Desire Lies within

Ashley Shelden’s analysis of Lacan’s psychoanalytic theory emphasizes the illusion of identity in the Symbolic.   Lacan, in comparing the structure of the unconscious to language, observes that the unconscious cannot be attained, is unstable, and has no meaning.  The limits of language prevent any entrance into the Real as we constantly try and fail to attain meaning, because meaning is an illusion on the symbolic level.  Lacan’s rejection of Saussure’s signified indicates his poststructuralist tendencies, suggesting that being is not simply lost but never existed.  The connection that Shelden makes between Lacan’s adaptation of Saussure’s work and the psychoanalytic concept of desire aids in the understanding of the unattainable pursuit of meaning, not only in language but also in the mind.  Lacan’s psychoanalytic theory embraces the poststructuralist rejection of meaning in the structure, suggesting that the unstable self of the Symbolic and Imaginary must be deconstructed.

Peter Barry explains Lacan’s rejection of a stable subject.  He writes, “Lacan seeks to alter nothing less than our deepest notions of what we are,” showing that Lacan rejects that being exists in the Symbolic (Barry 108).  Lacan shatters the illusion of identity, suggesting that language constructs the “I” that manifests itself in the Symbolic, and language itself is unstable and without meaning.  Shelden grapples with this instability of the subject in her post when she discusses the linguistic aspects of the unconscious, specifically metonymy.  She describes the “slippage” associated with metonymy, as one signifier leads to another which leads to another.  The search is unending, uncontrollable, and does not lead to any truth or meaning, a clear distinction from Saussure’s idea that the signifier and signified at least have a stable relationship with each other.  Metonymy is therefore a continuous cycle and signifiers are purely relational to each other. The illusion of meaning is produced through metonymy, as signifiers have no true meanings but rather only differ from one another.  We never reach any meaning at all; rather, we reach another signifier that defers meaning endlessly, creating an unstable reality within the Symbolic. .

Shelden’s explanation of language’s role in Lacan emphasizes language’s ability to entrap subjects in the Symbolic.  Shelden writes, “Language makes us who we are, and we are nothing other than signifiers in a metonymic chain, slipping and sliding towards a sense of self.”  In highlighting that we only exist through language, Lacan deconstructs the notion of the self, suggesting that the self, trapped in the illusion of meaning pursues desires indefinitely.  Shelden’s use of the word slippage recognizes the instability in meaning but also suggests an inability to control, as we constantly want to pursue our desires even though they are unattainable and will only lead to new desires.  The search for meaning never ends as long as we exist in the Symbolic.
            Evelyn Schreiber's article, “Memory believes before knowing remembers: the insistence of past and Lacan's unconscious desire in Light in August,” further explains Lacan’s discussion of language and desire through psychoanalytic theory. Schreiber says that “people relate to each other not in their full complexity as living, feeling individuals, but in terms of significations that have come to represent them in their essential absence. Thus, a subject only appears in relationship to the socially constructed symbolic order or cultural symbolic of a particular community.” Her comment suggests individuals are interrelated and connected through language and social relationships.  For example, race is perceived as a social construct which reifies white racial domination. This idea adds to Lacan's discussion of the repetition of signifiers.  The repetition of a social construct functions approach the desire and repeatedly try to fulfill it.  Just as a signifier leads to another signifier infinitely, society perpetuates a system to prevent a lack.  Desire to fill a void can therefore cause the repetition of negative aspects of society.  Shelden’s post deepens this understanding of desire when she describes the inability to reach the objet petit a.  She writes that “The inability to be satisfied by the object of desire maintains the lack in the subject, a void that can never be filled,” showing that the persistence of the void causes a need to fill it, as society continues its behavior in order to repeatedly fill the emptiness. 

Shelden describes desire as central to psychoanalysis, as language instills each subject of the Symbolic with desire.  However, language’s limitations in reaching the object of desire causes a constant need to attempt to fulfill the desire.  Consumerism exemplifies the need to repeatedly try to reach satisfaction.  However, after the individual purchases the latest iPhone or True Religion jeans, a void will remain.  The desire cannot be fulfilled and there will be a constant presence of wanting to replace the object or find satisfaction elsewhere. In turn, the Symbolic unconscious creates a programmed drive that cannot be satisfied because nothing exists that can satisfy the drive of desire.  Individuals are kept within the Symbolic and assume meaning to exist within the Symbolic.

In the Symbolic, individuals cannot freely enter and exit the system because they are born into existence. However, within Symbolic theory the drive cannot be satisfied because no object or concept can satisfy the drive. Hence, Lacan further explains psychoanalytic theory through the mirror stage.  Shelden’s explanation of the mirror stage clarifies the functions of the Symbolic and the Imaginary.    Shelden writes, “The Imaginary can only produce the illusion of stability through the operation of the image,” showing that the Imaginary’s role is to use images, while the Symbolic produces the illusion of stability through language.  Both language and images create the illusion of the subject “I,” yet both also establish lack and anxiety.  The death drive seeks to destroy these desires in the Symbolic in the Imaginary, threatening the illusion of the Symbolic and Imaginary self and pursuing the Real.

Shelden’s post helps to show that Lacan’s theory works to destabilize the sense of self through the death drive.   The death drive forces a neglect of the search for meaning and identity.  Her post is useful in connecting to the idea that, according to Lacan, the unconscious cannot be accessed.  Only with the death drive, through the momentary jouissance of sexual pleasure, can we experience any sense of being in the Real.  Shelden’s emphasis on the contradiction of searching for identity in the Symbolic when it is fundamentally unattainable suggests that existence within a structure does not allow for any stable meaning.  This poststructuralist tendency within psychoanalysis demonstrates the lack of meaning within the unconscious and completely destabilizes a unified self.