Unconscious desireOne of the facets of psychoanalytic theory is the role of the unconscious and the conscious. For many psychoanalytic theorists, consciousness observes and records external reality. They claim that the conscious mind is the basis of reason and analytical thinking while the unconscious mind only accumulates and preserves our memories. Therefore, many theorists believed that consciousness was solely responsible for our behavior and actions (Bressler 121). However, Freud challenged this notion by asserting that the unconscious not only stores memories but also includes our repressed and unresolved conflicts. Freud argued that the unconscious also collects and accumulates our hidden desires, ambitions, fears, and passions (Bressler 121). Therefore, Freud claimed that the unconscious guides a significant part of our actions and behavior by amassing disguised truths and hidden desires that want to be exposed through the conscious (Bressler 121). In Jacques Lacan's essay "The Agency of the Letter in the Unconscious or Reason since Freud", he agrees with Freud's assertions that the unconscious influences our behavior. Lacan created three categories to explain the transformation from infant to adult, namely need, demand and desire, and refers to these three parts as imaginary, symbolic and real stage. Lacan states that at the symbolic stage, the child is initiated into language and that the unconscious and repression appear in the psyche. The child now learns that words symbolize objects and that he must use language and not images to acquire what he desires. For Lacan, the child, like the adult, wishes to return to the imaginary scene that Reality represents. However, this desire cannot be realized middle of paper......evolving metaphors to represent the association of Macbeth's increasing seditious acts. The main characters in William Shakespeare's play Macbeth are driven by ambition and such desire. is easily analyzed by applying psychoanalytic theory. In Jacques Lacan's essay, he claims that language can awaken our latent desires, just as the witches' prophecy did in Macbeth. Lacan's theory of the chain of desires shows that the acquisition of power leads to a greater desire for more power since Macbeth's title as thane only increased his desire. Lacan's theory of metonymic language is demonstrated by Lady Macbeth as a means of indirectly gaining power. Lacan's theory of metaphor is clearly evident in the skillful writings of William Shakespeare, who multiply the metaphors of guilt. What is often seen as a story of greed can have a much deeper meaning when read in a psychoanalytic context..