Citation

Jafari AA, Kiaei S. International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature 2015; 4(3): 138-143.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015)

DOI

10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.4n.3p.138

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Marsha Norman's 'Night, Mother (1983), is a great American play with psychological basis and it is considered as a feminist play. The present paper investigates it in the light of Jacques Lacan's psychoanalytical theories which serve as a methodology in psychoanalytic criticism. Lacan knows the human psyche formed by the three interacting 'orders' of the Imaginary, Symbolic, and Real. He argues that the roles of 'father', 'mother', 'Object petit a', 'Jouissance', 'the Name-of-the-Father', 'Big Other' and 'others' are also significant in affecting one's psyche. The characters of 'Night, Mother are Lacanian 'subjects' whose lives have been embodiments of Lacan's psychoanalytical theories, especially Jessie whose disorders, behaviors, reactions to the 'others', frustration, committing suicide, and death indicate that many familial, social and mental issues have affected her psyche, and they are crystalized by psychoanalytical theories of Lacan in this paper. © 2015, Australian International Academic Centre PTY LTD. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Imaginary order; Object petit a; Other; Symbolic order; The lacanian subject; The name-of-the-father