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→First Time
The [[infant]] takes up a particular attitude with respect to the mother and the phallus. In the first time of the [[Oedipus complex]], the [[child]] tries to [[identification|identify]] with the [[mother]]'s [[object]] of [[desire]], the [[phallus]]. (his desire is the desire of the Other)
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In the first time of the [[Oedipus complex]], the [[child]] slowly comes to realize that it is not identical to, or the sole object of, the [[mother]]'s [[desire]], as her [[desire]] is directed elsewhere. He or she will therefore attempt to [[satisfy]] her [[desire]] by becoming the [[object]] of her [[desire]]. The [[dual relation|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]]. 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.<!--((In the first time of the [[Oedipus complex]], then, the [[child]] realizes that both he and the [[mother]] are marked by a [[lack]]. The [[mother]] is marked by [[lack]], since she is seen to be [[lack|incomplete]]; otherwise, she would not [[desire]]. The [[lack]]ing element is the [[imaginary]] [[phallus]]. ))The [[mother]] [[desire]]s the [[phallus]] she [[lack]]s, 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]]. The [[child]] seeks to [[identification|identify]] with what he or she supposes to be the [[object]] of her [[desire]], with the object that the mother supposedly lacks, the object that is capable of filling in the lack in the other is the phallus. <blockquote>What the child wants is to become the desire of desire, to be able to satisfy the mother's desire, that is, "to be or not to be" the object of the mother's desire.... To please the mother ...it is necessary and sufficient to be the phallus. 7 [ Lacan 1957-1958, seminar of January 22, 1958 ]</blockquote>-->
<!-- 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 seductive [[imaginary]] [[triangle]].<ref>{{S4}} p. 225-6</ref> The [[child]] is now confronted with the realization 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 [[mother|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]]. -->
