Sigmund Freud and Oedipus Complex

The tragedy of "Oedipus the King" and Freud's "Oedipus Complex".

3 min read

We all heard the term "Oedipus complex," which was suggested by Sigmund Freud, and the representation of this famous term is based on the Greek tragedy character Oedipus the King. Freud's definition and later studies on this subject in detail are quite open for discussion, but here's a basic explanation for you to start with.

The tragedy of Oedipus, written by Sophocles, is basically about Oedipus being left to die in the mountains because it is believed that he would cause the death of his father and his mother. Oedipus was adopted by King Polybus and Queen Merope to raise him as their own. When he grows up, Oedipus, without knowing that he is adopted, learns about the prophecy and leaves his home to escape his destiny. Then, on the road, he meets and kills an old man in a quarrel who is his biological father. After killing his father, he encounters the Sphinx and solves its riddle; thus, he saves the kingdom of Thebes, becomes the new king, and unknowingly marries his biological mother.

Years pass, and Thebes is struck with plague. To solve the problem in Thebes, Oedipus searches for the reason for these disasters, and he finds out that he killed his father, married, and had children with his mother. This bizarre situation caused people to suffer, and after learning that she had married her son, Jocasta hanged herself. Oedipus then took two pins from her dress, and he blinded himself with them.

The protagonist of this tragic flaw, Oedipus, is the representative of Freud's Oedipus complex, which is applied to the male psyche starting from an infant. It's a situation where a male baby loves his mother, and the Oedipus complex, according to classic psychoanalytic theory, refers to a son's sexual orientation toward his mother while simultaneously feeling a rivalry toward his father, which emerges during the phallic stage of psychosexual development. In a nutshell, the son wants to be with his mother and feels rivalry with his father; then he starts to suppress his feelings in fear of castration anxiety. He does not forgive his mother for having granted the favor of sexual intercourse, not to himself but to his father, and he regards it as an act of unfaithfulness.




Resources Cited: