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(Received 9 May 2007; accepted 16 June 2007)
In this paper, I attempt to investigate the essential function of the romantic fantasy. I clearly differentiate the romantic fantasy from the sexual fantasy, and define the romantic fantasy as an archaic narcissistic fantasy in which a woman patient experiences herself as the only woman to whom a man is attracted and whom a man wishes to protect and support. As long as she believes that this fantasy is realizable, she experiences herself as being in the center of the world and she feels secure, protected, and whole. Based on a psychoanalytic consideration of a Japanese play script, Sotoba Komachi, I hypothesize that the essential function of the romantic fantasy is to deny the fear and pain of aging and death. Through a clinical vignette with a female patient, I prove the validity of my hypothesis and illustrate that a romantic fantasy provides for an individual a basic sense of security and a sense of immortality. I contend that a romantic fantasy functions to neutralize the destructive quality of a sexual fantasy and make it productive. In order to avoid confusion, I focus on romantic fantasies given by female patients, although a male patient can also develop a romantic fantasy.