Unconscious DesireOne of the aspects of psychoanalytic theory is the role of the unconscious and the conscious. For many psychoanalytic theorists, consciousness observes and records external reality. They state that the conscious is the basis of reason and analytical thinking while the unconscious simply accumulates and stores our memories. Therefore, many theorists believed that consciousness was solely responsible for our behavior and actions (Bressler 121). However, Freud challenged this notion by arguing 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). As a result, Freud stated that the unconscious drives a significant part of our actions and behaviors by accumulating disguised truths and hidden desires that want to be exposed through the conscious (Bressler 121). In Jacques Lacan's essay “The Action of the Letter in the Unconscious or Reason after Freud,” he agrees with Freud's claims that the unconscious influences our behavior. Lacan created three categories to explain the transformation from child to adult, namely need, demand and desire, and labels these three parts as Imaginary, Symbolic and Real phase. Lacan claims that during the symbolic phase the child is initiated into language and the unconscious and repression appear in the psyche. The child now learns that words symbolize objects and must use language and not images to get what he wants. For Lacan, the child, like adults, wants to return to the imaginary scene represented by the Real. However, this wish cannot be realized by standing... middle of paper... scaled 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. it is easily analyzed by applying psychoanalytic theory. In Jacques Lacan's essay it is stated 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 gaining power leads to a greater desire to have more power since Macbeth's thane title 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 William Shakespeare's skillful writing which intensifies metaphors of guilt. What is often seen as a story of greed can have a much deeper meaning when read in a psychoanalytic context.