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Fascination commonly refers to the act of fascinating or of [[being ]] fascinated. To [[fascinate ]] is to immobilize by the [[power ]] of the [[gaze]]; as well as to charm, enchant, dazzle, or even attract or [[capture ]] someone else's gaze.In [[psychoanalysis]] the [[concept]] was used by Sigmund [[Freud]] to refer to the bondage of [[love]]. He used this term to refer to the [[paralysis]] of critical faculties, the [[dependence]], docile submission, and credulity that occur when in love, which he compared to what occurs in the [[relationship]] between hypnotist and hypnotized.The term appears for the first [[time]] in <i>Group [[Psychology]] and the [[Analysis]] of the Ego</i> (1921c). Fascination, or love bondage, is the term Freud uses to describe the most extreme developments of being in love. It is possible that he borrowed the term from Gustave Le Bon, whom he [[quotes]] and who had noted, in <i>[[Psychologie]] des Foules</i>, that the [[individual]] in a crowd arrives at a [[particular]] [[state]] that approximates the fascination of the hypnotized for the hypnotist.Although the first occurrence of the term <i>fascination</i> appears to date from 1921, what Freud describes is the result of earlier considerations that quickly led him to associate being in love with the hypnotic state. Already in 1890, in his article "[[Psychical]], or [[Mental]], [[Treatment]]," (1890a) referring to the docility, obedience, and credulity of the hypnotized individual, he had noted that in a [[situation]] of this type "subjection on the part of one person towards [[another]] has only one parallel, though a [[complete]] one—namely in certain love-relationships where there is extreme devotion." In 1910, in a note added to <i>[[Three]] Essays on the [[Theory]] of [[Sexuality]]</i> (1905d), he again points out this connection. In 1918, in "The [[Taboo]] of Virginity," (1918a) he discusses the question of "[[sexual]] bondage," the expression used by Richard von Krafft-Ebing to define the state of subjugation, dependence, and [[loss]] of will experienced during the course of a [[sexual relationship]].In 1921, what he describes with the term <i>fascination</i> is, therefore, not new, any more than the concordance he establishes between this state and that of [[hypnosis]]: the same paralysis of critical faculties, the same docility, the same submission toward the loved [[object]] or the hypnotist. These findings open the way to the problem of the [[imaginary]] relationship of the [[self]] to the loved [[Other]] or the [[authority]] [[figure]], and lead one to believe that fascination is essential to the [[constitution]] of the ego—a [[thesis]] put forward by Jacques [[Lacan]].The function of the gaze is central to fascination, so it is surprising that the term doesn't appear in the 1922 article on "Medusa's Head" (1940c). The phenomenon is similar to the paralysis (of [[thought]], judgment, and the [[body]]) caused, in the [[myth]], by the [[encounter]] with the Gorgon. Here mortal hypnotic fascination reaches its apogee. The power of the gaze is the bearer and vector of the "omnipotence of thought," like the phenomenon of the "[[evil]] eye" Freud had [[analyzed]] in 1919 in "The '[[Uncanny]]"' (1919h). It is also surprising that although, in 1916, he presents the goddess Baubo as a [[representation]] of [[castration]], or interprets the Medusa's head, along with Sándor Ferenczi, as a representation of the [[female]] [[genital]] organs and more specifically the [[mother]], he never explicitly raises the question of fascination and what can [[cause]] it, namely, the [[sight]] of the female genitals and the representation of castration they bring to [[mind]]. ==See Also==* [[Idealization]]* [[Numinous (analytical psychology)]]* [[Qu'estce que la suggestion]] ==References==<references/># [[Freud, Sigmund]]. (1890a). Psychical (or mental) treatment. SE, 7: 281-302.# ——. (1905a). On [[psychotherapy]]. SE, 7: 255-268.# ——. (1918a). The taboo of virginity. SE, 11: 191-208.# ——. (1919h). The "uncanny." SE, 17: 217-256.# ——. (1921c). [[Group psychology]] and the analysis of the ego. SE, 18: 65-143.# ——. (1940c). Medusa's head. SE, 18: 273-274.# [[Lacan, Jacques]]. (1975). Le Séminaire-Livre I, LesÉcrits techniques de Freud (1954-1955). [[Paris]]: Le Seuil. [[Category:New]]