From Which the Monster Cannot Escape
Kathryn Knight
Through the lenses of the psychoanalytical point of view, readers can grasp a better understanding of the significant emotions that go through the minds of some of the most prominent literary characters. If one were to look back of some of the more well-known literary works through psychoanalysis, they might be able to truly see the struggles and endeavors that characters must endure throughout the duration of their stories. One of the most prominent participants in the early stages of psychoanalysis, Jacques Lacan, offers a theory that readers can apply to literary works to better understand the struggling yet evolving developments that characters must go through: the mirror stage. The mirror stage is the moment early on in a person’s life when they form an identification with the “Ideal-I.” Several of the most well-known literary characters in the English language exemplify this stage throughout their stories, including Frankenstein’s monster in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Throughout the duration of the gothic novel, the creature that is brought to life through science undergoes the mirror stage yet is unable to escape it due to rejection from his imago and the society from which he lives, thus leading to the failure to fully compensate certain distinctions that most humans are able to understand.
According to Lacan, the mirror stage takes place early on in the beginning of one’s life and is the moment when one recognizes itself with the image of the self. As a result, one will undergo the occurrence of “the transformation that takes place in the subject when he assumes an image” (Richter 644). In other words, one will see a fictional yet unified version of themselves that is made whole via the image that appears in front of them in the mirror. The reflection that one sees in the mirror during this point is a fantasy that represents of completeness that they do not possess yet will always strive towards. Any other self-images that one was to experience occur after a person has acquired language and has begun interacting with others, thus making any other self-images constructs of the ‘other.’ This psychoanalytical stage helps formulate the ego, which is dependent of the ‘other’ since it exists as a mirror image that has spawned from identification with external figures: “...this form situates the agency of the ego, before its social determination, in a fictional direction, which will always remain irreducible for the individual alone...whatever the success of the dialectical syntheses by which he must resolve as I his discordance with his own reality” (Richter 644).
In the beginning of Frankenstein, the monster is in the mirror stage as well as finding his ego. Similar to an infant, the monster first enters the mirror stage when his discovers his reflection: “but how was I terrified when I viewed myself in a transparent pool” (Shelley 90). Serving as a literal representation of the mirror stage, one is able to see the monster playing the role of the infant that is discovering himself as an actual individual for the first time. Unlike most people that undergo the mirror stage, the monster is left without someone to serve as his “other” because he is immediately rejected Dr. Frankenstein, his creator. Since the monster is initially left without an “other,” he is unable to seek completeness of identity. Mental capacity plays a significant role in the mirror stage, as well as finding one’s ego. This aspect of the mirror stage is something that the monster lacks whilst stuck in this development because his “parent” failed to teach him right from wrong—an aspect which is critical in the formation of his identity.
A significant aspect of the mirror stage is that of the beginning steps towards forming an “Ideal-I.” When someone recognizes themselves in the mirror for the first time, they begin to form an identity that is separate from the “other.” However, unlike most people that go through the mirror stage, the monster cannot reconcile his own reflection and is unable to form a complete identity that he can call his own. Due to the fact that the “Ideal-I” that he has formed in his mind does not match with the one that is revealed to him through his reflection, the monster is unable to feel a sense of self unity because he is only able to understand himself as a monster instead of an actual person: “At first I started back, unable to believe that it was indeed I who was reflected in the mirror; and when I became fully convinced that I was in reality the monster that I am, I was filled with the bitterest sensations of despondence and mortification” (Shelley 90).
After he is continuously rejected by society, he turns his attention to the De Lacey family. The De Lacey family assumes the role of the typical parental figure during the mirror stage of a normal human. Most infants that go through the mirror stage do not typically have someone who is not their parent to serve as their imago, but the monster had no choice to but to do so because his own “parent” abandoned him. The monster observes the family by recognizing the gesture of the children stacking the wood for the adults. In order to correct any wrongdoings that he had done to do them, the monster attempts to make things rights by doing the same actions as the children. The De Lacey family ends up serving as the inspiration for how the monster models his “Ideal-I”: “When I slept, or was absent, the forms of the venerable blind father, the gentle Agatha, and the excellent Felix, flitted before me. I looked upon them as superior beings, who would be the arbiters of my future destiny” (Shelley 91). Even though he has a substitution to serve as his inspiration for an “Ideal-I,” the monster’s sense of self-unity is already broken. Since he is unable to formulate a complete sense of unity based on the identity that he associated himself with, he is unable to complete the mirror stage and cannot escape it: “I was dependent on none, and related to none. ‘The path of my departure was free,’ and there was none to lament my annihilation. My person was hideous and my stature gigantic. What did this mean? Who was I? What was I? Whence did I come? What was my destination? These questions continually recurred, but I was unable to solve them” (Shelley 103).
Due to his conflicting identities and his inability to form a sense of self unity, the monster that was created by Frankenstein cannot fully complete the mirror stage. Once he is rejected by the De Lacey family, the monster servers any ties he had to the human world and replaces any sense of self-awareness with the feelings of loss and confusion. He did not first consider himself to be the horrific and treacherous abomination that society has deemed him to be, but rather an actual man. After he realizes that he can never become the image the he first identified with and that he is left with nothing but the reflection of the image that he identifies as his actual self, the monster remains permanently trapped within the mirror stage. Since the sympathetic creature has been drive to lose his mind due to the abandonment of his imago’s and his failure to unify his ego, he is driven to become the monster that everyone deems him to be. Not only is he stuck within the mirror stage and has no chances of escaping it, he is doomed to be imprisoned within the horrific characterization that society has burdened him with.
Works Cited
Lacan, Jacques. “The Mirror Stage as Formative of the Function of the I as Revealed in Psychoanalytic Experience.”
The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends, edited by David H. Richter. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016. 644. Print.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. London: Bounty Books, 2015. 90-1. Print.
According to Lacan, the mirror stage takes place early on in the beginning of one’s life and is the moment when one recognizes itself with the image of the self. As a result, one will undergo the occurrence of “the transformation that takes place in the subject when he assumes an image” (Richter 644). In other words, one will see a fictional yet unified version of themselves that is made whole via the image that appears in front of them in the mirror. The reflection that one sees in the mirror during this point is a fantasy that represents of completeness that they do not possess yet will always strive towards. Any other self-images that one was to experience occur after a person has acquired language and has begun interacting with others, thus making any other self-images constructs of the ‘other.’ This psychoanalytical stage helps formulate the ego, which is dependent of the ‘other’ since it exists as a mirror image that has spawned from identification with external figures: “...this form situates the agency of the ego, before its social determination, in a fictional direction, which will always remain irreducible for the individual alone...whatever the success of the dialectical syntheses by which he must resolve as I his discordance with his own reality” (Richter 644).
In the beginning of Frankenstein, the monster is in the mirror stage as well as finding his ego. Similar to an infant, the monster first enters the mirror stage when his discovers his reflection: “but how was I terrified when I viewed myself in a transparent pool” (Shelley 90). Serving as a literal representation of the mirror stage, one is able to see the monster playing the role of the infant that is discovering himself as an actual individual for the first time. Unlike most people that undergo the mirror stage, the monster is left without someone to serve as his “other” because he is immediately rejected Dr. Frankenstein, his creator. Since the monster is initially left without an “other,” he is unable to seek completeness of identity. Mental capacity plays a significant role in the mirror stage, as well as finding one’s ego. This aspect of the mirror stage is something that the monster lacks whilst stuck in this development because his “parent” failed to teach him right from wrong—an aspect which is critical in the formation of his identity.
A significant aspect of the mirror stage is that of the beginning steps towards forming an “Ideal-I.” When someone recognizes themselves in the mirror for the first time, they begin to form an identity that is separate from the “other.” However, unlike most people that go through the mirror stage, the monster cannot reconcile his own reflection and is unable to form a complete identity that he can call his own. Due to the fact that the “Ideal-I” that he has formed in his mind does not match with the one that is revealed to him through his reflection, the monster is unable to feel a sense of self unity because he is only able to understand himself as a monster instead of an actual person: “At first I started back, unable to believe that it was indeed I who was reflected in the mirror; and when I became fully convinced that I was in reality the monster that I am, I was filled with the bitterest sensations of despondence and mortification” (Shelley 90).
After he is continuously rejected by society, he turns his attention to the De Lacey family. The De Lacey family assumes the role of the typical parental figure during the mirror stage of a normal human. Most infants that go through the mirror stage do not typically have someone who is not their parent to serve as their imago, but the monster had no choice to but to do so because his own “parent” abandoned him. The monster observes the family by recognizing the gesture of the children stacking the wood for the adults. In order to correct any wrongdoings that he had done to do them, the monster attempts to make things rights by doing the same actions as the children. The De Lacey family ends up serving as the inspiration for how the monster models his “Ideal-I”: “When I slept, or was absent, the forms of the venerable blind father, the gentle Agatha, and the excellent Felix, flitted before me. I looked upon them as superior beings, who would be the arbiters of my future destiny” (Shelley 91). Even though he has a substitution to serve as his inspiration for an “Ideal-I,” the monster’s sense of self-unity is already broken. Since he is unable to formulate a complete sense of unity based on the identity that he associated himself with, he is unable to complete the mirror stage and cannot escape it: “I was dependent on none, and related to none. ‘The path of my departure was free,’ and there was none to lament my annihilation. My person was hideous and my stature gigantic. What did this mean? Who was I? What was I? Whence did I come? What was my destination? These questions continually recurred, but I was unable to solve them” (Shelley 103).
Due to his conflicting identities and his inability to form a sense of self unity, the monster that was created by Frankenstein cannot fully complete the mirror stage. Once he is rejected by the De Lacey family, the monster servers any ties he had to the human world and replaces any sense of self-awareness with the feelings of loss and confusion. He did not first consider himself to be the horrific and treacherous abomination that society has deemed him to be, but rather an actual man. After he realizes that he can never become the image the he first identified with and that he is left with nothing but the reflection of the image that he identifies as his actual self, the monster remains permanently trapped within the mirror stage. Since the sympathetic creature has been drive to lose his mind due to the abandonment of his imago’s and his failure to unify his ego, he is driven to become the monster that everyone deems him to be. Not only is he stuck within the mirror stage and has no chances of escaping it, he is doomed to be imprisoned within the horrific characterization that society has burdened him with.
Works Cited
Lacan, Jacques. “The Mirror Stage as Formative of the Function of the I as Revealed in Psychoanalytic Experience.”
The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends, edited by David H. Richter. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016. 644. Print.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. London: Bounty Books, 2015. 90-1. Print.
Kathryn Knight is pursuing a Baccalaureate of English with a Minor in Political Science.
This piece was selected by Professor Dan Kline.
This piece was selected by Professor Dan Kline.