A Lacanian Reading of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Christabel

Abstract

The present paper compares Lacanian Psychoanalytic Orders in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Christabel. Imaginary Order and Symbolic Order are basic notions studied as a path to a better understanding of the poems. In The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the Ancient Mariner has not entered the realm of the Symbolic Order completely and it can be claimed he still partly lives in the Imaginary Order. Despite the fact that the two poems are different in narrative and character development, some similarities are revealed in the way the main characters pass the Orders and form their final individuality. Both Christabel and the Mariner have connections with Imaginary Order which has hindered their complete transition to the Symbolic Order. However, some events loosen their bonds with this Order and cause their complete transition to the Symbolic Order.