The Oedipus Complex: A Greek Myth or a Freudian Fact?

In Oedipus Rex, a man finds himself in the extremely unfortunate position of killing his father and sleeping with his own mother, a result of cruel fate coupled with his own choices. Needless to say, everyone's lives in Thebes are ruined forever. This play and disturbing plot have been around for centuries, but it was the famed psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud who first attempted to make something out of this horrible tragedy. He decided to apply these events to all of us, claiming that everyone has roughly the same feelings as Oedipus, whether they try and avoid Fate or not. Freud called his hypothesis "The Oedipus Complex." Whether this hypothesis was just Freud projecting his childhood feelings on the world or just a lot of frippery could never be proven. But the hypothesis itself has fascinated psychology students everywhere, just like the story that was its basis.

Freud first used the term "Oedipus Complex" in 1910, but this topic would interest him for the rest of his life. He gave no end of thought to the possible combinations and scenarios associated with an Oedipus Complex, even going as far as to develop one for girls (which was sometimes referred to as an "Electra Complex", in honor of another Greek tragedy). According to Freud, an Oedipus Complex occurs between the ages of three and five in males. It is at this early stage in a child's development that he first recognizes the father figure as a potential threat to the relationship between him and his mother. Thus, he competes with his own father for his mother's affection, and, according to Freud, subconsciously "wishes to eliminate the father and possess the mother." This conflict of interests is eventually resolved, however, when the child outgrows this period and instead identifies with the father (and simultaneously, but briefly, rejecting his mother) until he finds an outlet for his love. Classical Freudian theory states that this resolution of the Complex is due to the male's "castration anxiety", but this explanation is clearly debatable.

It could be argued that the source of the Oedipus Complex, Oedipus Rex, is not a true example of Freud's shocking hypothesis. After all, Oedipus unwittingly (and, had he known the truth, unwillingly) fulfills his fate - but Freud claimed that this made the play and his hypothesis all the more true. Of Oedipus, Freud said:

"His destiny moves us only because it might have been ours –- because the oracle laid the same curse upon us before our birth as upon him. 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."

Freudian foolishness? Perhaps. Then again, we can never truly know the inner machinations of our minds, no matter how advanced psychology may become. Until proven otherwise, the Oedipus Complex and Oedipus Rex will always be present in our minds, haunting in their ideas - or perhaps in their truths. (507)