From Actual Evil to Possible Forgiveness: Three Positions on the Axes of Self and Other

Abstract

This article focuses on three positions, from malignant to benign, located on the respective axes of object and subject in the context of forgiveness. A helpful graph is provided. The most malignant position on the axis of the object is the position of evil or indifference toward evil, paralleled, on the axis of the subject, by a position of vengefulness. The second position on the axis of the object is the position of guilt/atonement, which is paralleled, on the axis of the subject, by the position of amnesty. The third position on the axis of the object is the position of regret, which has its parallel on the subject axis in the position of forgiveness. Though presented as three clearly demarcated positions, they are present, with fluctuating dominance, in any encounter, whether concrete or imagined, between subject and object. These three positions are illustrated by means of a close reading of three memoirs.

Keywords:

• Forgiveness
• regret
• vengefulness
• amnesty
• hermetic narratives

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ This and the following quotations were translated from the Hebrew original by Mirjam Meerschwam Hadar. There is currently no published English version.

² A term deriving from George Cukor’s 1944 film Gaslight.

³ Not to mention that this particular father was already inflated because of his huge success and fame.

⁴ Sharon Olds, “Satan Says” from Satan Says. Copyright © 1980 by Sharon Olds. All rights are controlled by the University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA 15260. Used by permission of the University of Pittsburgh Press. Source: Satan Says (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1980).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dana Amir

Dana Amir, PhD, is a Clinical Psychologist, Supervising and Training Analyst at the Israel Psychoanalytic Society, poet and literature researcher, head of the Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program in Psychoanalysis at the University of Haifa, author of four psychoanalytic nonfiction books, and winner of five international psychoanalytic awards.