Jacques Lacan's Theory Of Development

Jacques Lacan’s theory of development explains how infants mature psychologically. The stages of his concept include the Imaginary, the Mirror, and the Symbolic. The first is where children begin to understand control. Babies learn to manipulate their environment as an extension of their own base needs and desires. There is no separation between the baby and the outside world. Following the discovery of control, infants undergo the Mirror stage, where they learn to recognize their own image in a mirror as something they can control, but as a separate entity. Then the child loses their power in the Symbolic stage to an authority figure. Lacan claims the father reveals the limited power the infant actually has. The child cannot control …show more content…
He is ecstatic at his discovery and “quickly collected some branches” (Shelley 69). His ability to control fire is similar to an infant’s power over its mother. She reacts swiftly to the whims of the child, which leads them to think they have authority. This illusion of sovereignty lasts for different amounts of time for each individual; the Creature stays in this stage for a long time as he develops control over more things. When he discovers the De Lacy family, he begins to exert this authority. He discovers their need for firewood, and “brought home firing sufficient for the consumption of several days” (Shelley 74). When the young De Lacy girl finds the wood, “she uttered some words in a loud voice, and the youth joined her, who also expressed surprise” (Shelley 74). The Creature affects the emotions of these two people and his control over them pleases him as …show more content…
However, he is fearful of the promised visit, and he tells the reader, “I thought that I prepared only my own death”. However, when the Creature visits on the wedding night instead of murdering his creator as Frankenstein assumed, he kills the new wife. The obvious reason that he executes Elizabeth is to exact revenge, but the Creature’s decision derives from his unconscious need to go back to “the real”. In order to achieve his goal, he needs to control his authority figure. When his bride dies, Frankenstein chases after her murderer. As noted by Paul Sherwin, “the killing of Elizabeth is at once a way of establishing a relationship with the only human being to whom he can claim kinship” (889). The Creature now controls Frankenstein because he has no one else to live for. Revenge is the only thing keeping him alive. For as Frankenstein chases after his creation, the Creature motivates and leads him: “sometime he himself, who feared that if I lost all trace I should despair and die, often left some mark to guide me” (Shelley 141). Frankenstein knows the Creature is manipulating him, yet, continues to