Self-fulfillment Beyond The Mirror Stage

Since the publication of The Sovereignty of Good in1970, Dame Jean Iris Murdoch’s works have been praised by numerous scholars for their exploration. Murdoch’s main concerns of ethics are the introspection of the foundational issues of modern philosophy and the moral selection and orientation of individuals. She invariably advocates that the primary concern of philosophical research should return to the existence and development of human beings, investigating the positive meanings and values of life. In light of Lacan’s philosophical thoughts about subject-formation, this thesis reveals that in The Black Prince, Bradley Pearson, the protagonist, eventually accomplishes self-fulfillment by transcending the vicious cycle of self-indulgence, desires and hatred caused by the narcissistic relation with his friend Arnold.This dissertation consists of three chapters in addition to introduction and conclusion. The first chapter, based on Lacan’s psychological theories of subject-formation, is a revelation of the fragmentized self of Bradley Pearson in three dimensions, the tragic life, the conflict between the ideal and reality and the contradiction between the carnal desire and love. The fragmentized self of Bradley, however, is actually due to a kind of dissimilation in subject-formation, the establishment of a narcissistic relation. Therefore, the second chapter elaborates how the narcissistic relation between Bradley and Arnold work from two aspects: the desire for self-realization, the aggressivity for “the other”. In accordance with Lacan’s theory, however, the seemingly tragic outcome, the death of Bradley in jail, is in fact Bradley’s transcendency of the narcissistic relationship under the impact of love and death. Hence, the third chapter reveals how Bradley accomplish self-fulfillment in two aspects: surmounting the narcissism and transcending the mirror stage.