‌‌‌‌　　英：mother; 法：mere

‌‌‌‌　　在弗洛伊德有关俄狄浦斯情结 (OEDIPUS COMPLEX)的说明中，母亲是孩子的第一个爱恋对象：唯有父亲 (FATHER)经由阉割威胁的干预性介入，才会迫使孩子放弃自己对于母亲的欲望。在梅兰妮·克莱因的著作中，强调的重点从父亲的角色转向了前生殖期的母子关系：克莱因把这里的母子关系描述为一种施虐性的关系，即孩子（在幻想中）对母亲的身体进行恶意攻击，继而又恐惧来自母亲的报复。

‌‌‌‌　　在拉康“二战”前的作品中，他多次影射梅兰妮·克莱因的著作，并且描述了吞噬母亲与被母亲所吞噬的那些同类相食的幻想。拉康指出，家庭情结中的第一个情结即断奶情结，此时与母亲的象征性关系的打断会在孩子的精神中留下一个永久的痕迹。此外，他还把死亡冲动描述为渴望回到与母亲的乳房相融合的这一关系的一种乡愁式向往 (Lacan, 1938:35).

‌‌‌‌　　这种把母亲看作威胁要吞噬孩子的一种泯灭性力量的观点，在拉康其后的著作中是一个恒定的主题 (见：S4,195: S17,118). 拉康认为，孩子必须使自己从与母亲的想象性关系中分离出来，以便进入社会世界：未能做到这一点便可能会导致其范围从恐怖症延伸至性倒错的各种怪癖中的任何一种。因为帮助孩子克服对于母亲的原初依恋的动因是父亲，所以这些怪癖便也可以说是起因于父性功能的某种失败。因此，拉康的大部分著作皆旨在把分析理论中的重点从强调母子关系 (前俄狄浦斯，即想象界的原型)转回至强调父亲的角色 (俄狄浦斯情结，即象征界的原型)。

‌‌‌‌　　·母亲的欲望根据弗洛伊德的观点，女人想要拥有一个孩子的欲望是根植在她对于男人阴茎的羡慕之中的。当女孩子最初认识到自己并不拥有阴茎的时候，她便会感觉到自己被剥夺了某种有价值的事物，并且会试图通过获得一个孩子来对此进行补偿，把孩子当作自己一直被拒绝给予的阴茎的象征性替代 (Freud, 1924d)。拉康遵循弗洛伊德的观点指出，对于母亲而言，孩子总是代表着她所缺失的象征性阳具的替代 (见：剥夺[PRIVATION]). 然而，拉康又强调说此种替代从来都不会真正地满足母亲：即便在她拥有了一个孩子之后，她对于阳具的欲望也会继续存在。孩子很快便会认识到自己并未完全满足母亲的欲望，认识到她的欲望指向了超越他自身之外的某种东西，并因而试图去破译这个谜一般的欲望：他必须找出“你要什么？”(Che vuoi?, 即“你想从我这里得到什么？”)这一问题的答案。孩子所想出的回答，便是母亲欲望的是想象的阳具。孩子于是便试图通过认同想象性阳具 (或是通过认同阳具性母亲，即被想象为拥有阳具的母亲)来满足母亲的欲望。在这场“成为抑或不成为阳具”(to be or not to be the phallus)的游戏之中，孩子便完全听凭母亲反复无常的欲望所支配，无助地面对着她的全能 (S4,69,187)。然而，这样的无力感起初可能并不会引起太大的焦虑；有那么一段时间，孩子都会把他想要变成阳具的企图体验成一种相对令人满意的诱惑游戏。只有当孩子的性冲动开始搅动 (例如：在幼儿手淫之中)并且把实在界中的一个元素引入这场想象性游戏的时候，母亲的全能才开始在孩子身上激起巨大的焦虑。此种焦虑即表现在那些遭到母亲吞噬的形象之中，并且只能通过实在的父亲在俄狄浦斯情结的第三时间上阉割孩子的干预性介入而得到解除。

‌‌‌‌　　·母亲：实在的、象征的与想象的拉康认为，在实在的母亲、象征的母亲与想象的母亲之间做出区分是非常重要的。

‌‌‌‌　　母亲在实在界中表现为婴儿的原初照料者。婴儿无法满足其自身的需要，且因此绝对依赖于一个对其进行照料的大他者（见：无助[HELPLESSNESS])。母亲首先是象征性的，只有通过挫败主体的要求，她才会变成实在性的 (见：挫折[FRUSTRATION]).

‌‌‌‌　　当母亲照料婴儿，给婴儿带来那些将会满足其需要的对象的时候，这些对象便会很快呈现出一种象征性的功能，从而完全遮蔽其实在性的功能，这些对象被视为礼物，是母爱的象征性标志。最终，母亲的在场就是这份爱的证明，即便她没有随身带来任何实在的对象。因此，母亲的缺位便会被体验为一种创伤性的拒绝，即体验为母爱的丧失。弗洛伊德就曾经说明过孩子会如何试图通过在游戏与语言中象征化母亲的在场与缺位来应对此种丧失 (Freud, 1920g)。拉康则把这一原初的象征化看作孩子迈进象征秩序的第一步 (S4,67-8)。精神分析理论感兴趣的母亲，因而便首先是象征性母亲，即在其角色上作为原始大他者的母亲。正是这个母亲，通过解释孩子的哭闹并由此回溯性地决定这些哭闹的意义，从而把孩子引入语言之中 (见：标点[PUNCTUATION]).

‌‌‌‌　　母亲在想象秩序中表现为若干的形象。上文已经提到的一个重要的形象便是处在焦虑根源的饕餮母亲 (devouring mother)的形象。另一个重要的母性形象则是阳具母亲 (phallic mother)的形象，即被想象为拥有想象性阳具的母亲。

‌‌‌‌　　In his pre-war writings, Lacan alludes several times to Melanie Klein's work, anddescribes the cannibalistic fantasies of devouring, and being devoured by, the mother. Lacan argues that the first of the family complexes is the weaning complex, in which theinterruption of the symbiotic relation with the mother leaves a permanent trace in thechild's psyche. He also describes the death drive as a nostalgic yearning to return to thisrelation of fusion with the mother's breast (Lacan, 1938:35).

‌‌‌‌　　This view of the mother as an engulfing force which threatens to devour the child is aconstant theme in Lacan's work thereafer (see S4,195; S17,118). Lacan argues that thechild must detach himself from the imaginary relation with the mother in order to enterthe social world; failure to do so can result in any one of various peculiarities rangingfrom phobia to perversion. Since the agent who helps the child to overcome the primaryattachment to the mother is the father, these peculiarities may also be said to result from afailure of the paternal function. Hence much of Lacan's work is aimed at shifting theemphasis in analytic theory from the mother-child relation (the preoedipal, the prototypeof the imaginary) back onto the role of the father (the Oedipus complex, the prototype ofthe symbolic).

‌‌‌‌　　The desire of the mother According to Freud, a woman's desire to have a child isrooted in her envy of the man's penis. When the girl first realises that she does notpossess a penis, she feels deprived of something valuable, and seeks to compensate forthis by obtaining a child as a symbolic substitute for the penis she has been denied (Freud, 1924d). Lacan follows Freud, arguing that the child always represents for themother a substitute for the symbolic phallus which she lacks (see PRIVATION). However, Lacan emphasises that this substitute never really satisfies the mother; herdesire for the phallus persists even after she has had a child. The child soon realises thathe does not completely satisfy the mother's desire, that her desire aims at somethingbeyond him, and thus attempts to decipher this enigmatic desire; he must work out ananswer to the question Che vuoi? ('What do you want from me?'). The answer the childcomes up with is that what the mother desires is the imaginary phallus. The child thenseeks to satisfy the mother's desire by identifying with the imaginary phallus (or byidentifying with the phallic mother, the mother imagined as possessing the phallus). Inthis game of 'to be or not to be the phallus', the child is completely at the mercy of thecapricious desire of the mother, helpless in the face of her omnipotence (S4,69,187). However, this sense of powerlessness may not give rise to much anxiety at first; for atime, the child experiences his attempts at being the phallus as a relatively satisfyinggame of seduction. It is only when the child's sexual drives begin to stir (e.g.in infantilemasturbation), and an element of the real is thus introduced into the imaginary game, thatthe omnipotence of the mother begins to provoke greater anxiety in the child. Thisanxiety is manifested in images of being devoured by the mother, and is only resolved bythe intervention of the real father who castrates the child in the third time of the Oedipuscomplex.

‌‌‌‌　　.The mother: real, symbolic and imaginary Lacan argues that it is important todistinguish between the real mother, the symbolic mother and

‌‌‌‌　　The imaginary mother. The mother manifests herself in the real as the primarycaretaker of the infant. The infant is incapable of satisfying its own needs and so dependsabsolutely on an Other to care for him (see HELPLESSNESS). The mother is first of allsymbolic; she only becomes real by frustrating the subject's demand (see FRUSTRATION).

‌‌‌‌　　When the mother ministers to the infant, bringing him the objects that will satisfy hisneeds, these objects soon take on a symbolic function that completely eclipses their realfunction; the objects are seen as gifts, symbolic tokens of the mother's love. Finally, it isthe mother's presence which testifies to this love, even if she does not bring any realobject with her. Consequently, the mother's absence is experienced as a traumaticrejection, as loss of her love. Freud showed how the child attempts to cope with this lossby symbolising the mother's presence and absence in games and language (Freud, 1920g). Lacan regards this primary symbolisation as the child's first steps into thesymbolic order (S4,67-8). The mother which interests psychoanalytic theory is thusabove all the symbolic mother, the mother in her role as the primordial Other. It is shewho introduces the child into language by interpreting the child's screams and therebyretroactively determining their meaning (see PUNCTUATION).

‌‌‌‌　　The mother is manifested in the imaginary order in a number of images. Oneimportant image that has already been mentioned is that of the devouring mother which isat the root of anxiety. Another important maternal image is that of the phallic mother, themother imagined as possessing the imaginary phallus