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==The Imaginary Phallus==
The [[Oedipus complex]] has the structure of an [[imaginary]] triangle]]
The [[Oedipus complex]] is characterised by the imaginary triangle of [[mother]], [[child]] and [[phallus]].
In [[The Seminar, Book V]], Lacan analyses this passage from the imaginary to the symbolic by identifying three '[[time]]s' of the Oedipus complex, the sequence being one of logical rather than chronological priority.<
ref>Lacan, 1957-8: seminar of 22 January 1958</ref>
Lacan argues that, prior to the invention of the father there is never a purely dual relation between the mother and the child but always a third term, the phallus, an imaginary object which the mother desires beyond the child himself.<
ref>S4, 240-1</ref>
Lacan hints that the presence of the [[imaginary]] [[phallus]] as a third term in the imaginary triangle indicates that the symbolic father is already functioning at this time.<
ref>Lacan, 1957-8: seminar of 22 January 1958</ref>
The [[child]] (in the first time of the Oedipus complex) realizes that both he or she and the [[mother]] are marked by a [[lack]].
The mother is marked by lack, since she is seen to be incomplete; otherwise, she would not [[desire]].
The [[subject]] is also marked by a lack, since he does not completely satisfy the mother's desire.
The lacking element in both cases is the imaginary [[phallus]].
The mother desires the phallus she lacks, and (in conformity with Hegel's theory of [[desire]]) the subject seeks to become the object of her desire; he seeks to be the phallus for the mother and fill out her lack.
At this point, the mother is omnipotent and her desire is the [[law]].
Although this omnipotence may be seen as threatening from the very beginning, the sense of threat is intensified when the child's own sexual [[drive]]s begin to manifest themselves (for example in infantile masturbation).
This emergence of the [[real]] of the drive introduces a discordant note of [[anxiety]] into the previously [[seduction|seductive]] imaginary triangle.<
ref>S4, 225-6</ref>
The child is now confronted with the realisation that he cannot simply fool the mother's desire with the imaginary semblance of a phallus - he must present something in the real.
Yet the child's real organ (whether boy or girl) is hopelessly inadequate.
This sense of inadequacy and impotence in the face of an omnipotent maternal desire that cannot be placated gives rise to [[anxiety]].
Only the intervention of the [[father]] in the subsequent times of the Oedipus complex can provide a real solution to this anxiety.
THE IMAGINARY PHALLUS
The [[child]] comes to realize that it is not the sole object of the mother's desire, as her desire is directed elsewhere.
The child will attempt to become the object of her desire and return to the initial state of blissful union.
The simple dyadic relationship between the mother and child is thus turned into a triangular relationship between the child, the mother and the object of her desire.
The child attempts to seduce the mother by becoming that object of desire.
Lacan calls this third term the imaginary phallus.
The imaginary phallus is what the child assumes someone must have in order for them to be the object of the mother's desire and, as her desire is usually directed towards the father, it is assumed that he possesses the phallus.
Through trying to satisfy the mother's desire, the child identifies with the object that it presumes she has lost and attempts to become that object for her.
The phallus is imaginary in the sense that it is associated in the child's mind with an actual object that has been lost and can be recovered.
The Oedipus complex, for Lacan, involves the process of giving up the identification with this imaginary phallus, and recognizing that it is a signifier and as such was never there in the first place.
What Freud called castration, therefore, is a symbolic process that involves the infant's recognition of themselves as 'lacking' something - the phallus.
For Lacan, castration involves the process whereby boys accept that they can symbolically 'have' the phallus only by accepting that they can never actually have it 'in reality' and girls can accept 'not-having' the phallus once they give up on their 'phallic' identification with their mothers (we will discuss this very complicated idea in more detail in the chapter on sexual difference).
This is the function of the Oedipus complex in Lacan.
==The Symbolic Phallus==
