ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Definition: Mirror Stage. MIRROR STAGE (Lacan) : The young child’s identification with his own image (what Lacan terms the “Ideal-I” or “ideal ego"), a stage that occurs anywhere from 6-18 months of age.

Detailed explanation-2: -In the 1950s, Lacan developed the idea of the “symbolic register, ” that part of human existence that includes language, culture, laws, traditions, rituals, and religion. This symbolic register is waiting for us when we are born.

Detailed explanation-3: -Accordingly, as Hoens and Puth (2004) express, “Lacan’s work is often divided into three periods: the Imaginary (1936–1953), the Symbolic (1953–1963), and the Real (1963–1981).” Regarding the former, “Lacan regarded the ‘imago’ as the proper study of psychology and identification as the fundamental psychical process.

Detailed explanation-4: -SYMBOLIC ORDER (Lacan): The social world of linguistic communication, intersubjective relations, knowledge of ideological conventions, and the acceptance of the law (also called the “big Other"). Once a child enters into language and accepts the rules and dictates of society, it is able to deal with others.

Detailed explanation-5: -In theoretical linguistics, mirror theory refers to a particular approach to the architecture of the language organ developed by Michael Brody, who claims his theory to be purely representational (unlike most of the current generative theories that are either derivational or combining derivation and representation).