ith an object requires that the object be
addidon, the family transmits for
communicable, i.e., that it have cultural criteria
havior and performance over which consciousness it is most frequently communicated
its foundation,
has no conuol'l
tluough cultural channels. Individual integration of
the fJrms of objectification is the work of a dialecti-
cal process which makes each new form emerge from
I
the conflicts with the real engaged in by the
preced-
'ttlE COMPLEX: FORMATM AGIiNT OF process the quality which specifi-
ing form. In this
I.'AMILY PSYCIIOLOGY cjly deter*ines the human order can be recognized'
namely, the subversion of all instinctive rigidity from
the hu- which the fundamental forms of culture arise, preg-
[Lacan argues that wc must understand
man family within the basic context of the reality nant with infinite varietY. ' . .

which conititutes social relationships' In conncction The Freudian Complex and the Imago-We
with this idea, psychological research seeks either have defined the complex in a very general way
expe-
ttrough observation of behavior or ftrough the which docs not exclude the fact that the subject may
be conscious of what it represents' But it was
riencJof psychoanalysis lo givc an account of reality first
especially when it is focussed on the facts
of "the dclined by Freud as an esscntially unconscious agent'
family as psychic event." Therefore, the object of On the unconscious level, its singleness of purpose
is
psychologicai research is the complexes, not thc in-
rcmarkable; there it reveals iself zs lhe cause of psy-

,tin.s, rie family's conditioning by cultural ladmrs chic effecs untlirected by consciousness: slips'
at the expense of natural ones'l dreams, symptoms. These effects have characteris-
A General Delinition of Complex-The com- tics so distinct and unprcdictable ftat they force us
to
plex binds in a fixed form a variety of reactions
acknowledge a paradoxical entity, an unconscious
*ttirt .tt affect atl organic functions ranging from representation cutteO the "imago," as a fundamental

l3
 CiticalTexts 53

elcmcnt of the cbmplex. The idea of comple xes and cause an essentially ambivalent attitude even though
the imago has revolutionized psychology, esprecially one of them will triumph. During these crises which
family psychology which reveals rhe family as rhe guarantee continuing development, this primordial
preeminent incubator of the most stable and typical
ambivalence will resolve itself in psychic differentia_
complexes. The family has progressed from being a tions on an increasingly sophisticated and ineversible
simple subject for moralisric verbosity ro being the dialecrical level. The original acceptance or refusal
object of concrete analysis.
will change meaning several times in that dialectical
The complexes can be seen as playing the role of process. . . . The original ..choic€,' will later return
"organizers" to
in psychic development: as such they dominant influence in the dialectical process, and in a
dominate phenomena which, in consciousness, time and style unique to irself, will intrude in both
seemed most fully integrated into the personality; as
those crises and in new categories which will bear is
such they are also activated in the unconscious not mark.
only by defenses which are influenced by passion bur
also by impanial rarionalizations. Through the com_
plexes, ilre impact of rhe family both as psychic ob-
The Imago of the Maternal Breast
ject and event becomes increasingly important-
The refusal of weaning underlies the reality of
the complex, namely, the imago of the nurnring rela-
1. THE WsAxrNc Conrpr,Bx tionship which ir essentially tries to re_esrablish. The
contenrs of this imago are produced by feelings spe_
fi-acan begins his examination of rhe family cific ro infancy; but it only has form insofar as these
complexes by discussing the weaning complex, feelings become mentally organized. Since this stage
which, by producing the most primordial form of the precedes awareness of object-form, it does not seem
maternal imago, creates the base for the most archaic that these contents can represent lhemselves in con_
and stable feelings which link the indiviclual to rhe sciousness. They do represent themselves there,
family. As the most primitive complex in psychic however, in the menhl structures which shape subse-
development" the weaning complex forms a part of quent psychic experiences. They
all subsequent complexes. Alrhough it resembles in_
will be evoked
through association if the occasion presents itself to
stinct. in several ways, the weaning complex is heav_
them as inseparable from the objective contents that
ily influenced by cultural factors.l they will have informed. lct us analyze these con-
In the animal kingilom, the maternal insrincr tents and these forms.
ceases [o operatrg when the feeding smge is over. In
The study of behavior of early infancy allows us
the human realm, however, culture is a dominant to state that extero- proprio- and interoceptive
force in weaning. . . . But no matter what the opera- sensations are not, after twelve months, sufficiently
tive contingencies that initiate it, weaning is often a coordinated to allow recognition of one,s own body
psychic trauma which later reveals itsell through psy_
to occur, nor, correlatively, to allow any idea of what
choanalysis as the origin of anorexia, oral drug addic_ is outside the body.
tion, and gastric neuroses. Exteroceptive Form: The Human presence_At
Weaning: A Psychic Crisis-Whether trauma_ a very early age certain exteroceptive sensations iso-
tizing or not, weaning leaves a fJerrnanent race in the late themselves sporadically in units of perception.
hurnan psyche of the biological relarionship it inrer-
Qualities ol objecs correspond . . . to initial affective
rupted. This basic crisis has a twofold effccr. Ir is
witirout a doubt the first crisis whose resolution rvill
. The reaction of interest that a child
interests. . .
shows in the presence of the human face should be
have a dialectical structurc. II seems that for the firsr
emphasized. . . . This reaclion cannot be separated
time a basic tension resolves itself through an intel- from the development by which the human face will
lrctual intention. T'hrough tlris inrcnrion rveaning is assume its value as a mirror of psychic expression.
acccpted or refused; the intcntion is almost complete_ These selrctive reactions allow us to postulite in
ly clemenlary since ir cannot bc attributed to an ego the
infant: (l)
a precocious kind of awareness of the
.
in this rudimentary stage This acceptance or relusal presence which fulfills rhe maternal function and (2)
cannot be thought of as a choice, since in the absence
the role of causal trauma which a substitute for this
of an ego which affirms or denics, rhey are not con- presence can have in certain neuroses and characrcr
radictory. Co-existent and contrary poles, they disorders. This archaic knowledge . . . can scarcely

l4
 I

The Family ComPlexes

In conrasdng the complex with the instinct we

be distinguished from affective adapution' At this
arc not tlenying that the complex has a biological
early sule the infant remains completely occupied
is own needs and with the foundation; ln explarning it tirough certain idealized
with rheladsfaction of
which atbchments we have re-inserted it into its material
tr ambivalence typical of the mental associalions
base. This base subilizes the complex's function in
e
are first sketched out in that connecdon' '
the social group; the basic dependence of the individ-
Proprioce prtve S atisfactio n: O ral F usio n-The
:;:
ual on the group is rooted in this biological founda-
A
proprioceptive- sensations of sucking and gripping
fi
oUuiousty form the foundation of that experiential
tion. Whereas inslinct has an organic substructure
and is limited to regulating this substructure in a
vital
situa'
s. ambivalence and have *teir source in the same organic connection only
function, a complex has an
tion: the creature who is absorbing is completely
*r
:l:i I

in tte sporadically, i.e', when it makes up for an inadequacy

absorbed and the archaic complex resonates
*i of oi e^istence through he regulation of a social func-
'il maternal embrace. . . "Cannibalism" in the sense
'
.fi fusional cannibalism, inexpressible, active and
pas- tion. Such is the case with the weaning complex'
The organic connection accounts for the fact that the
sive at the same time, continues to survive in the
&
*&i
symbolic words and games which in the most
trighly *ut"*ul imago possesses the very depths of the psy'
hl che and ttrat irs sublimation will be particularly
diffi-
sophisticated form of love-maki"g, recall the desire
cult, as is obvious both in the child's attachment to its
ffi!
#r of the new'born.
$r
imago can- mother's "apron strings" and in the frequently anach-
$1
ifll [According to Lacan, the "maternal
from he chaos of interocepLive sen- ronistic persistence of this bond.
.{ not. be separated
.it The imago, however, must be sublimated so that
sations from which it emerges." The first six
morrths
social
the child can make new connections within the
w
fi of human life are dominated by painful sensations of
* distress caused by an insuffi- group and so that new complexes might integrate
suffocation, cold, and
;4 itemsetues into the psyche' Insofar as it resists these
cient adaptation of the human infant "to the rupture
:.8
main- new demands of personality development' the imago,
.n of environmental and feeding conditions which
of intra-uterine life'" initially beneficial, becomes an agent of death'
"d tain the parasitic equilibrium
,*"€
r* the bed-rock loundalion Tie Death Wkh-The fact of man's inclination
Psychoanalys$ have found
toward death as though it were a desirable object is a
H ofifre i*ag-o of the maternal breast in phantasms and
# realiry that analysis lays bare at all levels of the
dreams of an intra-uterine dwelling and the anatomi-
itr pry.h". It was to the credit of the inventor of psy'
cal ttueshold of extra-uterine life' But because ol
the
nervous cntanatysis that he recognized the ineducible nature
di non-myelinization of tre new-born's central
ii of this rlality, but the explanation he gave it, as death
system, we cannot say that birth is a psychic trauma'
instinct, astonishing though it is, remains contradic-
:1
:1 This imago would have remained a mystery "if the
tory in is wording' Freud's genius bowed to the bi-
ffi posr.-naul state of man had not manifested' by its
ological prejudice which demands that all tendencies
discomfort, that the organization of posture'
r$
very
{ ,.f.-tr,o an instincL The attraction toward death
llti muscle tone and balance proper to intra-uterine life
which characterizes the human psyche can be satis-
ir perpetuates itself."
facnrily explained by the idea that we are developing
i;
.tl suf-
Compared to orher animals of his class' man psy-
:tl here, viz., the complex, a functional unit of the
.il fers an actual biological deficiency in his e'irliest
che, reacts not to viul functions but to the congenital
,ii' years. He is an animal prematurely born' This idea
deficiency of those functions.
ril
'i: ixplains the widespread nature of the complex as
This psychic attraction toward death in the origi-
*i *.tt ut its independence from the accidens of ablac-
nal form which ascribes weaning to it also reveals it-
itl tation. "strictly defined, weaning provides the first
self in unusual "non-violent" suicides which embody
,ii and most adequate psychic expression for the very
"i the oral form of the complex: the hunger strike of thc
obscure imago of a primordial weaning which sepa-
.ii
rates the infant at birth from is matrix' This prema-
anorexic; slow poisoning through the ingestion of
:iii
:;{il drugs; the stawation diets of gastric neuroses' Anal-
ture separation causes a distress that no maternal care
'!r
Even so, Lacan asserts, the imagg of ysis of thcse cases reveals that the subject seeks to re-
$i
i
a* guln ttt" maternal imago in his capitulation to death'
!.i
!:'i
^i*gt."
the maternal breast dominates all of man's life and
ihis mental association is not just morbid, it is gener-
ljitt explains the power, richness and continuity ol mater-
ic.This is evident in burial practices where certain
r*l ni f."ting. The actualization of this imago in con-
in pre- cusbms clcarly signify a psychological return to the
rl{l sciousnesi influences the mother's conduct
marcrnal breast. It is further revealed by the connec-
serving the infant from a faul abandonment'l
trr
?'f
li:g

't 15
 CriticalTexts 53

tions esLablished bctwcen the mother and death either domestic relationship; in other words, when the child
by magical techniques or ttre doctrines of ancient the- understands his status as a sibling. . . .
ologics. Ifone probes sufficiently it can be observed In delineating the structure of infant jealousy,
in all psychoanalytic exynrience. experimental observations of the child as well as
The Domeslic Tie-Even sublimated, the imago psychoanalytic investigations reveal is role in tlre
of the maternal breast continucs to play an important genesis of sociability and, tluough that, of human
psychic rolc. Its least accessible form to conscious- consciousness itself. The critical point discovered by
ness, the prenatal habitat, finds adequate symbols in these projecs is tiat jealousy, in is fundamental
dwcllings and thresholds, especially in their primitive form, represents not, so much a deepseated rivalry as
forms, the cave and the hut. For the individual, all a mental idcntification.
tlnt constitutes the unity of the family group becomes M e ntal I de ntificatio n-lf children between six
an object of affection by means of these symbols. monfts and two years are brought together in pairs
This affection is distinct from that which unites him and left to their own playful spontaneity, the fol-
to each member of the group. This occurs to the de- lowing fact can be observed; diverse reactions occur
gree that tlre individual is capable of separation. between children put in one another's presence which
Through the agency of ttris symbol, the renunciation se€ms to indicate a kind of communication. Among
of the securities which facilitate the development of a these reactions, one stands out by reason of the fact
family economy has the sarne significanre as a repe- that we can see in it an objectively defined rivalry.
tition of weaning. Ordinarily it is at this point that This reaction provokes a certain adapution of pos-
the complex is sufficiently discharged. Any rel.urn to tures zrnd gestures between the subjecs, i.e., a simi-
these securities, even partial, can precipitate a regres- larity in their alternation and a convergence in their
sion within the psyche which is out of proportion to sequence which pattems their reactions inlo provoca-
any practical benefiS of this retum. tions and replies. Without overestimating the con-
Completion of the personality demands this new sciousness of the subject" this reaction allows us to
wcaning. Hegel speculated that the individual who assert that they realize the situation can have a double
does not fight m be recognized outside the family oulcome and alternative. From this srage on it can be
group will never atain autonomy before death . . , . observed that, in the measure of its adapadon, the
The family can confer personal dignity on the indi- child becomes aware of a rival, i.e., of an "other" as
vidual in name only, and then only in the burial object. . ..
eulogy. Lrt us examine the most frequent reactions be-
Nostalgia for the All-The overflowing quality t\,veen two children: showing off, seduction and tyr-
of the complex establishes maternal feeling; its sub- anny. Even though two parmers are on stage, their
limation contributes to family feeling; its discharge communication reveals not a conflict belween two
leaves uaces we can recognize. . . , If we were trl persons but a conflict within each subja:t, a conflict
sketch out ils most abstract form, we could chzuacter- bctwecn two opposed and complementary attitudes:
ize it thus: it is the perfect assimilation of the torality this bipolar participation creates the situation. To
to being. We can recognizc the longing of humanity understand this structure, let. us pause a moment be-
in this somewhat philosophical formula, a longing fore the child who shows off and the child whose
which shapes the metaphysical mirage of universal gaze follows him: who is the more intense spectator?
harmony, the mystic abyss of affective fusion, the so- Or again, observe the child who lavishes his seduc-
cial utopia of totalirarian guardianship-all denved live efforts on an other: who is the seducer? Finally,
from man's preoccupation with a paradise lost before when watching the child who enjoys rhe rrappings of
birth and with a dark longing for death. power which he exercises and the one who deligha
in submission, one asks, who is more enslaved? This
is the paradox: each partner confuses the part of the
2. THE II\"TRUSION COMPLEX: JEALOUSY, other with his own and identifies with it. . . .
ARCHL-ryPE oR SocleI FEELINGS The Imago of the One-Lite-What is rhe struc-
ture of this imago? . . . If we consider the fact that
Thc intrusion complex represents the experience this stage is characterized by rather rapid and pro-
of an immature subject especially when he sces one found transformations of the nervous system which
or several of his own kind participating witlr him in a controls individual differentiations, we will under-
stand that this condition is tantamount !o a demand

l6
 r
The FamilY ComPlexes
I
primary masochism. In this way the non'violence of
for similarity between subjecrs. It seems that the
J
primordial suicide engenders the violence -of the
imago of th! other is linked by a certain objective
imaginary murder of the sibling. But this.violence
simiatity to the subject's own body, especially to his "
has no connection with the battle for survival ' '
communicative skills'
The sight of the unweaned sibling evokes aggression
Psychoanalytic doctrine enables us to $asp the
only Gcause it recalls the imago of the maternal situ-
problem more completely. It shows us that the sib-
adon and its concomitant death wish. . . '
iing is tne chosen object of libidinal needs which' at
thiistage, are homosexual. But it also shows us the
confusi-on of two affective relationships in this object'
pro- The Mirror Stage
love and identification, whose opposition will be
found in later stages of development'
Affective identification is a psychic function
In the adult this original ambiguity is found in
whose originality has been established by psycho-
the passion of jealousy, and it is there that we can
analysis, eipecially in connection with the Oedipus
besiunderstand il We see it in the fascination which
complex. But the use of this term at the stage we arc
the subject has for the image of the rival: a fascina- liter-
stuOylng remains ill-defined in psychoanalytic
tion which, even though it asser rnelf as hate' i'e'' hll gap by offering a
justifies is-elf through uturi. Wt have tried to this
as negative, and even though it genetic appear-
rheory of this identihcation whose
[struigle for] an alleged love object, is self-generated
ance we define by the t€rm: mirror stage'
by thisubject in a self-defeating way and often dom-
This stage coincides with the tapering off of
inates rhe amorous passion itself to such an extent
weaning. . . . In the analysis of this stage, the sub-
that it can be considered as the very focus of the
pas-
itself blending jecfs recognition of his image in a mirror is a phe-
sion. This fascinat-ion carries within a
no*"non that has a twofold significance: it appears at
of the process of identification and of love' Although
the end of six months; and observation of it at this
within r-tre spectrum of adult ttrought jealousy reveals
time clearly reveals tendencies which constitute the
itself most oft.n ut the levcl ol the unconscious' this
subject's reality. Because of its absolute similarity o
preoccupation with one's riverl in love confers on the
the subject, the specular image presents a good sym-
unOertying passion that quality of absolute certainty
bol of that reality, i.e., of its affective value which is
that makes it akin to obsession. . . .
as illusory as the image, and of its structure, which
is
[Lacan then cliscusscs thc subordination
of ag-
also a reflection of the human form. . ' '
gr.riion to idcntification. Conrrary to a Darwinian
Secondary Power of the Specular Image-T\e
ielief that aggression comes from a conflict for food'
phenomenon of perception which appean in man at
Lacan asserti that jealousy often arises when the
the sixth month manifests itself from this moment on
subject is not in conflict for footl, i'e', when he
has
under a completely different form characteristic of
already been weaned. Jealousy seems lo require
I an
I enlightened intuition. Grounded in an attentive
identiiication with thc youngcr sibling's situation'
,"rJuint, a sudden revelation of adaptive behavior
I

Analysis characterizes thc libitlo at this stage as sado-

i occurs (a gesture which the subject relates to some
tI masochistic, aggressive. Yct aggression is "delimited jubilant
part of his own body). This is followed by a
l by an idcntification with thc other, the object ol of tri-
aisptay of energy which is the objective sign
violence."l us to
we u*phant mastery. This dor-lble reaction enables
I
The Meaning of Primary Aggression-lf in its non-verbal
glimpse the lecling of understanding
agrce that . . . thc source oi tho dcath wish is thc dis-
form. . . .
ulss of weaning, lhen we will recognize in primary
I At this sLage of human development the disso-
masochism the dialectical moment when the subject'
nance in both drives and functions is merely the re-
by his first playful acts, re-enacts this discomfort that
sult of prolongcd uncoordination of the limbs' The
through that re-enactment, sublimates and overcomes
it tFreud's Forr-Da gamcl. . . . This action symbo- result ii a phase whose development is affectively
per-
antl mentally bascd on a proprioceptivity which
lizes a renewal ol the pathos ol weaning, but this At psychic
I ccives thc body as fragmented. this stage
time, it is self-inflictcd. Even though the subject sur-
I intcrcst is shiitctl to tcndcncies which aim at some re-
! renders to loss, he triumphs ovcr i[ now that he'ton-
grouping ol thc botlY. . . .
I
trols the re-enaclmcnl' of the proccss' The identi{ica- -
tion with the brother permits this splitting ' ' ' ' Il ir'tig*.ntadonl is an archaic structure of the
human world; analysis of the unconscious has shown
provides the imagc which grounds one of the poles of
1
\I
i
1 11
I
 Critical Texts 5.3

dccp traccs of it in fanLasics ol dismcmbcrmcnt, of From this beginning the ego will preserve the
dislocations of thc body, of castmtion-fantasics ambiguous structure of a public display characteristic
which are no morc than images highlighted by a par- of situations eariier described as tyranny, seduction
ticular complex. The imago ol the double, whose bi- and showing off. These express sado-masochistic and
zarre objcctifications, revca-lc'd in various actions at scoptophilic (the desire to see and be seen) drives
different times of life, disclose to the psychiarist the which are, in their very essence, destructjve of the
fact that this archaic stlucturc evolves even as the otlcr.This primordial intrusion helps us to under-
subjectgrows.... sund all projections of the constituted ego: magical
The tendcncy by which the subject restorcs his thinking in the child whose pcrsonal idcntification is
lost unity is, from thc beginning, located at the center still uncertain; the process of paranoid projection
of consciousness. lhis tendency is the energy souce when fte ego regresses tro an archaic state; or as a
for his mental progress; the latter's structure is dc- mode ol undersnnding when the projection is inte-
tcrmined by the predominance of visual functions. If grated into a healthy ego.
thc scarch for affective unity brings to light the forms
through which the subject creates his identity for
himself, the most. intuitive form at this phase is pro- The Drama of Jealousy: The Ego and the Olher
vided by tie specular image. What the subject wel-
comes in it is its inherent mental unity; what he rec- The ego constitutes itself concomitantly with the
ognizes in it is the ideal of tlie double's imago; what other in the drama of jealousy . . . which involves the
he applauds in it is the triumph of its integrat-rve introduction of a third who substitutes for affective
power. confusion and visual ambiguity the rivalry of a trian-
The Narcissistic Slructure of the Ego-The gular situation. . . . Either the subject seeks to return
world to which this phase belongs is the narcissistic to the maternal object, where he vzill be caught in a
world. In thus naming it wc do not merely recall its relusal of the real and a destruction of the other, or,
libidinal structure as designated by Freud and Abra- having been confronted by some other object, the
ham in 1908, which assigned a purely encrgetic subject relatcs to it as an object with which he can
mcaning to the investrnent of libido in one's own communicate in a way characteristic of human con-
body. We wish to enter into its mental sructurc by sciousncss, since competition implies both rivalry
probing the meaning of the myth of Narcissus. and accord. The subject recognizes the one with
Whether this meaning points t,o death, to a vital in- whom he cngages in either competition or agreement
adequacy whose result is the narcissistic world, or as both the other and the socialized object. Human
whether fte meaning of the myth points to specular jealousy distinguishes itself in this way from basic
reflection and the imago of the double which is cen- survival competition since it creates its object instead
tral to it (or to the illusion of this image), ilris world, ol discovering it. Jcalousy is the archetype of all
as we shall see, does not contain an other. socialfcclings....
At this stage the perception of the othcr's actir'- The basic objcctivity of human consciousness, a
ity is not strong enough to break through the sub- re markable achievement. considering the fundamental
ject's affective isolation. As long as the mirror inadcquacies that sunound man's beginnings, is the
image plays only its prirnary role, which is limitcd to cssential form of the ego. The inherent symbolism of
the function of expressivity, it evokes identjcal emo- the object lacilitates the ego's move beyond the vital
.
tions and movements in the subjcct. .. But evcn instincts both in perception and as an agenl The
though he yields to this cmotional or motor suggcs- ego's socialization through the feeling of jealousy
tion, tjrc subjrct does not separatc himself from thc crcates its pcrmanence and substantiality. This is the
stagc itself. Furthcrmore, in the dissonancc chiuac- essential characteristic of the psychic role played by
tcris[ic of thrs stage, the image mercly interposcs a thc l'ratcrnal complex. . . .
tcmporary intrusion of an unfamiliar te ndency. [-ct us Cottditions and Effects of Sibling Relation-
call this tlic narcissistic intrusion: the unity ol thc sftips-The traumatic role of the sibling is created by
tcndcncies which it inuoduces will contributc to thc his intrusion. Thc intrusion emanates from the new-
cgo's lbrrnation. But belorc the cgo aflirrns its idcn- corncr and haunts thc one who is already there: in
tity, it is confused with this imagc which not only familics this gcncrally occurs with the birth of a new
forms it but also profoundly alienates it. baby and it is usually the oldest who plays the role of
suflercr.
r
I

ll
1
I
{
The Family ComPlexes
I
{
{ Col'tPlrx
in the midst of the 3. THB OBntPus
. . . Surprised by the intruder
I
disruption ciuseO by weaning, the subject constantly oI the Complex-Psychoanalysis
new- The Scheme
relivcs the exgrrience of weaning by seeing the reach
has revealed sexual drives in the child which
1
occur
born at the mother's breast. A regression can
their greatest intensity in the fourth year' Without
I
I

which manifests itself as . . ' schizopkenic psychosis

may elaboiating here on their structure, we can say that
or a hypochondriacal neurosis' Or the sufferer puberty' far in
of the "mons1er"' they constltute a kind of psychological
t*ar Uy an imaginary destrucrion aduance of physiological puberty' These drives'
whictr witt resuli eithcr in perverse drives or
obscs-
which are ui th" h.tt of the complex' focus the
sional guilt.
child's gaze, through sexual desire, on fte nearest ob-
If the intruder docs not appear until after the jecr whi-ch interest and proximity offers, namely' tlte
to
Ocdipus complex, he is often accepted according
The new- pr.nt of the opposite sex. The frustration of these
the pattern of parental identifications" ' ' frustra-
a reflection for the driues ties *re knot of the complex' Although
bom is rhen nbr an obshcle or in the prematurity of these drives, the
hate' Ag- tion is inherent
subject, but a person worthy of love or
it to a third object whose proximity
into tenderness or child atrribures
gressiuc drives are sublimated
and interest make him the normal obstacle to
satis'
sternness. . . .
parent of the same sex'
facdon, i.e., the
It is through "the one like me" that an object
. . . The child acquires a certain intuition of the
such as the ego becomes aware of itself' The
more
forbidden situation' as much through discreet and in-
thc subjecr is able m assimilate from his partner'
the
objectivity' direct signs which reveal parental relations to his
more he sfengthens his personality and
sensibiliiy as by the fortuitous coincidences which
fte guarantors of future effecdveness'
unveil thlse relations to him. Through this double
R goup of siblings of different ages and sexes
process, tte same-sex parent functioT fq.the child
fosters connicdng identifications of the ego' The
simultaneously as the agent of sexual prohibition as
primordial imago of the double upon which the ego
of well as an example of its transgression'
models itself seems dominate<l at first by fantasies
The Ension created by this situation resolves it-
a form appearing in a phantasm common ro both
sclf by repression of the sexual tendency ' ' ' and by
se*cs: the pttutti. mothcr or the phallic double char-
sublimation of the parental image that will preserve a
acteristic of the neurotic fcmale. Even more easily
irlasten itself to atypical forms where extra symbolic idcat in consciousness. This process guar-
docs
unt."t u futurc correlation between psychic and phys-
appcntlages se€m Lo bc as im;rrrunt as organic dil'lcr-
lnis idcntiiication of *re narcissistic phasc iological attitudes at puberty. This double process
"n..t. ol has a profound genetic importance since it remains
corrcsponds to a healthy or deviant developmcnt
inscribcd in the psyche in two ineradicable ways: the
scxuaiinstinct: ei[hcr ir engcnders the overt demands
agcnt of reprcssion is calle<l the superego, while the
of homoscxuality or of somc sexual fetish, or in the
the pzuanoic cgo' it objectilies itself in the
agcnt which sublimates is called the ego ideal' To-
systcm of
gcthcr thcy rcprescnt the accomplishment of the Oed-
intcrnalized or cxtcrnaliz-ed pcrsccutor'
ipal crisis.
The frcquency of thc thcmes of filiation' usurpa-
The Obiective Vatue of the Complex-' ' 'ln
lion antl plundcring in rhc lratcrnal cornplex irrdicatc
light of thc Ocdipal situation, apparently random mis-
its conncction with paranoia; its narcissistic suucturc
rcvcals itscll' in its more paranoid thcmcs ol intru-
f-run.t in thc subjcct's history assume a signifi-
cancc anrl importancc which allow them !o replicate a
sion, power, splitting' the doublc, and all its somatic'
psychotic conversions. Thcse connecLions arc cx- similar fcaturc ol his personality. It is possible to be
pninea by *re fact that thc fzunily group, ruluccd u;
quitc prccise in srating that whcn these mishaps-
lraumas in irs cvolution---cmotionally aflect the Oed-
lhc mothcr and the siblings, designs a psychic com-
plcx in which reality tends to rcmain imaginary or ipal situation, they then repcat thcmselves in the
opcrations of the superego; if, as deviationsfrom the
complctcly abstract. Clinical expericncc shows how
effectively this incomplete group fosters the hatching
ntrm, thcy aflcct iLs constitution, they arc rcflected in
forms o[ thc ego idcal. In light of this schema, many
of psychoscs: lhc vast majority of "ddlires d deta"
problems such as inhibitions of crcative activity or
can bc found in thal environmcnt.
inucrsion of the sexual imagination, which often
makc thcmsclvcs known through somatic malfunc-
lions, havc found diagnosis and thcrapeutic relief'

lg
 CiticalTexts 5.3

The ltamily According to Freud formation. There also the mother, first object of the
desires to fecd from the breast and to merge wilh it, is
. . . Freud's earliest investigations revealed a lack what Oedipal desire frst gazes upon. This desire is
of symmetry between the two sexes in relation !o the obviously more characteristic of the male and it cre-
Oedipus; it was on this that he laid the foundation of ates for him a singular occasion for the reactivation
his theory. The trajectory from Oedipal desire to iLs of the weaning tendencies, i.e., sexual regression.
repression appea$ as direct as we earlier described it These tendencies do not only create a psychological
only with rcspect to the male child. . . . impasse; they are particularly in conflict with an
Ocdipal desire seems much more intense for the attitude of externalization characteristic of male
boy and, conespondingly, for the mother. In its activity.
mechanism, repression reveals features which only On the contrary, in the opposite sex, where these
seem warranted if, in is typical form, it is exercised tendencies have a possible outlet (the biological des-
by the father on the son. That is what locates lhe cas- tiny of the subjert), the maternal object, by turning
tration complex in the Oedipus. away part of the Oedipal desire, tends tro neutralize
The Castration Complex*This repression func- the potentiat of the complex and concomitantly ils
tions through a double affective movement in the effects of sexualization. The genital tendency, by
subject: aggression against the parent with whom his imposing a different object, detaches itself all the
sexual desire puts him in competition; an accom- more effectively and more easily from primitive at-
panying fear of meeting similar aggression in tractions; the girl child does not need to reverse the
response. The fantasy which underlies these two inherited internalization of these narcissistic tenden-
movements is so remarkable that it has been singled cies. Thus we arrive at the ambiguous conclusion
out in a complex called the castmtion complex' If that, in both sexes, the more we are able to grasp
this name is justified by the repressive and aggtessive about ttre formation of the complex, the more uncer-
aims which appear at that moment in the Oedipus, it tain seems to be its role in sexual adapration. . . .
is scarcely adequate to the fantasy in which it
originates.
The fantasy essentially consists in the mutilation The Repression of Sexuality
of a member, i.e., lhe penis, a dismemberment whose
aim is to castrate the male. The apparent reality of Fanstasms of Dkmemberment-lAs we have
this danger . . . led Freud to think that it was experi- seen, the repression ol sexuality is based on the cas-
enced first on the [teral level. He recognized in it a tration fantasy.l This fanusy is preceded by a whole
fear inspired from male tc male, i.e., by the father, series of dismemberment fantasies which go back in
the prototype of the Oedipal repression. a regressive sequence beginning with dislocation and
[Lacan argues that the taboo forbidding matemal dismemberment, through deprivation of sexual or-
incest in all cultures supports the theory o[ the cas- gans, to disemboweling and even to the fantasy of
Fation complex. He then criticizes Freud's theory of being swallowed up or entomkd.
the "primal horde" by asserting that "the universal The examination of such fantasies reveals that
traces and long survival of a matriarchal family srruc- their sequence is inscribed in a desrucdve and prob-
ture which developed all basic cultural forms, espe- ing form of penetration, which seeks the secret of the
cially a strong repression of sexuality, reveals that t}re maernal breast in spite of the fact that the subject
structure of the human family has foundations far re- experiences this return in a mode whose ambivalence
moved from male physical supremacy."J is in proportion to the fantasy's archaism. . . . In our
eyes, the interest these fanrasies have derives from
the obvious unreality of their structure. . . . They have
The Functions of the ComPlex: no connection with any real body; rather, they are as-
Psychological Revision sociated with a disjointed mannikin, a grotesque doll,
an accumulation of limbs in which we recognize the
Sexual ltlaturation narcissistic object whose origin we earlier mentioned-
In man this genesis is conditioned by the priority of
The Oedipus is set in motion by a triangular con- imaginary forms of the body over the control of fte
flict in tlre subject; we have already seen that the play body and by the defensive power the subject gives
of forccs arising from weaning produces a similar these forms to protect it against the terror of bodily

?0
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1

The Family Complexes

rcncling (shreclding), a teror characteristic of pre- object standing in ttre way of a stronger ego; (2) he
maturity. frustralion of desire that, according to the unchanging
The Moternal Origin of the Archaic Super- nature of hedonism, would result from the subject's
ego-T\ecas[ation fanuuy is linked wit]r the narcis- return to his primary hunger for assimilation; (3) an
sistic objecu coming into being before the infant can ego structure that is an incomplete introjection of the
spccify the boundaries of its own bodv or before it is object. To impress itself on the subject, [re imago
aware of adult threat, this psychic configuration does
juxraposes itself to the ego only in the diametrically
not depend on the subject's sex: it defines rather than opposed positions ol the unconscious and the ideal'
submis to uaditional educational formulae. I[ repre- The Originality of the Oedipal ldentification-
sents the protection that the narcissistic ego, identi- A structural analysis of the Oedipal identification
fied with is specular double, opposes to the renewal allows us to see in it a distinctive form. What first
of the anguish which, at the first moment of the Oedi- appears is an antinomy of functions which play the
pus, seeks lo disturb it. This crisis does not so much part of *re parental imago. The parental imago, in an
give rise to an awakening ol genital desire in the sub- unconscious form, inhibits sexual function; experi-
ject as it highlights the object which reactivat€s that ence demonstrates that the superego's restraining
desire, i.e, the mother. The subject responds to the action against renewals of the sexual tendency re-
anguish this object evokes by reproducing a maso- mains unconscious as long as the tendency remains
chistic rejection through which he overcomes his pri- repressed. Another acrivity of the imago is to pre-
mordial loss; but he acts out this rejecuon according serve this function under the cloak of ignorance,
to lhe sructure that he has acquircd, i.e., in an imrg- clearly a preparation for the function's future rerurn
inary localization ofthe attracrion/rejection. ' . . along the paths that represent the ego ideal in con-
In order to define the genesis of repression ac- sciousness. Therefore, if the sexual tendency is de-
cording to a psychological schema, we musl recog- fused under these two primary forms of unconscious-
nize in the castration fantasy both the imaginary ness and ignorance . . . the imago itself appears under
game [Fort-Da] which conditions it and t]re mother as two forms whose difference defines the lrst sublima-
the object which causes it. Analytic cxperience re- tion of rcality.
veals this radical form of thc counter-drives, which We cannot sufficiently emphasize the fact that
constitutes the most archaic nucleus of the superego the object of identification is not the object of desire,
and represents the most massive repression. This but rather, that which is opposed to desire in the Oed-
lorce is diffused as fte form is difterentiated, i.e', as ipal triangle. . . . This fact defines for us the original-
the subjcct increiuingly comprehends the repressive ity of the Oedipal identification: it seems to indicate
agency of adult authority. . . . Even though the super- that, in the Oedipus complex, it is not the moment of
ego rnight have received some traces of reality solely desire but the moment of the subject's narcissistic
fiom matetnat repression (the disciplines of weaning self-protection that raises the object to a new reality'
and sphincter control), it is in the Oedipus that re- In making the object emerge so that his position is
prcssion transcends its narcissistic form. tlrat of an obstacle to desire, this moment reveals that
object as surrounded by an aura of transgression per-
ceived as dangerous. It appears to the ego simultan-
The Sublimation of RealilY eously as the ground of prohibition and as the exam-
ple of triumph. This is why the object usually stands
Now we look at the role of the complex in thc in the place of the double with which the ego first
sublimation of reality, . . . Because of the subject's identifies and through which he can still confuse him-
identification with the imago of the same-sex parent, self with the other. The object brings security to the
the superego and tlre ego ideal can reveal trais simi- ego by srengthening and organizing is design, but at
lar to individual characteristics of that imago in the the same time it opposes the ego as an idea which al-
subject's experience. ternately brings euphoria and depression.
This is what the theory calls secondary narcis- This moment of the Oedipus provides a proto-
sism, which it does not distinguish from narcis;istic type of sublimation both through the role of the un-
,t
identification. In both there is an assimilation of the conscious presence that the sexual tendency plays in
I
a subject to the object who does not recognize any oth- it and through the configuration it gives to the object.
I er diffcrence between the two than the creation, by This configuration reveals itself in each crisis in
i mcans of Oedipal desire, of: (1) a larger than life human reality in which it produces tlrat condensation
I
d

l
{
21
 Critical Texts 5.3

itlrc invcstment ol a rvr:rd or rdca u'ith tlri: crnotiortul cause itis rnvestcd with repression, the patemal
cor)l.cnl. of a group ol idcasl whose mystcry \\'c mcn- imago projerts oul ol itself the power of the sublima-
tioned earlier; it is that aura of astonishment which tions which must overcome repression. This dialectrc
transfigures an object by dissolving its reflexive rela- operates on both the personal and the cultural levels,
tionships with the subject and which sets it apafl as accounting for the formation of norms and ideals,
no longer a means of satisfying desire; rather, it es- laws and creative inspirations. According to lacan,
rablishes the object as a fixed point of relerence for "the light of historical tradition shines fully only in
the establishment of lovc. . . . pariarchal records . . . mariarchies are merely the
Through the major crises of human rcality a ser- substratum of ancient culture."l
ies of opposing functions forms the subject, estab-
lishing guidelines for the undefined potentials ol his
progress. If the function of consciousness seems to Modern Man and the Conjugal Family
be to rcflrclprimordial anguish, and that of reflexive
relationships to reflect narcissistic conflict, then that Two functions in this process reflect on the
of the Oedipus complex secms to be to providc an sfucture of the family itself: the tradition of privi
example. lcged forms of marriage according to pariarchal
The Paternal Imago-Tlte structure of the Oedi- normst and the almost divine exaltation with which
pal drama points to the father as giving the function Christianity endows personal needs. The Church in-
of sublimation its pre-eminent and puest form. In tegrated the tradition of patriarchal maniage into
Oedipal identil'ication thc maternal imago betrays thc Christian morality by placing the free choice of the
contaminal.ion of prirnordiril identifications; she person as the highest priority in the marriage bond,
marks both the ego ideal and the superego with their thus faciliradng the decisive shift of the family insti-
forms and ambivalenccs. In the daughtcr's ciu;e, just tul.ion into its modern structtue, i.e., the secret sub-
as the repression of sexuality more readily imposes version of its social pre-eminence for the benefit of
that fragmentation on bodily functions in which we marriage. . . . The psychoanalyst's study focuses on
retognize hysteria, so the sublimation of the maternal the rclalionship of modern man's psychology to the
imago [the phallic mother] tends to be converted into conjugal lamily. . . . In our times Western man can-
a feeling of repulsion when that imago is dethroned not be understood outside the oppositions which con-
[at the sight of castration] and tum into a constant stitute his interactions with natue and society; how,
concern about the specular imagc. ounide of these oppositions, can we understand the
Insofar as it is dominant, lhe paternal imago po- anguish that man expresses in the feeling of prome-
larizes he most perfect forms of the ego ideal in the thean revolt against the conditions of his life? Nor
two soxes: thcsc forms actualizc the manly ideal for can we understand the lofty ideas tlrough which he
the boy and the virginal ideal for the girl. In poorly overcomes this anguish without recognizing that it is
dcvelopcd forms of tlrat imago we can point out psy- through dialectical crises that. he creates himself and
chical lesions, especially thosc which rcveal it as his object.
crippled or blindcd, withdrawing the cncrgy of sub- The Role of Family Formation-This subver-
limation and its crcative tfuust and facilirating its sive and critical movement through which man actu-
ret-rcal. into some ideal narcissistic integrity. The alizes himsclf has its most powerful source in three
fathcr's dcath, at whatcvcr stagc of devclopmcnt it charactcrislics of the conjugal family. This family
mighl occur and according to thc degrcc tliat thc [in conLra.st to earlier extcndcd families] places its
Oedipus is completcd, tcnds to rctard progrcss towiud authorily within immcdiate range o[ creal.ive subver-
rcality by fixing it at this stage. By connccting a sion by embodying it in a familiar figure in the im-
large number ol severe ncuroses to such causcs, cx- mediatcly preceding generation. . .. The psyche is
pcriencc contradicts a thcoretical bias which poinl.s to influenccd just as much by thc imago of the adult as
the ftreat of patemal force as the most important by his constraining force. This effect, seen in its
agent of neuroses. purest form between fatlrer and son, occurs through a
[Lacan discusscs thc influencc of thc Oedipus transmission of the ego ideal. It evokes . . . a gradual
complcx and the paternal imago on thc dcvelopmcnt realization ol the ideal character. . . .
ol thc patriarchal family. He comparcs matriarchal But most important, is the presence of sexual inti-
and patriarchal socictics, concluding that "thc Ocdi- macy opcrating in the standard-bearers of morality:
pus complex is relativc to a social structurc," Bc- thc example of the contravening imago of the father
t
I
,€

{
t The Family ComPlexes
1

'{
:{
n
I
who enforces the primordial prohibition raises libidi-
nal tension and the capacity for sublimation to their THB FAMILY COMPLEXES IN PATHOLOGY
highest degree.
The complex of the conjugal family creates su- 1. THE ROLE OF THE FAMILY COITPLEXES
perior achievi*entt in character, happiness and cre- IN PSYCHOSES
utlulty by resolving man's conflict with his archaic
anxieiy in the most humane way, by offering h.im
se-
.. In classifying the form of psychosis or the
.
cure lists to measure himself against the most impor- cause of neurosis as "familial" we understand this
rant figures of his destinY, and by putting- triumph rcrm in the snict sense of a social relationship' " '
over hls original servitude within reach of his
per-
[Those forms] which arise from biological
transmis-
sonal existence. sion alone will be called "heredit'ary" not "familial"
By providing the broadest possible differentia- ... . When we, among the first in France, became
tion lo the personality befbre the latency period' the interested in studying psychoses in their relation to
per-
complex endows the social confrontalions of that the personality, we were careful to maintain psycho-
person's rational
iod wirh maximal efficacity for the logical objectiviry' This led us !o the view that the
developmenL. .. w[ote psytne is affected by a wound or deficiency in
Tie Dectine of the Paternal Imagu- ' ' ' Is it ,o*e putt of is organization or functions' This idea
not significant that the family has been reduced to its . .. seemed even more applicable to the mental
pro-
biololical goup in proportion to its integration of ad- ducdons and social reactions of psychoses, i'e', [o
{I
u-t* in Jultural progress? A large number of psy- those deliriums and drives considered partial but
1 chological effects lndicate tio us a social decline of which, through their typicality, evoke the coherence
I
I rhe paternal imago.. . . This decline is intimately of an archaic ego' In their very disharmony they be-
connected !o the dialectrc of the conjugal family tray the inner law of such an ego.
since it is brought about by the reladve increase of If we recall that these ailments conespond to the
mariral demands, most noticeably in American life' ordinary classifications of madness, we will under-
Whatever happens in the future, this decline con- stand that there is no question of a true penonality
stitutes a psychological crisis n which, perhaps' we there, personality being a strucfue which implies
owe the appearance of psychoanalysis iself' ' ' ' The communication of ideas and responsible conduct' ' ' '
features oi ttre ma.lor neuroses at the end of the last Delusional Forms of Knowledge-The progress
century have shown that they were intimately depen- of our research allows us to recognize in the mental
dent on familY condltions. forms which constitute psychoses the reconstitution
Since the time of the first Freudian intuitions' of the stages of the ego which precede personality de-
these neuroses seem to have evolved along the lines velopment. Each of these stages can be charactsrizel
of a character complex which, both for the specificity by a conesponding suge of the object' fruf we can
of is form as well as flor its universality-it is the ,.dir.ou.t ln the objecs of psychotic thinking the
seed of the greatest numbcr of neuroses--we can
rec-
entire normal genesis of the object in the mirror rela-
(narcis-
ognize as the major contemporary neurosis tionship ol the subject tro the other' When there is ar-
siim). Our experience leads us to isolate is principle rested development, it is possible rc see how this mir-
determining factor in some deficiency of the father's roring process failed to integrate a fragmented per-
personality: his absence, his abjecrness, his ambiva- ception of the bodY. . . .
lence, or his hypocrisy. In keeping with our concep- In psychosis, the limits of the object's reality, the
tion of the Oedipus, this deficiency operates to dry up point at which sublimation recedes, seems located
rhe instinctive impetus as well as tJo flaw the dialcctic precisely in the moment which makes the distinctive
of sublimations' Like evil godmothers at the very quality oi the Oedipal actualization visible, i'e', the
cradle of the neurolic, powerlessness and visionary moment when the object's reality is established' ' ' '
impracticality surround his ambition so that he stifles It is at this moment that the seed of delusional think-
!
the achievements the world expecs from him, or he ing is sown. At this moment objecs, transformed by
I fails to recognize in the Other, against whom he,is in hallucinatory confusion, appear as moral shocks,
t rev,-!t, the source of his own acdon. enigmas, signs. A superficially assumed conformity
ttrough which the subject . . . was hiding the narcis-
sism of his relationship to reality breaks down in this
image-production.

I 23
 CiticalTexts 53

Such narclssism translates itself into the very expression of the complex and the complex tends to
form of the object. This can occur concomitantly express itself in the intenrionality of the ego. Psy-
with the revetatory crisis as the Oedipal object [the choanalyss commonly say that in psychoses the
mothcrl vanishes into a structure of secondary narcis- complexes are conscious, while in neuroses they are
sisrn. In psychosis this objccr remains ineducible ro unconscious. . . . The family themes that we isolate in
any surrogat€ or the cost of possessing iq its blind psychoses are only the potential and unchanging ef-
power overrides all possibility of compensation or fecs of the complex's structure, the represenlations
compromise: this is rhe psychosis of demand. The in which the ego stabilizes itself. Therefore they only
form of the object can also remain in abeyance at the present the morphology of the complex without re-
peak of the crisis as if the imago of the Oedipal ideal vealing eitlrer its organizarion or the hierarchy of its
had solidified at the moment of its transfiguation. In characteristics.. . .
psychosis the imago is not internalized through iden-
tification with a double; rherefore, the ego ideal
repeatedly projects iself onto exemplary objects The Determinism of the Psychosis
whose actions are completely extemal, living re-
proaches whose censure leads n vigilant warhful- It remains to be seen whether or not lhese com-
ness: this is the psychosis of hypersensiriviry. Fi- plexes, which play inciring and themalic roles in
nally, the object can be rediscovered deep wittrin the psychotic symptoms, also have a causative role in
structure of primary narcissism where its formation their essential meaning. . . .
wasarrested.... ' Family Faclors-ln many cases clinical presen-
tation alone shows their conelation with an anomaly
of the family situation. Whether tlrough an interpre-
The Function of the Complexes in Psychosis tation of clinical facts or through an exploration of
the subject" psychoanalysis demonstrates that the ego
The family complexes, either as causes of reac- ideal is often formed in the family in relarion o the
tions or as thsmes of psychotic thinking, play a re- brother-as-object. In turning the libido destined for
markable role in the ego at the diflerent stages where the Oedipus toward the imago of primitive homosex-
psychosis arresls it- . . . In psychosis, morbid reac- uality, this object supplies an ideal that is oo
tions are provoked by family objecrs when the reality narcissistic not to cotrupt the structure of sublima-
of these objecs is attenuatcd and their imaginary sig- tion. In addition, a "hot-house" atmosphere of the
nificance increased. . . . In the development of the family group tends to intensify the effects of close
psychosis the expressive ftmge of the family theme in grouping which are characteristic of the transmission
the psychotic consciousness indicates a function of of the ego ideal. . . .
increasing identification of the ego with rhe family It should be noted that the persistence of person-
object at fte expense of the disrance rhar the subjecr aliry anomalies in the paranoic's family is corrobo-
maintains between himself and his delusional belief. rated by the familiar term "nest of paranoics" that
If we proceed from lhe relative uncertainty in tie psychiatriss apply to milieux. Ir is also confirmed
claimant's world, from the injuries he alleges against by the frequency of transmission of paranoia in a di-
his relatives-and pass through tre increasingly ex- rect family [ine, often in aggravated forms of relative
istential significance that the themes of spoliation, or absolute paraphrenia and temporal precession in
usurpation, and relationship assume in the paranoic's the descendents as well as by an almost exclusively
self-concept-we arrive at those identifications in familial selection process that occun in cases of "d6-
which the paraptuenic's ego affirms iself: an heir liresddeux"....
snatched from his cradle, a secret spouse of a prince, It is in the "dClires d deux" that we believe we
mythic personages associated with the all powerful can best grasp the psychological conditions that play
Father [God], the filial Vicrim Uesusl, rhe universal a determining role in psychoses. Except in cases
Mother, the original Virgin tMaryl. This affirmarion where the delirium springs from a parent tainted witlr
of the ego becomes increasingly shaky as it becomes some mental defect which puts him in the position of
more profoundly psychotic. . . . a domestic tyrant, we have consistently encountered
As reactions are increasingly related l.o phan- these delusions in a family group we call "ampu-
tasms and as delusional thinking increasingly objecri- tated," where the social isolation which it fosters has
fies itself, the ego tends ro confuse iself with the iE maximum effect, i.e., in the "psychological cou-

.A
t

TheFamilY ComPlexes

or lwo sls- svstem reveals a quality of human rarlity that is

olc" forme.d by rhe mother and a daughter ;;;ii; ,ou.tu-,ur. ir nii tvttt* is rather
poorlv de-
'r.i, i;;;;iituav of thc Papins)' morc r,relv bv a
;;ilr;;* ".go ideai," which is still confused
can.be un-
mother and son' ;;;;t". with "superego," its originality
;;;; by pointing to the fact that it establishes
as the
the
ana-
same hold-on tte secret of consciousness
2. FAMILY NNUROSIS
has on the mystery o[ the unconsclous' ' ' '
''""Fii
lvst
rristeitiat-Drama of the Person-lf the
tliscussion of the causes
[Lacan reprises Freud's orrrhirtraitswhichescapefromegocontrolftrst
t;;;-;;t'in relation to earlv childhood experi- in infancy'
"i seducdon or
fnt first of these causes is sexual-lhese.
;il;t; the effect of sexual repression
closer. in time
"n*. of the primal sccne' experi- tffi; lormed lrom an experience
process' t
it. *irnttting"ei*,e, und ,*rrur. to the separation
-"* i 'gl1th'
."t.t .""f0 Oitett sexuality into abnormal
mke a colrect evoludonary
ftt, .onnection of such psychic traits with suchusa
;;;;"lt or &ey could
of inlant sexualitv primary experience remains obscure'
It seems to
;;;; ith" pleasure and curiosity
thatour idea of rhe mirror sr'age' which extends the
*iti, irt normal satisfacLion in the auto-erolicism t"pp"t.A rauma of this experience to *: :l.ott *'-
.tlor,*o).Sexual tendencies are formed
;t*;;
complexes through the normal
family ii of fun.tional fragmentadon ' ' ' can contribute to at-
i"-ivpi.ur .frifyi"g it. This Juge illustrates the subject'st*o
structure, which provides their
first objecs' For
forms he "nucleus of ;;;;; r"^tume masGry.or this t1r1ll1t^Xtn
Freud, this family consellation pryini, demonstrationst hit raking to himself'
under

in. guir. of a game which consism in

neurosis,"] rejecting the
moment of
The neurotic symptom represents a ;;. &e original experience of tearing-apart; and
not know
ttc zuttiect's e*pe'ienie in which he does per' irJ.iiit"'^t"n1r nit body's unity under the.guise of
of a split in the
t o* ioi..ognize himseli, a form iO."rify*g with a minor image' This
is.a phenome-
has comprehcnded the original
sonaUty. B-ut while analysis J ;.-us which, bv shbwing
moves
ptoJ".tiun of the synprom, its unders".id:lg
to
";;;
i;;"t,;. abilities to mim-
human subject;s inherent ":t..th.tit
function in relation ttre other that he
irom its obviously expressive i.-nir'*unrrdon and see himself as
obscure function as a de-
ir," un.onrrious to its morc it,'.ttUf.t us to understand the basic reason for
a cer-
recent view Freud life'
i."* tg^i"t, anguish' In his most
which' although ain servitude characteristic of man's He real-
,o"tiOCtt this anguish as ilre signal izes that he must overcome a specific threat and that
situation ol separation' is
t"l"ff from the primordial a castralion he owes his welfare to one of his own specles' ' ' '
;;i the alert ty anything resembling
Thc ego only completely differentiates.itself
in
"" lf it is true *rat the symptom lragments the
',1,,ng"r.
Only then.does this
in ac- the conflici of iniant sexuality'
p.tt"*.riiv',he subjcct's defense would consist ;;;;,ty fulfill its function on the biological level'
to this clanger by cutting olf the symp- superego'
io*rnoouiing Tht.g; also diffcrentiates itself when the
,JJ, u.."tt" to reality by disguising it in either a ,f"""in the prohibition of a biologically inadequate
ora sublimated form' ' ' '
"'" "iprrifrc
symbolic ouj-eci wtrictL oflers desire
its flrst assures'
Distortions of Human Reali.ty-The
ef- ry::ring'
of sexual prematurity' The fi-
that are the psychic correcuon
fecs of piohibition, which create connecdons nal'ditfcrcntiation occurs when' through
imaginary
and that only mani-
inaccessible lo conscious control iOcntitication, the ego ideal orients
choice to an ob-
clearly
irrt tf,.*r.tues in human behavior negativcly'psycho- iect Uioloeically adequate to adolescent maturity'
of '
,."Luf ,n"it intcntional form to the light in This-momcnt facilitates the subsequent
attarn-
was.misnken
(I ."^iytit-. .. Classical psychology the sub- mcnt of specific ego synthesis at the
so-called age of
I
I i.ii.uing that the.go, i"', this object whe.re
he reason. . . . nbou" all it marks the affecdve passage
that
i."t i. ,Jn."ted as coordinatctl with a reality inioi.uritv, which is linked to the integration
of sex-
the
I recognizes as exrcmal to himself' comprehends l" the subject' There lies the second knot of
the subject's psy-
t iil;ty of relations that determine ""liry
theexistentialdramathat'theoedipuscomplextiesat
chological situadon. ' .' the same timc that it loosens the
first' ' ' '
It system oJ un-
Freud contrasted !o this idea the The Distorted Form of the Oedipus-Having
.on*iou, prohibitions we have just defined this
as the
I! our purpose of restoring the ab-
balance thus accomplished
"superego'; It seems important to us to ,ou.t t"r*, developed in the analysis of neurosis to
it to system of ideal
I tyt[* l,*t"tically by linking a
ego' this their existential lcvel, we can more adequately
define
;;il;;t . . . tn is imaginarv forms of tlre
1

I
{
! 25
 CitiealTexts 53

the l'amily's role in the genesis of these pathological ciosely resemble certain hystcrical symptoms that it
sutcs. This rolc is connccted to the double function is hard not to seek in this original stage of "somatic
of the Oedipus complex: through is irregular effects indulgence" what is admittedly a constitutional con-
in narcissistic dcvclopment, it affects tie structural dition of the hysteric. Through a mutilating sacrifice,
formation of the ego; through the images it brings to anxiety is "hidden" in the hysterical symptom; in the
that. sructure, it causes a certain affective enlivening hysteric's desriny the effort to repair the ego is
of rcality. The regulation of these elfects is concen- marked by a recurrent reproduction of repression. . . .

Lrated in the complex insofar as forms of social inter- Obsessional Neuroses-The obsessional symp
action in our culture ere amenable to reason, a rea- tom which Jane[ conectly recognized in the dissocia-
sonableness that it reciprocally determines by human- tron of the ego's organizing behaviors-obsessive ap-
izing the ego idea-I. On the other hand, an unruly prehension, obsessive compulsion, rituals, coercive
development may result from the growing demands behavior, worrying and scrupulous obsession, obses-
that this culture imposes on the ego, inhibiting its sional doubt-receives its meaning from "the dis-
coherence and creative vinlity. placement of affect" in representation. . . .
The hazards and whims of this regulation in- [n repression] it reveals itself most frequently
crease at. tre same rate as social progress which, by under the form of guilt created by an aggressive ten-
fostering the evolution towards the conjugal family, dency that has suffered displacement. This structure
subjccts it increasingly to individual variations. closely resembles the effects of sublimation and the
From this anomie (the collapse of social structures forms which analysis uncovers in obsessional thought
goveming a given society), which esl,ablished fav- of the object, causal disconnection from
orable conditions for thc discovery of the complex,
-isolation
fact, retrospective cancellation of the event. Because
springs a form of distortion under whose guise the ftese forms of obsessional thinking manifest them-
complcx is familiar to analysn. We will dehne this selves as caricatures of the forms of knowledge, one
form as an incomplete repression of desire for the cannot fail to look for the origins of this neurosis in
mother accompanied by the renewal of the anxiety the first activities of ego identification. Many ana-
and curiosity inherent. in experiencing the birth of a lysts recognize this when they insist. on the presence
sibling. The nzrcissistic degeneration of the ideal- of a premature development phase of the ego in these
ization of the father brings out the innate aggressive subjects. Obscssional symptoms arc the superstruc-
ambivalence in the Oedipal identification and aims it tures of thc pcrsonality used to deceive anxiety. In
toward primordial conncctions wittr the sibling. . . . the desLiny of the obsessional pcrsonality the attempt
to restore the ego expresses itself through a tanlaliz-
ing pursuit of the feeling of its unity. . . .
Transference Neuroses The Family as a Cause of Individual Symptom-
atology-We se€ then that the occurrence of trauma
. . . In narcissistic development the inegular ef- in narcissistic development. determines both the form
fccts of the Oedipus complcx determine the transfer- and the contents of the symptom. Because lhe cause
ence neuroses: hysteria and neurotic obsession. . .. is external, the trauma will at least temporarily affect
They demonstrate that sexuality, as well as man's the passive before the active side of this develop-
wholc psychic development, is subject to the law of menl All division in conscious identification of the
communication that specifically determines it. . . . ego would seem lo involve a foundation of functional
Ilysteria-:lhe hysterical symptom is the disin- fragmentation: this conlrms the hysterical bed-rock
tcgration of a somatically localized function: paraly- that analysis encounters each time it is able to recon-
sis, numbness, ache, blocking, pathological blind stitute the archaic evolution of obsessional neurosis.
spots; it receives its meaning from "organomorphic Once the first effects of trauma have hollowed out
symbolism"-according a
to Freud, fundamental their niche in one of the walls of the existential
structure of the human psyche, which reveals the re- drama, once they adopt a position of either separation
pression of genital satisfaction tkough a kind of or idenrification vis-ri-yrs the ego, the pattem of the
maiming. neurosis continues to accentuate it.. . .
This symbolism . . . should be considered as a It is' within the contcxt of narcissistic develop-
specific form of the psychic data emerging from rhe ment that. we understand the unchanging importance
stage of the fragmented body. Certain motor phenom- of the sibling's birth .. . which is measured by its
ena characl.eristic of this developmental stage so effecs in the identification process: it often acceler-

26
 ,''
..: ';.

.1
.i
,{
t
The Family ComPlexes
dq

This fact puts parental neurosis at the source of

atcs the fonnalion of the ego and attaches irs struc-
all causes of neurosis; even though our preceding re-
turc to a defcnse that may show up in avaricious or psy-
marks on the essential connection of neurosis to
sclf-ccntcrcrl chiuactcr trais. . . ' Wc can no tongcr great diversity.in the
chological determinism imply a
minimize rhe ilnportancc of tlrc lamily complex in will tend
formJof induced neurosis, its transmission
the gcnesis neuroses; we must revcal its signifi-
of
.-& in the existential expressions of the individ- to similarity because of the afiective insight which
opens the infant,'s psyche to the most hidden meanlng
ual's life drama.
ofadultbehavior. '..
Se nt N e uro s is-The hrst abenation
lf- P u nishme
is defined self-punishment
as neurosis because of the
Personalily Disorders interactions in the Oed-
conflict implied in father-son
ipal complex. The richness oi this conflict comes
We can see tiat pcrsonality disordcrs have cer- selection which
from its guut-r." of psychological
ain constant connecdons between their typical forms of each gencration to the pre-
grew up' makes the opposition
,l ancl the family sructure in which the subject of the patriarchal
us to recognize ceding one the dialecdcal condition
1
Psychoanalytic rescarch has allowed
traditLn. However, following any break in this ten-
be-havior ptLbl"*t o personality
that had bcen linked
i the same sion in a given generation, produced either through
irliosyncrasy as neuroses. Research finds
{ some individual weakness or some excess of patemal
l paraioxicat unconscious intentions and imaginary
domination, the individual whose ego is deflected
bUit.tt in them as are revealed in symptoms of clas-
i' from the straight course will also be subjected to the
sical neuroses. In bolh theory and practice this
re-
d
of the psychoanalytic additional burden of an overly punitive superego' ' ' '
I search has verified the dynamic
cure, i.e., the substiturion of a dynamic concept of
In our view, the pathological strengthening of an
I individual's superego occurs in two ways: from the
temperament for the static nodon of organization'
The superego and the ego ideal arc the prerequi-
rigor of patriarchal domination or from tyrannical
I fo-rms of prohibition which emerge from the immobi-
I sites of the suUlect's [pcrsonality] sructure' Their
lizing domestic bonds of the matriarchal structure'
sympnmatology can revcal a disintegration caused
Religious ideats and their social equivalens easily
I by rheir interference in the ego's genesis; their symp-
become vehicles of psychological oppression insofar
toms can also express themselves through a disequi-
,i
I
librium of their own agency in the personality as the family reduces them to the narrow goal of
I
identifying them with either the family's name or its
through a variation of what can be called the sub'
T
1

,l
ject's pcrsonal formula. . ' pedigree.
'
I Personality disorder betrays itself through scat- The most striking cases of these neuroses are
produced in such circumstances: although they are
I tered impediments in a person's activities, tlrough
called self-punitive neuroses. . . . they might be better
imaginary impasses in relations to reality' ' ' ' The
classihed as "success neuroscs." They reveal them-
ties that personality disorder has to family structure
selves in a whole series of behaviors-failure, inhi-
arc due to the role ol parental objects in the lormation
of thc superego and the cgo ideal' In this study ' ' ' birion, clegradation-in which psychoanalysts have '
I leamed to recognize unconscious intention. Analytic
we have lnsisteO on the father's double role: he both
experience suggests that the ellccts of self-punish-
I reprssents authority and is at the same dme a[ the
mcnt cxrend cvcn to the point of causing organic ill-
hearr of scxual revelation. We have traccd thc double
1 progress o[ his imago's ambiguity: as incarnation ol
nesses. They also clarify the rc-creation of certain
more or lcss scrious mishaps that occur at the same
I repression and as catalyst of an essential acccss to
rcality. . . . age as when they happened to the parent; cerlain
i Ir is apparent that ftc subjcct forms his superego
in activity and character and other kinds of
"hung"t
idenrification bchaviors are included in these effects'
I and cgo ideal not so much on the parcnhl cgo as on
homologous agcncies of his personality; what we Many suicidc cases also occur when a similar mo-
! mean to say is that, in the idcntification process mentous deadline has passed, for example, the fa-
t
which resolves lhc Oedipus complex the child is ther's age at his dcatlr. All of these events raise the
1

mc,rc sensitive to intentions which are affecti'vely unique question of psychological heredity.
It Personality Introversion and Schizonoia-A
communicated by his parent than to whal can be ob-
jectively obscrved from his bchavior. second aberration of the family situation is defined
within the scope of thc psychic clfects of the Oedipus
II
I
!
I
t 2'l
 CiticalTerts 53

insofar as it controls thc sublirnation ol scxuality. cquilibrium, which in thesc cascs constitutcs lhc
Wc have uied to cxplain drr:sc c{Tccts as an imagina- family circlc, that we must undersurnd matcmal
tivc hcightening of rcality. Bccause a whole range of frigidity and measure its effcct. We think that the
anomalous concerns arc ascribcd to it, these justify, psychological fate of the child depends above all on
for thc sake of clcarcr undcrstanding, tlre systcma- the rapport which the parental figures show between
tizcd usc of the term libido in psychoanalysis. Noth- themselves. Thcrefore, parental disharmony is al-
ing othcr than thc etfrnal being of desire is a suitable ways harmful to the child. No recollection remains
term for designating thc variations that clinical prac- morc sensitivc in his memory than the recognil,ion of
ticc reveals in thc subjcct's conccrn for reality, in the the ill-matched nature of their union; even the most
cnhusiasm which sustains his conquests or creations. carcfully guarded expressions of this disharmony
It is striking to observe that as this enthusiasm wanes, have pemicious effects. No combination of circum-
thc intcresl. that. thc subject focuses on his own pcrson stances is mgre favorable to neuroses-inducing iden-
uikes the form of an imaginative game rclating either tifications than the child's acute perception of the
to his physical intcgrity, his moral values, or to his neurotic barriers which separate the parenls in their
social rcprcsentations. rclationship to each other. This is especially true in
This structure ol intrapsychic involution, which the casc of the father because of the revelatory func-
we call introversion . . . corresponds to the explana- tion of the paternal imago in the process of sexual
tion o[ narcissism rvhich defincs it as a psychic form sublimation,
in which a specific lack ol human vilality is compcn- Prevalence of lhe Weaning Complex-We must
satcd. . . . relate the sexual disharmony between the parents to
In this devclopmcnt we havc shown thal two the widcspread condition that kecps the weaning
forms stand out bccause of thcir crucial function: that, complex in a devclopmcntal stage that can bc classi-
of thc double and that ol thc cgo ideal, the sccond fied undcr several neurol-ic modcs.
reprcscnting thc final mctiunorphosis of thc [irst. The subject will bc condcmncd to indefinitely re-
Thc cgo ideal substitutcs lor thc doublc, i.c., for the peat the clfort to dcfach himself froni the mother. In
anticipatcd imagc o[ cgo unity at the momcnt when it that cffort cirn bc found the meaning of all kinds of
is atuined, the ncw anticipation of the subjrct's li- driven bchaviors ranging from running away in child-
bidinal maturity. That is rvhy all dcficiency in the hood to compulsive wandering to the chaotic ruptures
imago frat forms thc cgo idcal will tcnd to producc a of relationships which characteriz-c behavior atalater
ccrt.ain pcrsonality introvcrsion through narcissistic stage; or else the subjcct rcmains a prisoner of lhe
subduction of tlrc libido. This introvcrsion cxpresscs complcx's imagcs and is subjugatcd to cithcr their le-
itsclf as a rnorc or lcss rcgrcssive sugnation in the thal impulscs or to their narcissistic forms. . . . This
psychic relations formcd by the weaning complex, psychic stagnation also has a social corollary in the
This esscnti:rlly dclincs thc analytic conccption of stagnation of domestic bonds, where the family mem-
schizonoia. bers remain glued togetirer by their "imaginary ill-
Disharmony of lhe Parental Couple-Analysts nesscs" in a nuclcus isolated from society, as slerile
havc stressed causcs of neuroses which are consti- in its exchangcs with society as it is uselcss to its
tutcd by the mothcr's libidinal problems; evon lhc ovcrall design.
lcast cxpericnce rcvcals a frigid mothcr in numcrous Sexual Inversion-We must finally distinguish
cascs of ncuroscs, a moLhcr whosc scxuality wc un- a third abcrration of fre family situat.ion which also
dcrstand as a turning asidc frorn its propcr course in involves scxu;rl sublimation and sclcctively aflects its
inl"cractionwith the child and, in the proccss, sub- most dclicate lunction. This function's purpose is to
vcrting its nature. This is thc mother who ovcrpro- ensue psychic sexualization, i.e, to bring about a
tccts and pampcrs through an cxccssive tendcrness dcfinite conformity between the subject's imaginary
which morc or lcss cxprcsscs an inhibitcd sexual pcrsonality and his biological sex. This rapport can
longing; or a mother whosc bchavior ranges lrom in- be invcrtcd at sevcral levcls of thc psychic structure,
explicable harshncss to wortllcss scvcrity motivated thus sowing the seed for the psychological movement
by an unconscious cruclty which bctrays a deepcr fix- toward mani fcst homosexuality.
alion of thc libido. Analysts have only had to refer to the obvious
A true appreciation of thcsc cascs cannot avoid facts of clinical presentation to implicare the moth-
taking into account. a corrcsponding anomaly with the er's rolc in this development, eirher through the ex-
fathcr. It is within thc vicious circlc ol libidinal dis- cesses o[ hcr tcnderness or through her virile tnis.

28
 The FamilY ComPlexes

one of is most
through a tn- with social forms, constituE a culture'
For the male subjecr, inversion occurs .f,tu.oritri. qualities is the way trat it defines
the
level'
pf. *..tunitm. Occasionally at dre consc.ious *.f. t"a femate life principles'weThe orig-ins of our
watch-
iu, *ort frequently on the level of altendve ;;;;t too bound m what can only call the
i"r"ttt-it"t" affective fixadon on tte mother
is an the parriarchal family for it not to
impose
woman' On ""g-.t
which results in tre exclusion of another "f
tf,J tuf" principle on all the forms
of psychic devel-
level' thanks to
u *ora profound but still pencrable ri fostered. The moral presdge accorded to
ambivalcnce ""r""i
noctic intuirion, we sce the narcissistic iri.'*"io:'"itility" reflects the measure of this bias'
tuuj*t, identihes with the mother and ---- of
ilt'-"nriit-*,. image' A ,rnr. of balance' which is the foundarion
ii.nrifi.t the love objecr witir his own mirror a form all thought, requires that this
principleiaye a reverse
provides
The relarion of his mother to himself ria.iGi.^rla it is the occlusion of the feminine
his object
;;;;" th" mode of his desire and choice oi pri".ipf" by the masculine ideal' whose enduring
a"gta"td forever, his desire moved by
tenderness
r" the double in
'*..,ft.rgttout the ages of this culure has been the
i'no-Julu,ion, his object reproducing of the
there uirgin ln ult ner mystery' It is characteristic.
;;resent. Finally, at tre depth of the psychewhich the miio ttat ir rcnds to myttrotogize the c-ontradictions
is a uuly castraung lntervention ttfough oinu*- exisrcnce; rhe very weight of-these
super-
t*n"iit given an outlet for her own virile demand' can cause them to opple and form
an "un-
---- "the
essential role of the reladon between
;;;;t bond
OlrsiAe." To tre moralist there is
H.r. no clearer
ttt pui"ntt is verified even more stongly: analysts
in irr." irt" which unites the social acceptance of psy-
;;ih*r. how the mother's character is expressed a utopian shifting of cultural ideals
a domestic tyr- chic inversion n
the conjugal arrangement ttrrough paradise)' The
or obvioll-'^, ' betrav ii,;., ; drilt toward a "male-only"
;;;y.-;;T;*s, belhev hidden
)C; perceiues the unique power gl tTt bond in
protest against mascu-
their dmp-seated meaning as a
fincls its most ;;;;i ethical sublimity under which tte invert's
iin. uutr,otlty' This p'otttt ,obvious ;;ilt exercises her most explicitly emasculating
in-the saus-
,y*Uoti., moral and matcrial expression
i..ti". oi rlotOing the pursc srings' The. husband's --
action.
assue a kind of har- lt is not by chance that we finish this essay
.*pio*ir"t, wh-ich regularly
the *niJ syst tatizes family neuroses- by aturns
discussion
;;;; f;t rhe couple, only makc more obvious nf osvchic inversion' If psychoanalysis
its at-
;iil;" collusions thaimate the marit'al state the ideal ;;"lil i;"'" the obvious form of homosexuality to
milieu lor culdvating neuroses' ' ' ' more subtle conflicts of inversion'
it
recognizc tre
Prevalenceof the Msle Principle-An addition- this imaginary impasse of sexual
po-
one that riltiu"a.tt*nd
al consideration seems to be imperative' ilil;; as a social conuadicdon in which
its cul-
conditions' It
unites family processes with cultural ,ita, itt ."ttoms and arts, its conflicts and thought'
consequence of the
;;t" seenthat the long-rangeprotest against male arc invisiblY entangled'
i*optt complex is woman's
which' together
."irt,itlrv. In ihe hierarchy of values

29