해롤드 핀터의 『배신』에 대한 정신분석학적 연구 —라캉 이론을 중심으로

Abstract

This study, grounded in Lacanian psychoanalytic theory, examines the unconscious desire in the characters of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal. Jerry’s betrayal is interpreted as an Oedipal narrative in which he regresses to the Imaginary to pursue a primordial relationship with Emma as the archetypal mother, betraying Robert as the father. However, confronted with the threat of paternal castration, he ultimately accepts the Law of the Father and renounces the mother, thus betraying her as well. Robert’s betrayal is analyzed as that of an obsessive subject subordinated to ‘male bonding.’ To reinforce male homosocial desire with Jerry and conceal his homosexual desire, Robert betrays her and maintains male bonding even after ending his marital relationship. Emma’s betrayal is analyzed as an act of feminine desire that resists the male symbolic order. By refusing to desire male desire and destabilizing the Symbolic, Emma betrays Robert and Jerry in order to introduce a new form of desire. She becomes a Lacanian ethical subject who remains faithful to her own desire. Ultimately, while Jerry and Robert betray themselves in order to desire the desire of the Other, Emma betrays the Other’s desire to remain loyal to her own.