Abstract:
This paper aims to approach, through the case The Rat Man, the fictional character of the structure of neurosis. Starting from the Lacanian assumption that neurosis is born from a gap on the sovereign knowledge, hereby we aim at highlighting that even though on the present days there is an intensification of excesses and of a lack of reference, the anguish and the symptom were already present in Freud’s days. Hence, with the objective of demonstrating that the paternal figure is structurally flawed, we will investigate the Oedipus’ Complex, founder of its origin myth, so that we can shed some light on the paradoxical aspect of castration.
Keywords:
The Rat Man; the origin myth; symptom; paternal function; contemporaneity