Discourse Analysis

Discourse Analysis

Discourse Analysis

The French psychoanalyst Dr. Jacque Lacan explained his discourse theory in four unique radical discourses: the discourse of the master, the discourse of the university, the discourse of the hysteric and the discourse of the analyst.

The master’s discourse was derived from Hegel’s master/slave dialect. The university discourse is the discourse of the supremacy of knowledge. The hysteric’s discourse is that of complaint. The discourse of the analyst is that of detached interpretation. The one follows from the other by necessity in a sequential rotational pattern, so that the master’s discourse always gives rise to the discourse of the university, then hysteria then analysis, and so on around and around the circle. Lacan’s discourse theory can be used to analyze ancient epic and to interpret the epic of the hero’s journey.

The Epic Poem of Gilgamesh

The Epic of Gilgamesh, was the first journey of self-discovery, or individuation, experienced by the king of Uruk. It taught grief, fear of death, Eros and Eris, and the self’s omniscient thinking.