英: graph of desire; 法：graphe du desir
欲望图解是对于欲望结构的一种地形学表现。拉康首先在《研讨班V》中发展了欲望图解 (Lacan, 1957-8),以便阐明精神分析的诙谐理论 (见：Freud, 1905c)。此一图解再度出现于随后几年的研讨班 (见：Lacan, 1958-9与1960-1)，但接着又完全消失于拉康的著作。该图解以很多不同的形式出现，尽管其最著名的形式出现于《主体的颠覆与欲望的辩证法》一文 (Lacan, 1960a)。在这篇文章里，拉康把欲望图解建立在四个阶段之中。这些阶段中的第一个便是该图解的“基本单位”(elementary cell)(图4；见：E, 303)。
水平向的线条代表着历时性的能指链条 (SIGNIFYINGCHAN), 马蹄形的线条则代表着主体意向性的矢量。这两条线的双重交叉图解了回溯作用的本质：信息，即在完整图解中标记有s (A)的那一点，便是由大他者 (A)给予它的标点而回溯性决定的结扣点 (POINT DE CAPITON)。前语言的纯粹需要的神话主体由三角形 (△)所表示，它必须经由能指的隘路 (defiles of signifier)而产生割裂的主体 ($).
欲望图解的中间阶段并不意在表明任何进化或者时间性的发展，因为该图解始终都是作为一个整体而存在的：它们仅仅是拉康为了阐明完整图解的结构而使用的教学策略（图5；见：E, 315与Ec, 817）
在完整图解中，能指链条有两道而不是一道。低阶的链条（从能指到声音）是有意识的能指链条，属于所述(statement)的层面；高阶的链条（从享乐到阉割）是无意识的能指链条，属于能述（ENUNCIATION)的层面。这一结构因而是复写性的：图解的高阶部分恰恰是像低阶部分那样结构的。
(graphe du desir) The graph of desire is a topographical representation of the structure ofdesire. Lacan first develops the graph of desire in The Seminar, Book V (Lacan, 1957-8) in order to illustrate the psychoanalytic theory of jokes (see Freud, 1905c). The graphreappears in some of the following seminars (see Lacan, 1958-9 and 1960-1), but thenall but disappears from Lacan's work. The graph appears in various forms, although themost well known form of it appears in The subversion of the subject and the dialectic ofdesire' (Lacan, 1960a). In this paper, Lacan builds up the graph of desire in four stages. The first of these stages is the'elementary cell'of the graph (Figure 5; see E, 303)
The horizontal line represents the diachronic SIGNIFYING CHAIN; the horseshoe-shaped line represents the vector of the subject's intentionality. The double intersectionof these two lines illustrates the nature of retroaction: the message, at the point marked s (A) in the complete graph, is the POINT DE CAPITON determinedretroactively by the particular punctuation given to it by the Other,A.The prelinguisticmythical subject of pure need, indicated by the triangle, must pass through the defiles ofthe signifier which produces the divided subject,.
The intermediate stages of the graph of desire are not meant to show any evolution ortemporal development, since the graph always exists as a whole; they are simplypedagogical devices used by Lacan in order to illustrate the structure of the completegraph (Figure 6; see E, 315 and Ec, 817).
In the complete graph there are not one but two signifying chains. The lower chain (from the signifier to the voice) is the conscious signifying chain, the level of thestatement. The upper chain (from jouissance to castration) is the signifying chain in theunconscious, the level of the ENUNCIATION. The structure is thus duplicated: the upperpart of the graph is structured exactly like the lower part.