Oedipus+Complex

Kyle Crowe =Oedipus Complex=

Overview
Oedipus complex is the emotional, unconscious mindset for a young boy that desires to sexually possess his mother, and kill his father in the process due to jealousy. The idea was discovered by the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, in the late 19th century. Freud, however, didn’t publish his finding until 1910 in his paper “A Special Type of Object-Choice Made by Men” (Mijolla). He first started developing theories in the 1890s when hearing stories about early childhood abuse, and ultimately linked them to early childhood sexual fantasies. Freud would later go on to prove that this occurred during the phallic stage of psychosexual development, usually between the ages of three and six. He believed every young boy experienced this phenomena and the passing of the phase was a sign of maturity within males.

Background
Freud coined the term “Oedipus” from the 5th-century BC Greek myth in which Oedipus, desiring his mother, kills his father, Laius, in order to marry his mother. Consequently, Oedipus brought disaster upon his family and city (Sophocles). Freud himself said he experienced the effects of the Oedipus complex at a young age, “I found in myself a constant love for my mother and jealousy of my father” (Paul). He started discussing his theory in some of his early works. In The Interpretation of Dreams, Freud wrote “It is as though, to put it bluntly, a sexual preference were making itself felt at an early age: as though boys regarded their fathers and girls their mothers as rivals in love, whose elimination could not fail to be to their advantage it is the fate of all of us, perhaps, to direct our first sexual impulse towards our mother and our first hatred and our first murderous wish against our father. Our dreams convince us that this is so” (Freud 256). By stating that the Oedipus complex originates in boys dreams it is clear this is an unconscious feeling by the boy, and, for a variety of reasons, rarely discussed between parents and their son. Thus, this concept is communicated non-verbally between them. Freud also added that fear of castration played a large role in the Oedipus complex. Freud argues young men greatly fear castration as a punishment from their father in response to their sexual advancements towards his mother.

Significance
Freud argues the Oedipus Complex is the very framework for the human psyche. With the formation of this theory, Freud for the first time acknowledged the idea of sexual thoughts within children prior to puberty. He argued the Oedipus complex was universal and that it defined the human race. He uses the model to explain how the mature human mind is formed – during the phase the boy wants to be his father, thus, have sexual relations with his mother, then the boy matures and he wishes to be similar to his father, in that, develop a relationship with a different women and build a relationship similar to his father’s (Freud 259). Freud stressed how this was a phase of early child development and failure to progress psychosexually has negative effects, often including neurosis, pedophilia, and incest. In most cases, this is communicated non-verbally and is just a strong feeling a boy has, subconsciously for a few years. Thus, a boy rarely openly communicates his feelings for his mother, or his jealousy of his father.

A key aspect Freud also discusses is the young boys’ fear of castration during the phase. Boys subconsciously feel if successful in their pursuit of their mother their father will cut their penis off in retaliation. For whatever reason, boys at this age have a great fear of castration and it outweighs their sexual desire for their mother, and hence, they do not physically act on it. This is what separates the Greek myth from Freudian theory (Freud 174).

Electra Complex:
It should be noted that a similar theory is widely accepted that relates to females. The Electra complex, proposed not by Freud, but Carl Gustav Jung, is similar to Freud’s theory for young boys. The theory suggests that young girls compete with their mothers for her father, just like how boys compete with their fathers for their mother in the Oedipus complex. And instead of the fear of castration, girls mature out of this stage because of their envy of the penis. This causes them to desire all men, not just their father. Many of the physical aspects are the same; however in the Electra complex the girl doesn’t experience jealous, hostel feelings towards the parent of the same sex. Instead, it is more of a friendly competition with her mother to win over their father (Jung).

Post-Oedipus Complex:
Freud believed the desire of one’s mother often ended around age five or six. This was made possible by the male beginning to sexually desire the opposite sex, other than his mother. With their feelings for their mother gone and no longer competing with their father, the relationship between son and father improved (Freud 262). These feelings persisted for a few years before the male genitalia started to develop and the puberty phase begun. Freud argued not that the Oedipus complex completely disappeared, but that the individual was evolving, similar to how “a child looses their milk-teeth when permanent ones begin to grow” (Freud 173).

References:
Freud, Sigmund. The Interpretation of Dreams. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1999. 256-262. Print.

Freud, Sigmund, James Strachey, Anna Freud, Alix Strachey, and Alan Tyson. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. (1923-1925). London: Vintage, 2001. Print.

Jung, C. G. The Theory of Psychoanalysis,. New York: Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease Pub., 1915. Print.

Mijolla, Alain de. "Oedipus Complex." International Dictionary of Psychoanalysis. Ed. Alain de Mijolla. Gale Cengage, 2005. eNotes.com. 2006. 10 Apr, 2011. http://www.enotes.com/psychoanalysis-encyclopedia/oedipus-complex

Paul, Robert A. (1991). "Freud's anthropology". In James Neu ed. The Cambridge Companion to Freud. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 274 Sophocles, Oedipus the King1220-1226; Euripides, Phoenissae