Theory of Character and Characterization

de f g hi j r jklg t y g s t mj r j f nl t op h k qg hr t mj r jk l s y lk hr u k r j k h t i k h t m nf sj t m onr m u k h t u k lvj t ks onu Fink, 1956: 25. In those phases, there are some parties who are included. They are mother and father. In this point, Lacan presented a different definition and understanding of terms mother and father . According to Freud s thought, mother and father are defined as biological parents that a person has. Differently, Lacan erased the sense of biological in his own definition of those terms. To Lacan, what to emphasize more is the function of mother and father . Therefore, they might be anything. As mentioned briefly earlier, mother is the first individual from whom a baby separated a self. Based on this statement, term mother might be understood as the person who gave a birth to the baby. However, in some cases Lacan also called a babysitter as a mother. Essentially, mother is the person who intensively takes care of the baby. The mother manifests herself in the real as the primary caretaker of the infant Evans, 1996: 121. Lacan s father appears in more various forms. Playing a role as a father in Lacan s thought means separating the baby from the mother and teaching languages. Teaching languages in this context means showing how a reality speaks and then teaching the way to respond it. Thus, Evans also mentioned that a father makes possible an entry into social existence 1996: 62. While the term mother is commonly used in many contexts without being different in meaning, Lacan s concept about father includes three terms: the real father, the imaginary wx y z t {| r } z ~ t {| sy € ‚ƒ„ … y z t {| r † ‡ ~ An Introductory Dictionary to Lacanian Psychoanalysis } t {| r | z ƒ y z t {| r „ s t {| €z ~ w { ‚ „ s said to be ˆ ‰Š| … ts  „ ‚ƒ‚‹ „…z ƒ y z t {| r Evans, 1996: 63. The imaginary father could be defined as the ideal figure of father that a subject has. This figure is commonly omnipotent and an all- powerful protector 1996: 63. The symbolic father is not a real being but a position, a function, and hence is synonymous with the term paternal function 1996: 63. This paternal function is what has been explained before about father s role. In other term, the symbolic father is also called the name of the father . In relation to mother, father is the one who runs the function of giving other versions of reality to be seen by the subject out of subject s own mother s version of reality. Therefore, father usually does an action of repression in order to make the subject able to comprehend the reality. Father needs to teach the subject to repress subject s desire which usually is related to a bond to the mother by setting a condition for a subject to do something before gaining pleasure from it. A common example of it is the requirement to get parents appreciation by leading education as high as possible.

b. The other and the Other

Both terms other and Other generally refer to the concept of subject alteration. In Freud s thought, term other is used to express the other person and the otherness . Lacan developed the concept and distinguish the little other with non-capitalized initial letter o and the big Other with capitalized initial