A Lacanian Interpretation of Chopin's The Story of An Hour &Storm

Abstract

Any Psychoanalytical interpretation focuses primarily on the inner workings of human mind. Freud originated psychoanalysis and Lacan reoriented it. Freud found the term ‘unconscious’ which Lacan modified and made the most essential subject of his Psychoanalytical theory. He believed that the desire is formed through the Symbolic Other and Imaginary other in the formation of Jouissance. He maintained that desire exists due to the presence of the Other. In naming it, the subject goes on attaining newer forms and shapes or roles. In fact, desire hides itself in discourse which never presents it fully or never gives it a full expression and as such there remains a leftover – a surplus of desire is invariably present in the discourse. This notion made Lacan to shape his faith and belief that desire is the desire of / for the Other.  For him, desire is central to all human roles, endeavors or activities. It gives birth to almost all Lacanian concepts and as such is named in the presence of the Other. It is generally believed that Chopin’s fiction is highly pregnant with Lacanian realm of desire or symbolic and almost all her stories seem an exploration of the self, other and social assertion of individuality.