The discourse of the Other in Martin McDonagh'sThe Pillowman

Abstract

As a key term in Lacanian psychoanalysis, the concept of the Other regulates the subject's desire. While it is absent as a physical entity, it commands and shapes the individual's psyche via language unconsciously. This paper provides a close reading of Martin McDonagh's The Pillowman to explore the ways everyone in the play is under the control of the discourse of the Other. To do so, this paper provides a theoretical structure based on Lacan's definition of the term and its relationship to language and signification to finally view its various manifestations in McDonagh's play.