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[[Lacan ]] borrowed his [[optical ]] [[schema ]] from [[physics]]. He used it to illustrate the [[role ]] of the [[real ]] [[Other ]] in constructing both the [[body ]] and the [[specular ]] [[image ]] as the [[model ]] for the ego.Lacan introduced this schema in his [[seminar ]] of 1953-1954, on <i>[[Freud]]'s Papers on [[Technique]]</i>. He took his cue from Freud's reference to an optical schema in

<i>The [[Interpretation ]] of [[Dreams]]</i> (Freud, 1900a, p. 536; Lacan, 1953-54, 74-76). Lacan first used the schema to illustrate the reciprocal play of the real, the [[imaginary]], and the [[symbolic ]] in Melanie [[Klein]]'s [[case ]] of "Little Dick."Because of the optical properties of concave mirrors, a bouquet of flowers that is hidden from the [[visual ]] field of the viewer emerges above the vase. And if the eye of the viewer is properly placed, an image of flowers in the vase is produced as a [[whole ]] or a [[unity ]] ([[Figure ]] 1).The [[illusory ]] [[presence ]] of the flowers in the vase represented a [[baby]]'s relation to his body, but this is something the baby cannot see. To create a "[[substitute ]] for the [[mirror]]-[[stage]]" (1953-54, p. 74), Lacan introduced a plane mirror (Figure 2).In the [[virtual ]] [[space ]] beyond the mirror, a [[specular image ]] is created, <i>i</i>′ <i>(a)</i>, and this is where the baby as

[[subject ]] recognizes the image as its ego. This represents the [[dimension ]] of radical [[alienation ]] in ego [[formation ]] as it occurs in relation to the image of a fellow being—a [[process ]] that is specific to secondary [[narcissism ]] and the [[ideal ]] ego.Lacan returned to the optical schema in his seminar on <i>[[Transference]]</i> (1960-61), but then the plane mirror shows the effect that the parental Other's look has on the baby's organism. This look allows the baby to [[sense ]] its own body, modeled on its specular image. Lacan even gave the Other a role in the formation of primary narcissism. This schema allows for an approach to the [[treatment ]] of early psychopathologies prior to the [[mirror stage ]] (Laznik-Penot, 1993).In his seminar on <i>[[Anxiety]]</i> (1962-63), Lacan redesigned the schema in response to a question asked by André Green regarding the relations between the real, [[the imaginary]], and [[the symbolic ]] (Figure 3).

This version of the schema presented two [[principle ]] modifications:

<li>The flowers, a [[metaphor ]] for [[libidinal ]] investment, were no longer the [[reflection ]] of a bouquet hidden under the table, but rather the effect of a [[lack]], which Lacan wrote as φ.</li><li>The inscription of lack, φ, also appeared behind the plane mirror, in the imaginary field. Thus the new version of the schema emphasized the constitutive role of lack in any [[mental ]] functioning.</li>

Lacan used the plane mirror in two different ways. Sometimes it referred to the mirror of [[the mirror stage]], still very much centered on the [[structuring ]] [[character ]] of the image itself. And sometimes it

referred to a mirror without a reflection, that is, a [[representation ]] of the Other's [[gaze]]. Indeed, our [[understanding ]] of this schema has been modified [[retroactively ]] by the introduction of the [[concept ]] of the [[big Other]]; nevertheless, it is still most often [[understood ]] in its strictly intrapsychic dimension.

# [[Freud, Sigmund]]. (1900a). The [[interpretation of dreams]]. SE, 4-5: 1-751.# [[Lacan, Jacques]]. (1988). [[The Seminar ]] of [[Jacques Lacan]], Book I, [[Freud's Papers on Technique ]] (1953-1954). (John Forrester, Trans.). New York: Norton.# ——. Le Séminaire-Livre IX, L'[[identification ]] (1961-62). (unpublished seminar).# ——. (2004). Le Séminaire-Livre X, L'[[angoisse ]] [Anxiety] (1962-1963). [[Paris]]: Seuil.