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The [[mirror ]] [[phase ]] (1936) The first [[text ]] in the [[English ]] edition of [[Ecrits ]] is called 'The mirror [[stage ]] as formative of the function of the I as rev;ealed in [[psychoanalytic ]] [[experience]]'. The essay is [[about ]] the [[formation ]] of [[identity]], the [[moment ]] of [[constitution ]] of the [[self]]. [[Lacan ]] begins his account - as it has been discussed in Chapter 5 I will be concise - with the first months of the [[infant]]'s [[life]]. The infant is relatively unco-ordinated, [[helpless ]] and dependent. Between the age of six and eighteen months the infant becomes aware, through [[seeing ]] its [[image ]] in the 'mirror, of its own [[body ]] as a [[totality]]. The [[human ]] infant seems to go through an initial stage of confusing the image with [[reality]], and may try to grasp hold of the image behind the mirror, or seize hold of the supporting [[adult]]. Then comes the discovery of the [[existence ]] of an image with its own properties. Finally, there is the realisation ~hat the image is its own - when it moves, its image moves, and so on. The [[mirror image ]] is held together, it can come and go with a slight [[change ]] of the infant's [[position]], and the infant's [[mastery ]] of the image fills it with triumph and joy. The, mirror image anticipates the mastery of its body that the infant has not yet objectively achieved. In [[other ]] [[words]], the infant's [[imaginary ]] mastery of its body anticipates its [[biological ]] mastery. Lacan believes that the formation. of the ego commences at the point of [[alienation ]] and [[fascination ]] with one's own image. The image is the first organised [[form ]] in which the [[individual ]] [[identifies ]] him- or herself, so the ego takes its form from, and is formed by, the organising and constitutive qualities of this image. I [[want ]] to stress the point that the ego is formed on the basis of

[[Lacan's Ecrits]]: A review 83 an imaginary [[relationship ]] of the [[subject ]] with his or her own body. The ego has the [[illusion ]] of [[autonomy]], but it is only an illusion, and the subject moves from [[fragmentation ]] and insufficiency to [[illusory ]] [[unity]]. Even though the infant is its own rival before [[being ]] a rival of [[another]], it is [[captured ]] from very early on by the human form and conditioned by the other's look, for example, by the face and [[gaze ]] of the [[mother]]. The [[mirror phase ]] inaugurates an indentification with other' human [[images ]] and with the [[world ]] the subject shares with [[them]]. In the mirror phase one can see evidence of [[transitivism]]: the [[child ]] who strikes another says that he or she has been struck; when one child is punished the other also cries. In both cases, the identity of the one remains indistinct from, confused with, the other. Transitivism occurs when the borders separating them are affirmed and simultaneously confused. Like Melanie Klei~, Lacan considers that the roots of primordial [[aggressivity ]] can be seen in the earliest months of life. Aggressivity and [[narcissism ]] appear to be tightly bound to one another. Lacan argues, in short, that the ego is not [[present ]] from [[birth]]; it is something that develops. He believes that [[Freud ]] put too much stress on the ego's ,adaptive functions, and that there was not enough emphasis on the ego's [[refusal ]] to acknowledge [[thoughts ]] and [[feelings ]] from the unconsclOUS. Let me summarise the main points. The mirror phase is a moment of self-[[delusion]], of [[captivation ]] by an illusory image. Both [[future ]] and [[past ]] are thus rooted in an illusion. The mirror phase is the founding moment of [[the imaginary ]] mode. It represents the first [[instance ]] of what, according to Lacan, is the basic function of the ego: [[misrecognition ]] ([[meconnaissance]]). The ego's function then is purely imaginary, and through its function the subject tends to become [[alienated]]. The ego 'neglects, scotomises, misconstrues'.5 It is an [[agency ]] that constantly misreads the [[truth ]] that comes to the subject from the [[unconscious]]. In Lacan's view, the ego's mastery of the [[environment ]] is always an illusory mastery as a result of the way it is formed at the mirror ph,ase. Human [[subjects ]] continue throughout life to look for an imaginary '[[wholeness]]' and 'unity'. These quests, controlled by the ego, are quite futile.6 The mistake that many [[people ]] make is that they confuse the human subject with the ego. The ego might give a [[feeling ]] of permanence and [[stability ]] to the subject, but this is an "

84 [[Jacques Lacan ]] . illusion. And we must [[remember ]] that the subject is neither [[unified ]] nor [[stable]]. Lacan is, therefore, fundamentally opposed to any [[idea ]] that one should [[help ]] the [[analysand ]] to strengthen his or her ego, or to help him or her adjust to [[society ]] in any way. He is hostile to those who say that the aim of [[psychoanalysis ]] is to produce healthy, welladjusted individuals who [[know ]] what 'reality' is. Lacan stresses the workings of the unconscious and the [[role ]] of unconscious impulses. In his view there is a basic '[[lack ]] of being' at the heart of the human subject. The subject comes to feel an illusory unity at the [[time ]] of the mirror phase, but with the introduction of [[language]], s/he has the possibility of at least representing his or her thoughts and feelings.