| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立彰化師範大學 === 英語學系 === 96 === This thesis examines the causes and effects of the insanity of Ophelia and King Lear based on Lacanian psychoanalysis, in which Lacan asserts there are two preconditions of psychosis—a flawed psychic structure and a final trigger¬. With the application of Lacan’s theories, this thesis aims at proving the theories applicable that there are flawed psychic structures and triggering events as the two preconditions of psychosis when we study the insanity of Ophelia and Lear.
This thesis is divided into five chapters. The first chapter integrates past studies about the history of madness and the insanity of Ophelia and Lear. Then it pinpoints what this thesis aims at—that we can draw theories from Lacanian psychoanalysis to prove that the two characters’ mental structures are flawed and that there are triggering events that finally set off their insanity. Chapter two puts together the theories—which includes the mirror stage, the three orders, trauma and the preconditions of psychosis—in studying the madness of Ophelia and Lear. The following chapter analyses Ophelia’s insanity with the theories elaborated in the second chapter and concludes that her psychical flaw is related to the patriarchal system and the final event is the combination of her unrequited love with Hamlet and Polonius’s death. The symptoms are found in her language and behaviors, which cannot be understood by others because what is in her mad language and behaviors is out of human knowledge constructed by the symbolic order. The fourth chapter deals with Lear's madness and proves Lear's flaw in his mental structure is related to the patriarchal structure in a way different from Ophelia. Lear's language and behaviors, like Ophelia’s, reveal signs of his being out of the symbolic order. The last chapter compares the two cases and concludes that the two cases fit Lacan’s profile of psychosis. It also points out the insufficiency of this thesis and suggestions for future studies.
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