Narcissism In Othello

Othello is among the most discussed plays written by Shakespeare. The orthodox criticisms on Othello mostly are based on the works of A.C. Bradley, T. S. Eliot, F. R. Leavis and the like. But with the emergence of new perspectives, Othello is studied in different lights, one of which is psychoanalysis. My present study, on the basis of the existing psychoanalytic readings of the character of Othello, will focus on Othello's narcissism from the perspective of the Lacanian psychoanalysis, with the purpose of explicating the psychological reasons for the tragic downfall of Othello.As a post-Freudian critic, Lacan sees the formation of subjectivism in a cultural context by relating the individual psychology to the whole society and people around the individual. Lacan divides human psyche into three stages, the Imaginary, the Symbolic and the Real, and he regards the narcissistic image as the basic condition for human identity. The first image of integrated self occurs in the Mirror Stage when the child misrecognizes the reflection in the mirror as its ego. Since this image is based on misrecognision and illusion, the formation of human identity is essentially narcissistic. Entering the Symbolic order, the child has to give up this narcissistic image and integrate the dialectic identity in the alienating society. However, the pursuit of narcissistic wholeness will never cease, though always futile, in order to temporarily and imaginarily fill in the lacks brought by the Symbolic Order.In Othello, we perceive that the trajectory of Othello's life goes through these stages. Initially, Othello appears on the stage with great honor and confidence. That is when Othello lives in the Imaginary Order and maintains his satisfactory social, racial and sexual roles. With the faithful love of Desdemona and the advocacy of the people around him, Othello's narcissism is imaginarily...