ABSTRACT
This thesis presents a psychoanalytic–structural reading of the Qur’anic narrative of Joseph (Yusuf), examining the text not as a moral exemplar or theological doctrine, but as a symbolic configuration in which law, shame, violence, and bodily boundaries are structurally organized. Moving beyond traditional interpretations centered on patience and chastity, the study focuses on the dynamics of sibling rivalry, exclusion, and latent violence within the familial structure of the narrative.
The central question guiding the analysis is not why violence is condemned, but why it does not reach the level of bodily enactment despite explicit hostile intent. The thesis argues that the well (kuyu) functions as a symbolic threshold that suspends violence at the level of representation, preventing its inscription onto the body.
Drawing on Lacanian theory, particularly the concept of the Name-of-the-Father as a symbolic function rather than a biological authority, the analysis treats the father, the brothers, and the well as structural positions within a weakened yet operative symbolic order. Shame is conceptualized as an affect that interrupts objectification, while the body is approached as a site that becomes legible only when symbolic limits collapse.
The study deliberately avoids clinical diagnosis, normative judgments, or claims regarding individual sexuality. Psychoanalytic concepts are employed exclusively at a structural level to analyze the conditions under which violence is either enacted or suspended. In this framework, the Joseph narrative is interpreted as a model demonstrating how symbolic law, even when fragile, can prevent violence from becoming bodily.
Keywords
Joseph narrative; psychoanalytic–structural analysis; symbolic law; shame; violence; threshold; Lacanian theory
