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Cordelia, Lear, and forgiveness.

Roy Schafer1

  • 1Training and Supervising Analyst, Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, USA. royschafer@mindspring.com

Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association
|July 28, 2005
PubMed
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Understanding transference in painful interactions reveals that forgiveness may become irrelevant. Unconscious unforgivingness can persist even when higher ego functioning allows for waiving forgiveness.

Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Psychoanalysis
  • Literary Analysis

Background:

  • Painful human interactions often trigger desires for forgiveness.
  • Psychoanalytic patients may find gratification in reenacting painful interactions through transference.
  • The achievement of total forgiveness, for self and others, is a complex and debated concept.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore the complex relationship between painful interactions, transference, and the concept of forgiveness.
  • To examine whether forgiveness becomes irrelevant or achievable in light of new psychological insights.
  • To analyze the dynamics of forgiveness and unforgivingness through a literary lens, specifically Shakespeare's King Lear.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of transference dynamics in psychoanalytic patients.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Literary interpretation of Shakespeare's The Tragedy of King Lear, focusing on the Lear-Cordelia relationship.
  • Integration of psychoanalytic concepts, particularly unconscious conflict and ego functioning, with literary analysis.

    • Main Results:

    • Insight into transference reveals gratification in reenacting painful interactions, potentially making forgiveness seem irrelevant.
    • Cordelia's response to Lear (
    • No cause, no cause,
    • suggests a complex waiving of forgiveness.
    • Unconscious unforgivingness can coexist with conscious, higher-level ego functioning that enables the relinquishing of forgiveness.

    Conclusions:

    • The process of understanding transference can alter the perceived need for forgiveness.
    • Literary works like King Lear offer valuable insights into the psychological complexities of forgiveness and unforgivingness.
    • Complete forgiveness may not always be achievable or even the most psychologically adaptive outcome.