Psychoanalytic criticism is a form of literary criticism, which uses some techniques of psychoanalysis in the interpretation of literature. One of the most popular psychoanalytic theorists after Freud was Jacques Lacan. In his text, “The meaning of the phallus”, he states that the idea of ​​both sexes is based on “being” male and on “having” the phallus female, and these two differences determine the relationships between the sexes, also Together. For Lacan, the phallus for males represents power, authority and desire while for females the phallus signifies lack of power and agency (182). Another important text by Lacan is “The action of the letter in the unconscious or reason since Freud's time”. This text explains that language does not shape our identities and desires as much as our identities and desires are acquired by language (Richter 1046). Lacan explains that the symbolic phase is constituted by the Other and the Other is not complete because it is missing. This concept suggests that a signifier is always missing from the set of signifiers composed of the Other. Lacan then states that the subject is now governed by language, and this symbolic discourse forms the structures of cultural and social identities (Richter 1046). Lacan also describes the use of metonymy and this is a mode of symbolization in which one thing is signified by another associated with it, but does not belong to the same class. Furthermore, metonymy is characterized by lack, oppression, and servitude (Berry 107). Lacan's psychoanalytic theories can easily be applied to the character of Lady Macbeth in William Shakespeare's play Macbeth. When Macbeth was written in the early seventeenth century, the masculine t...... middle of paper ...... of her and her husbands. Although Lady Macbeth believes she has convinced Macbeth to kill Duncan, she decides to carry out the deed herself. When Lady Macbeth arrives at the king's chambers, she cannot execute him. Lady Macbeth expressly rejects the male power that would allow her to hold a dagger. As he supports Duncan's murder, also declaring that "if he had not resembled / My father as he slept, I would not have done it" (2.2.12-13). According to Chamberlain, “Lady Macbeth ultimately rejects male authority. What she desires instead is an alternative gender identity, one that allows her to free herself from the emotional and cultural constraints that govern women” (79). Furthermore, Lady Macbeth's submissive gender role plays an important role in her failure to kill Duncan because she sees the king as the supreme symbol of male authority..