The Sculpted "Self" by the Other: Reinterpreting the Pygmalion Myth through Jacques Lacan's Theory of the Other

Jacques Lacan's theory of the Other posits that the human subject is structured through the interpellation of the "I," emphasizing the Other's aggression toward the subject. Within the Greek myth of Pygmalion, a complex multi-layered interpellation by the Other exists among Pygmalion, the ivory woman, and the goddess of love (Aphrodite). Through carving and expectation, Pygmalion utilizes the "I"-image to facilitate the ivory figure's initial construction of a pseudo-ego within the Imaginary order. As Pygmalion's Other, the goddess interpellates his desire for love and beauty, which motivates his expectation for the ivory figure. The signifier within the Symbolic order is concretized through Pygmalion's prayer to the goddess. Both the ivory figure, now a living woman, and Pygmalion, desiring beauty, are sculpted into false selves by the Other, revealing the fundamental void of the ego's existence.