Oedipus complex by Freud
October 30th 2007 22:01
The Oedipus complex by Freud
The Oedipus complex is named after the Greek myth of Oedipus who killed his father, unknowingly married his mother, and then blinded himself.
There are many variations of this legend, which seems to have been first a story of oral tradition until the first written references of the Oedipus myth appeared around 7th-8th century BC.
Oedipus was the son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes.
At the time of his birth a prophecy said that he would kill his father and marry his mother. So, to avoid this dramatic outcome, king Laius decided to abandon his son just after his birth, and left him alone in the mountains. Some strangers found him, saved him, and brought him up.
Oedipus as a young adult now, fearing the prophecy he heard, run away from home, not knowing he was actually adopted.
Eventually, he met his biological father randomly on a road and after a feud murdered him.
He then went to Thebes and set free the city from the Sphinx who would eat anyone that didn’t answer correctly her riddle. Oedipus solved the mysterious riddle and was rewarded by becoming king of Thebes, unknowingly married his mother and has four children with her.
When he finally found out about it, he blinded himself as a punishment and went in exile. Oedipus condemned himself to wander in darkness throughout the land for the rest of his life.
Jocasta humiliated and in despair hung herself in the very same bedroom where she unknowingly committed incest.
Freud used the name of Oedipus to explain the origin of certain neuroses in adulthood resulting from a fixation in a certain stage (here is the phallic stage) in childhood.
The oepidus complex explains that at the phallic stage, around three to five(or to some extend to seven years of age) a boy unconsciously desires for the exclusive love of its mother and on the other hand feels jealousy, rivalry, fear and hostility towards its father, who he unconsciously wish to see dead.
The same occurs to little girls; it is in this case called the Electra complex. The little girl feels for her father and rejects her mum.
Freud stressed the idea that if this stage of the personality development is not adequately resolved, it will result in many neuroses in adulthood.
The blinding is a symbolic that translates self-punishment when dark inner desires are revealed. Many people might feel guilty about their own natural sexual urges.
In Freud’s point of view, during the phallic stage, children become somehow more aware of their genital organs. It is the time when they start self manipulation, have fantasies, and also notice the physical differences between men and women by observing around them and themselves.
A little boy develops an unconscious incestuous desire for his mum, and resentment and jealousy towards his father, which he also loves. An inner conflict will grow.
He will also fear his father and sees him as a dominant and threatening figure that might hurt him. Therefore, castration anxiety develops.
In order to resolve its inner dilemma, the little boy incorporates his father’s values and standards, it is called identification.
With the time and through the stage of latency, residues of sexual feelings towards its mother and hostility toward its father are more likely to disappear. But if there is repression it might create problems later in adulthood, for example if hostility with the father has not been resolved, the individual might have serious issues with authority figures.
For Girls, in Freud theory, castration already appeared as they are born without a penis.
Therefore, a girl resents her mother, whom she sees as the cause of her physical inadequacy and turns all her need for love to her father. It is called the penis envy.
As she naturally can’t give up her mother, so she identifies herself to her, same as for boys to their fathers.
It is when the child enters the latency period and has partially resolved incestuous and aggressive impulses through identification that it develops games and activities with same sex peers, which will help to strengthen sex roles through more identification. It is usually a calmer period lasting sometimes until twelve years of age.
The Oedipus complex is named after the Greek myth of Oedipus who killed his father, unknowingly married his mother, and then blinded himself.
There are many variations of this legend, which seems to have been first a story of oral tradition until the first written references of the Oedipus myth appeared around 7th-8th century BC.
Oedipus was the son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes.
At the time of his birth a prophecy said that he would kill his father and marry his mother. So, to avoid this dramatic outcome, king Laius decided to abandon his son just after his birth, and left him alone in the mountains. Some strangers found him, saved him, and brought him up.
Eventually, he met his biological father randomly on a road and after a feud murdered him.
He then went to Thebes and set free the city from the Sphinx who would eat anyone that didn’t answer correctly her riddle. Oedipus solved the mysterious riddle and was rewarded by becoming king of Thebes, unknowingly married his mother and has four children with her.
When he finally found out about it, he blinded himself as a punishment and went in exile. Oedipus condemned himself to wander in darkness throughout the land for the rest of his life.
Jocasta humiliated and in despair hung herself in the very same bedroom where she unknowingly committed incest.
Freud used the name of Oedipus to explain the origin of certain neuroses in adulthood resulting from a fixation in a certain stage (here is the phallic stage) in childhood.
The oepidus complex explains that at the phallic stage, around three to five(or to some extend to seven years of age) a boy unconsciously desires for the exclusive love of its mother and on the other hand feels jealousy, rivalry, fear and hostility towards its father, who he unconsciously wish to see dead.
Freud stressed the idea that if this stage of the personality development is not adequately resolved, it will result in many neuroses in adulthood.
The blinding is a symbolic that translates self-punishment when dark inner desires are revealed. Many people might feel guilty about their own natural sexual urges.
In Freud’s point of view, during the phallic stage, children become somehow more aware of their genital organs. It is the time when they start self manipulation, have fantasies, and also notice the physical differences between men and women by observing around them and themselves.
A little boy develops an unconscious incestuous desire for his mum, and resentment and jealousy towards his father, which he also loves. An inner conflict will grow.
He will also fear his father and sees him as a dominant and threatening figure that might hurt him. Therefore, castration anxiety develops.
In order to resolve its inner dilemma, the little boy incorporates his father’s values and standards, it is called identification.
With the time and through the stage of latency, residues of sexual feelings towards its mother and hostility toward its father are more likely to disappear. But if there is repression it might create problems later in adulthood, for example if hostility with the father has not been resolved, the individual might have serious issues with authority figures.
For Girls, in Freud theory, castration already appeared as they are born without a penis.
Therefore, a girl resents her mother, whom she sees as the cause of her physical inadequacy and turns all her need for love to her father. It is called the penis envy.
As she naturally can’t give up her mother, so she identifies herself to her, same as for boys to their fathers.
It is when the child enters the latency period and has partially resolved incestuous and aggressive impulses through identification that it develops games and activities with same sex peers, which will help to strengthen sex roles through more identification. It is usually a calmer period lasting sometimes until twelve years of age.
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