Category: Oedipus Complex

The Oedipal complex, also known as the Oedipus complex, is a term used by Sigmund Freud in his theory of psychosexual stages of development to describe a child’s feelings of desire for his or her opposite-sex parent and jealousy and anger toward his or her same-sex parent.

Essentially, a boy feels that he is competing with his father for possession of his mother, while a girl feels that she is competing with her mother for her father’s affections. According to Freud, children view their same-sex parent as a rival for the opposite-sex parent’s attention and affections.

Freud first proposed the concept of the Oedipal complex in his 1899 book The Interpretation of Dreams, although he did not formally begin using the term Oedipus complex until the year 1910. The concept became increasingly important as he continued to develop his concept of psychosexual development.

Freud named the complex after the character in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex who accidentally kills his father and marries his mother.

In the Greek myth, Oedipus is abandoned at birth and thus does not know who his parents are. It is only after he had killed his father and married his mother that he learns their true identities.

In psychoanalytic theory, the Oedipus complex refers to the child’s desire for sexual involvement with the opposite sex parent, particularly a boy’s erotic attention to his mother. This desire is kept out of conscious awareness through repression, but Freud believed that it still had an influence over a child’s behavior and played a role in development.

Freud suggested that the Oedipus complex played an important role in the phallic stage of psychosexual development.1 He also believed that successful completion of this stage involved identifying with the same-sex parent which ultimately would lead to developing a mature sexual identity.

According to Freud, the boy wishes to possess his mother and replace his father, who the child views as a rival for the mother’s affections.

The Oedipal complex occurs in the phallic stage of psychosexual development between the ages of three and five. The phallic stage serves as an important point in forming sexual identity.

During this stage of development, Freud suggested that the child develops a sexual attraction to his or her opposite-sex parent and hostility toward the same-sex parent.

Freud suggested that there are a number of behaviors that children engage in that are actually a result of this complex. Some behavioral manifestations of the complex might involve a boy expressing possessiveness of his mother and telling his father not to hug or kiss his mom. Little girls at this age may declare that they plan to marry their fathers when they grow up.

The analogous stage for girls is known as the Electra complex in which girls feel desire for their fathers and jealousy of their mothers. The term Electra complex was introduced by Carl Jung to describe how this complex manifests in girls.2 Freud, however, believed that the term Oedipus complex referred to both boys and girls, although he believed that each sex experiences it differently.

Freud also suggested that when girls discover that they do not have a penis, they develop penis envy and resentment toward their mothers for ‘sending her into the world so insufficiently equipped.’ Eventually, this resentment gives way to identification with her mother and the process of internalizing the attributes and characteristics of her same-sex parent.

It was Freud’s views of female sexuality that was perhaps his most heavily criticized. The psychoanalyst Karen Horney refuted Freud’s concept of penis envy and instead suggested that men experience womb envy due to their inability to bear children.

Freud himself admitted that his understanding of women was perhaps less than fully realized. ‘We know less about the sexual life of little girls than on boys,’ he explained. ‘But we need not feel ashamed of this distinction. After all, the sexual life of adult women is a ‘dark continent’ for psychology.’

At each stage in Freud’s theory of psychosexual development, children face a developmental conflict that must be resolved in order to form a healthy adult personality. In order to develop into a successful adult with a healthy identity, the child must identify with the same-sex parent in order to resolve the conflict of the phallic stage.

So how does the child go about resolving the Oedipus complex? Freud suggested that while the primal id wants to eliminate the father, the more realistic ego knows that the father is much stronger. In addition, the boy also has a positive attachment to the father.3

The id, as you may recall, is the primal source of energy that seeks to immediately satisfy all of the unconscious urges. The ego is the part of the personality that emerges to mediate between the urges of the id and the demands of reality.

According to Freud, the boy then experiences what he called castration anxiety which is a fear of both literal and figurative emasculation. Freud believed that as the child becomes aware of the physical differences between males and females, he assumes that the female’s penis has been removed and that his father will also castrate him as a punishment for desiring his mother.

In order to resolve the conflict, the defense mechanism known as identification kicks in. It is at this point that the super-ego is formed. The super-ego becomes a sort of inner moral authority, an internalization of the father figure that strives to suppress the urges of the id and make the ego act upon these idealistic standards.

In The Ego and the Id, Freud explained the child’s superego retains the character of the child’s father and that the strong feelings of the Oedipus complex are then repressed.

Outside influences including social norms, religious teachings, and other cultural influences help contribute to the repression of the Oedipal complex.

It is out of this that the child’s conscience emerges, or his overall sense of right and wrong. In some cases, however, Freud also suggested that these repressed feelings could also result in an unconscious sense of guilt. While this guilt may not be overtly felt, it can still have an influence over the individual’s conscious actions.

As when conflicts at other psychosexual stages are not resolved, a fixation at that point in development can result. Freud suggested that boys who do not deal with this conflict effectively become ‘mother-fixated’ while girls become ‘father-fixated.’

An unresolved Oedipus Complex can lead to challenges in achieving mature adult romantic relationships, and conflicts with same-sex competitiveness. Psychoanalysis focuses on helping resolve these conflicts.

Also called the oedipal complex, the Oedipus complex is a term used in the psychosexual stages of development theory by Sigmund Freud. The concept, first proposed by Freud in 1899 and not formally used until 1910, refers to a male child’s attraction to their parent of the opposite sex (mother) and jealousy of their parent of the same sex (father).

According to the controversial concept, children view the same-sex parent as a rival. Specifically, a boy feels the need to compete with his father for the attention of his mother, or a girl will compete with her mother for the attention of her father. The latter concept was termed the “Electra complex,” by a former student and collaborator of Freud, Carl Jung.

The controversy centers on the theory that a child has sexual feelings towards a parent. Freud believed that though these feelings or desires are repressed or unconscious, they still have a significant influence on a child’s development.

The complex is named after Oedipus Rex — a character in Sophocles’ tragic play. In the story, Oedipus Rex unknowingly kills his father and marries his mother.

According to Freud’s theory, the psychosexual development in childhood happens in stages. Each stage represents the fixation of libido on a different part of the body. Freud believed that as you grow physically, certain parts of your body become sources of pleasure, frustration, or both. Today, these body parts are commonly referred to as erogenous zones when talking about sexual pleasure.

According to Freud, the stages of psychosexual development include:

• Oral. This stage happens between infancy and 18 months. It involves fixation on the mouth, and the pleasure of sucking, licking, chewing, and biting.
• Anal. This stage occurs between 18 months and 3 years of age. It focuses on the pleasure of bowel elimination and developing healthy toilet training habits.
• Phallic. This stage runs from age 3 to 5. It’s believed to be the most important stage in psychosexual development in which boys and girls develop healthy substitutes for their attraction to the opposite-sex parent.
• Latency. This stage occurs between 5 and 12 years of age or puberty, during which a child develops healthy dormant feelings for the opposite sex.
• Genital. This stage occurs from age 12, or puberty, to adulthood. The maturation of healthy sexual interests happens during this time as all of the other stages are integrated into the mind. This allows for healthy sexual feelings and behavior.

According to Freud, the first five years of life are important in the formation and development of our adult personalities. During this time, he believed we develop our ability to control and direct our sexual desires into socially acceptable behaviors.

Based on his theory, the Oedipus complex plays a significant role in the phallic stage, which happens between approximately 3 and 6 years of age. In this stage, the child’s libido is focused on the genitalia.

The symptoms and signs of the Oedipus complex aren’t as overtly sexual — if at all — as one might imagine based on this controversial theory. The signs of Oedipus complex can be very subtle and include behavior that wouldn’t make a parent think twice.

The following are some examples that could be a sign of the complex:

• a boy who acts possessive of his mother and tells the father not to touch her
• a child who insists on sleeping between parents
• a girl who declares she wants to marry her father when she grows up
• a child who hopes the parent of the opposite sex goes out of town so that they can take their place

The Electra complex is referred to as the female counterpart of the Oedipus complex. Unlike the Oedipus complex, which refers to both males and females, this psychoanalytic term refers only to females. It involves a daughter’s adoration for her father and her jealously toward her mother. There’s also a “penis envy” element to the complex, in which the daughter blames the mother for depriving her of a penis.

The Electra complex was defined by Carl Jung, one of the pioneers of psychoanalysis and former collaborator of Freud’s. It was named after the Greek myth of Electra. In the myth, Electra persuades her brother to avenge her father’s murder by helping her kill her mother and her lover.

According to Freud, a child must overcome conflicts at each of the sexual stages to be able to develop healthy sexual desires and behaviors. When the Oedipus complex is not successfully resolved during the phallic stage, an unhealthy fixation can develop and remain. This leads to boys becoming fixated on their mothers and girls becoming fixated on their fathers, causing them to choose romantic partners that resemble their opposite-sex parent as adults.

The Oedipus complex is one of the most discussed and criticized issues in psychology. Experts have, and will likely continue to have, differing views and opinions on the complex and whether or not it exists and to what degree.

Younger men choose older women as their ardent partners more than we realize such as famous Filipino celebrity pairings like Vicki Belo and her 24 years younger husband Hayden Kho, but many other couples have an even more significant age gap, yet, despite potential discrimination and stigma, age-gap relationships between younger men and older women continue to survive and thrive.

Couples where the women are significantly older than her male partner currently have a high prominence in national and international media and even in pop culture. The women in such arrangements have attracted a new label, ‘cougar’. Like other researchers, we also suspect that the number of couples where the woman is older who form long‐term relationships is considerably smaller than the number of such couples who have had short‐term relationships. Our brief canvassing of theories of partner choice suggests there are social and economic reasons for further growth of this type of partnering arrangement, with this, the researchers aim to answer why men choose older females as their partner’s companions wise. One such theory is that of Dr. Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalysis, the Oedipus complex, in psychoanalytic theory, it is the crave for sexual inclusion with the parent of the inverse sex and a concomitant sense of contention with the parent of the same sex; a pivotal arrange within the ordinary formative handle. Sigmund Freud presented the concept in his “Interpretation of Dreams” (1899).

The term derives from the Theban saint Oedipus of Greek legend, who unwittingly slew his father and hitched his mother; its female simple, the Electra complex, is named for another legendary figure, who made a difference to kill her mother. Freud ascribed the Oedipus complex to children of approximately the ages of three to five. He said the organization is ordinarily finished when the child is recognized with the parent of the same sex and curbed its sexual instincts. In the event that past connections with the guardians were generally adoring and nontraumatic, and on the off chance that parental states of mind were not one or the other unreasonably restrictive nor too much fortifying, the organization is passed through concordantly. Within the nearness of injury, however, there happens an “infantile neurosis” that is a critical trailblazer of comparative responses amid the child’s grown-up life. The superego, the ethical calculation that rules the cognizant grown-up intellect, also has its root within the handle of overcoming the Oedipus complex. Freud considered the responses against the Oedipus complex the foremost critical social accomplishments of the human intellect.

Sigmund Freud and his Oedipus complex are among the foremost frequently examined basic and contentious issues of advanced brain research and writing. Freud has brought a lot of contentions within the field of modern brain research and scholarly slant through his hypothesis Oedipus complex. Contrariwise, in a few other assessors’ ideas, his concept of the Oedipus complex merits an incredible bargain of appreciation. Nonetheless, prominent English writer D.H. Lawrence is one of those present-day journalists who are significantly impacted by Freudian hypotheses and have been advancing Freud’s ideas through their works. His “sons and lovers” are considered as one of the foremost advanced as well as disputable books of the twentieth century. In this fiction, the hero Paul’s amazingly enthusiastic dealings with his mother are the outline of Doctor Freud’s mental hypothesis, the Oedipus complex.

In brief, this study eventually endeavors to discover out a truthful arrangement for the controversies, raised by the Oedipus complex, with the assistance of rationale, truth, and logical investigates and why younger men choose to have a relationship with older women, assuming that the trope relates to the psychoanalytic theory.

Felix

Bruno Bettelheim, Christian Metz, and Michel Foucault are psychologists that gave me the concepts that might be useful for a psychological reading or interpretation of the film The Lion King, an American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, released by Walt Disney Picture in 1994. The ideas and concepts of Foucault, Bettelheim, and Metz can be linked as a rational theoretical framework, as it provides the basis upon which this interpretation can be based on. Bettelheim said that fairy tales in children’s growth and development are very important. He also said that the “fairy-tale world” has a connection to the children’s thoughts and reactions/experiences of their daily lives. For Bettelheim the concept of fairy tales fits within the thinking process of a child, making fairy tales a link to children’s development. In other words, when we analyze the concept of fairy tale through a children’s mind we should include psychoanalytic learning. Christian Metz is a phycologist that also wanted to analyze, and interpret films/movies through the psychoanalytic lens. Bettelheim and Metz both based their statements/readings on Sigmund Freud’s. But Metz preferred Lacan’s thinking. The Lion King is a children’s tale that fits right into the concept of a fairy-tale. Because this film has become a generation landmark, it is easier for us to go through and observed under the concepts and ideas of Metz. Michel Foucault, another psychologist is a person with many ideas and concepts, his ideas and concepts are also very useful for the psychological reading of this film as he mainly focuses on the concept of discourse, in his concept he talks about the relationship between knowledge and power while thinking about how social institutions use them as a form of social control. This report will be focusing on events and characters that are important and that we can use to show using the psychoanalytic lens. Using the psychoanalytic lens I am expecting to find out the desires and thoughts through the development of a character in the film. A character that I’ll be analyzing is Simba, the film’s hero, and main character.

In saying this, I must first point out that Bettelheim values ​​the universality and centrality of the Oedipus complex in the growth and development of children. Bettelheim proposes to apply the concept of Freud to fairy tales, which to do this It requires a common social structure based on the general definition of roles, and in Bettelheim’s opinion, he argued that in a typical home environment, each member has a clear role and function of what to do. Where the father is the protector of their children against the change of the real world and the mother will teach and cultivate the children. The Oedipus complex is a Freudian theory that studies the myth of King Oedipus as a perfect description of children’s sexual behavior and neuropathy. Regarding Freud’s theory, the complex takes place during the early childhood age of psychological development within the child, this is the stage where his/her love and sexual object is his mother. Because of this, the child at this stage will become jealous of his father and unconsciously wishes to get rid of him. The child then goes through anxiety for the revenge of love from his father for having sexual attractions to his mother, Freud relates this as castration anxiety. Which later on leads to an incubation period during the child’s sexual development. This period will only end when the child finds a new sexual object later on.

Certainly that The Lion King has some features that can be related with these psychoanalytic concepts. These features can go against or tell us that the lion king is a narrative about overcoming the Oedipus complex. At the start of the movie, The Lion King shows all the animals of Pride Lands gathering to celebrate and watch the king, Mufasa presenting his newborn and future king son, Simba. This part is important because not only does it sets the tone for the scene it also relates to the interpretation as well. This scene is a presentation of Simba’s introduction as the future king while presenting us the ‘Circle of Life’. The song that Elton John created brings value to the film. The lyrics of the song also relate back to the ‘Circle of Life.

The first feature relating to the Oedipus complex and The Lion King is seen when Mufasa shows the pride lands to Simba, telling him that everything the light touches will be his, in Oedipal terms, Mufasa is saying that one day Simba is going to replace his father and take over everything he possesses, which includes his mother. Then Simba asks his father about the ‘shadowy place’, and Mufasa warns his son that the place is not in the kingdom’s border and tells him to never go there. Dong this, Mufasa is trying to tell his son that there are consequences if you break this rule, just like giving up to the power which I have mentioned previously. During this stage, the balance between castration anxiety in the Oedipus complex and Mufasa’s recruit/threat is now easily made.

The ‘shadowy place’ beyond the borders of the kingdom is used in the Lion King’s narrative to put under the spotlight Simba’s superego. The features of psychological structures including the Id, Ego, and SuperEgo is one of Bettelheim’s favorite concepts when it comes to analyzing fairy tales. The Id is a simple feature of personality, it is what we are born with. The Id requires satisfaction and creates an instinct that functions under the pleasure principles. The ego is in fact a bridge that is built between the Id and the real world. In other words, this means that the ego will deal with a person’s reality, not only meeting one’s desire but also considers other expectations. When the desires are not met, the ego will defend itself and redirect the desires. The superego is created throughout psyche and it is based on morals, rules or judgments about what is right and what is wrong. The superego guides the ego and tell it how it should act, giving it self-evaluation and also being responsible when there are regrets dealt after ego has failed to meet its desires. Simba and Nala going to the ‘shadowy place’ is a good example of Simba’s psyche in development, at this stage, Simba’s superego has not been formed yet. Which we can tell when the lyrics of Simba’s musical act to divert Zara is presented and while Simba goes to the elephant graveyard with nala, it is suggested that this is the interpretation as Simba sings that he ‘just can’t wait to be king’ and that he is ‘brushing up on looking down. Which the narcissism of Simba is becoming more visible at this stage of the film.

Simba’s ‘bravery’ can also be related to the Oedipal complex, in other words, it tends to show that he is worthy of his mother’s love. The emotion is only interrupted when Simba and Nala is saved my King Mufasa. The film continues with Mufasa having a talk with Simba. And it is this moment that Simba steps into his father’s paw print and figures that there is a difference of sizes. When Simba realizes that his father’s actual stature, he knows his insignificance and starts his journey of overcoming the Oedipus complex. Mufasa shows disappointment with his son Simba’s behavior but then tells Simba that all the great king through the past are looking down at them as the stars then eventually he says that one day he will also look down on Simba as the stars. This is the threat of castration I have mentioned before. However this time Simba is completely internalized, the fact that Mufasa’s authority turns to the stars, makes it eternal. Meaning that when Mufasa dies he would turn into Simba’s superego and his ideal ego. Once Mufasa died Simba leaves Pride Lands feeling guilt for his father’s death. Simba is then found to die in the desert but then ends up spending his childhood with Simon and Pumbaa. The time Simba spends with Simon and Pumbaa is a break in the concept of the ‘circle of life while also representing the latency period of the Oedipus complex. This stage is generated through The person’s unconscious feelings of guilt for having his mother as a sexual object. But when Simba returns to the pride lands, the ‘circle of life then represents the resolution of the Oedipus complex. When Simba and Nala reunite, the termination of the latency period starts but we can also see the Oedipal message of their love. As a result of Nala throwing down Simba and kissing him, they eventually fall in love, the music presented by Elton John, ‘can you feel my love’ makes it very obvious that they were under that situation. We then see that his desire for his mother starts to redirect towards Nala. During the latency period, Simba is living freely without any concerns. Simba’s superego goes through a deep slumber. But as Rafiki comes in he wakes his superego by telling him Mufasa is still alive, living within him. This is the start of the turning point of Simba’s personality.

The psychological interpretation of the lion king is that the Oedipal connotation is the majority of the plot of this film. We can also say that the film clearly presents a connection between the resolution of Simba’s Oedipus complex and the return of the ‘circle of life in the pride lands. The final scene of the film is a representation of the repetition of the opening scene but this time it is Simba and Nala’s newborn be8bg presented to all the animals which in other terms Simba takes his rightful place in the ‘circle of life’ and that the ‘circle of life’ will continue through his newborn son.

In conclusion, it can be said that there is a clear connotation in the film with the psychological concepts of the Oedipus complex used by Bettelheim in his reading of fairy tales. The features of the film the lion king with Freudian concepts are overwhelming. Making me believe that this concept/idea should be taken seriously. Especially when showing these narratives to children. The main ideas of Metz and Foucault also gives us features that might be ignored. The necessary relationships inside the film and the structures of power in production. In the specific scene of “The Lion King”, I believe that the ideology behind the main structure of power at that time can be lined to the coded information in the film. The ideas of Metz and Foucault about different types of machines and discourses proved to be the ideal basis for this interpretation, this then leads to my conclusion that the film “The Lion King” is correctly coded in the film and it is a clear example of more subtle information.

What did Freud say about women? And how did feminism respond?

Introduction to psychoanalysis and gender:

According to Freud’s psychosexual theory of personality development, it is suggested that gender development occurs during the phallic stage. This is when a child is between the ages of 3 and 6 years old. Psychoanalytic theories suggest that gender development is different for boys and girls (Freud, 1905). The Oedipus complex is a term created by Freud and implies that through this complex, boys will identify with their father to take on a male gender role. Freud also developed the female aspects of the sexual development theory. He describes the psychodynamics of a girl’s sense of competition with her mother for sexual possession of her father as the feminine negative Oedipus complex. Jung, however, coined the term Electra complex to describe female sexual development.

Looking into the processes of the Oedipus complex, Freud believed that the complex is a result of the boy developing sexual and pleasurable unconscious desires for his mother. Feelings of envy and jealousy start to arise towards the boys’ father, as the father is deemed to be the object of the mother’s love and attention. With the feelings of attraction toward the mother coupled with the hostile feelings toward the father, the boy is lead to having dreams of replacing the father by getting rid of him, making the boy the centre of his mother’s attention. These hostile feelings towards the father also give way to the boy suffering from ‘castration anxiety. Castration anxiety is an irrational fear that the father will remove the boy’s penis as a form of punishment. The boy believes that a girl has been castrated and they do not want to go through the same thing. To deal with this form of anxiety, the boy will start to identify with his father and will choose to take on the same attitudes and values that his father has. At this stage, the father becomes a role model to the boy. The boy stops seeing himself in competition with his father for his mother’s affection. Now that the boy identifies with his father, he develops his male sex role and the feelings towards his mother are replaced with feelings for other women (Aslop, 2002). Freud believed the ‘Little Hans’ case study was evidence that the Oedipus complex existed (Freud 1909).

When looking at the Electra complex, it begins with the girl believing that she has already been castrated. As a result of this, she encounters feelings of what Freud called ‘penis envy’ and blames her mother for this. Much like a boy has to identify with his father to take on a male sex role, a girl has to identify with her mother to take on a female sex role and develop her superego. Feelings of blame towards the mother are repressed to eradicate tension and help the girl to identify with her mother and take on the female gender role. Freud believed that a girl’s identification with her mother was less complete compared to a boy’s identification towards his father. As a result, Freud viewed a female’s superego as weaker and believed that women were not as well developed as men.

Freud believed that our gender identity is unconsciously structured in our early childhood (Aslop, 2002). This essay will look at what Freud’s views were on women and feminism and how feminism decided to respond to what he had to say.

Freud’s Theory on women:

Sigmund Freud’s views on women stirred controversy during his own lifetime and continue to conjure considerable debate today. In his 1925 paper – ‘Some Psychical Consequences of the Anatomical Distinction Between the Sexes – Freud wrote, ‘Women oppose change, receive passively, and add nothing of their own (Burke, 1998).

Hysteria was at one time a common medical diagnosis. Layman described hysteria as a type of behaviour that appears excessive, extreme and out of control. An individual who is described as hysterical would typically respond to a situation in an unnecessarily overly emotional and over-the-top way. During the Victorian era, the term hysteria was typically used to make reference to a list of symptoms that were most generally only observed in women.

In psychoanalytic theory, repression is when distressing memories, thoughts and feelings are banished from the conscious mind into the unconscious mind. The thoughts will often have something to do with an individual’s sexual and/or aggressive urges. Repression of these unwanted thoughts and feelings is believed to lead to anxiety and neurotic symptoms – such as hysteria. Feelings of anxiety and neurotic symptoms will tend to start when thought from the unconscious mind tries to enter the conscious mind. Freud (1894, 1896), believed that repression was a defence mechanism for the ego.

Freud’s ground-breaking talk therapy evolved from his work with Bertha Pappenheim, most commonly known as Anna O. Anna was a patient who was suffering from hysteria. Amongst her many symptoms, the most prominent ones were hallucinations, loss of memory and partial paralysis. Anna would describe her feelings and experiences to Freud’s colleague, Joseph Bruer. While talking about her feelings, Anna’s symptoms seemed to ease. Anna called this the ‘talking cure. Once Anna’s talk therapy had ended, she became a social worker and made substantial contributions to the women’s movement in Germany. Freud originally proposed that the cause of hysteria was sexual abuse during childhood. He then rejected this theory and instead he suggested that the development of an assortment of neuroses and illnesses were due to the role of sexual fantasies. Freud believed that women had a sexual desire and that by repressing their sexual desire, it could lead to them being diagnosed with hysteria.

Infantile sexuality

Penis envy is the female counterpart to Freud’s concept of castration anxiety. In his theory of psychosexual development, Freud suggested that during the phallic stage (around ages 3 to 5 years) young girls distance themselves from their mothers and instead devote their affections to their fathers. According to Freud, this occurs when a girl realizes that she has no penis. Freud had suggested that girls will blame their mother for not having a penis and will not forgive her for being ‘put at a disadvantage’ (Freud, 1933) Although Freud believed that his discovery of the Oedipus complex and related theories such as castration anxiety and penis envy were his greatest accomplishments, these are the theories that are probably his most criticized. Horney (1924), stated that the true reason girls experienced penis envy was down to how the female children were treated by their parents. She uses the example that males touch and look at their own genitals in order to urinate and this is allowed and seen as normal. However, a patient of hers had also witnessed a father telling off his little girl for touching ‘that’ part of her body. Her patient questioned the fact the father will touch his own genitals 5 or 6 times a day yet he forbids her to do the same.

Women in Psychoanalysis and Feminist Criticisms:

While Freud depicted women as the less superior gender, numerous women were persuasive in the development of psychoanalysis. Helen Deutsch was the first woman to join Freud’s Vienna Psychoanalytic Society in 1918. She was the first person to publish a psychoanalytic book based on the sexuality of a woman. She also wrote about broader topics such as motherhood and teenage females (Deutsch, 1945). Deutsch was a champion of Freud when it came to his theories regarding women. Due to this, she became a prime target by feminists.

Sabrina Spielrein is another influential psychoanalyst who also played a part in the development of psychoanalysis. During Freud’s and Jung’s early friendship, they would discuss together Spielrein’s case, as she was initially one of Jung’s patients. Spielrein went on to introduce the concept of psychoanalysis in Russia and developed the concept of the death instinct. Spielrein (1912), suggested her own version of the drive theory. She bases hers on the conflicting nature of desire and the destructive components of sexuality. Whereas, Freud bases his drive theory on the contradiction amongst sexual drives and survival drives.

Horney became one of the first critics of Freud’s views on feminine psychology as discussed in the previous section of this essay. ​ She suggested that it is men who are affected by their incapability to give birth to a child. She referred to this as womb envy (Horney, 1942). Freud indirectly responded, writing, ‘We shall not be very greatly surprised if a woman analyst who has not been sufficiently convinced of the intensity of her own wish for a penis also fails to attach proper importance to that factor in her patients’ (Freud, 1949).

Melanie Klein became a prominent member of the psychoanalytic community and developed the technique known as ‘play therapy, which is still widely used today. Klien developed Freud’s understanding of the unconscious mind. In the same way Freud would analyse an individual’s dreams, Klien would analyse child’s play and much like Freud believed in the Oedipus complex. She would then go on to discover that the Oedipus complex takes place at an earlier stage that Freud thought.

Anna Freud, Sigmund Freud’s daughter, also played a vital role in evolving of her father’s theories and contributed significantly to child psychoanalysis.

Lou Andreas-Salome is another psychoanalyst who contributed greatly to psychoanalysis. Adreas-Salome (1899), she claimed women were the superior gender due to biological factors, contradicting Freud. Feminists have an interest in Adreas-Salome as she would often exchange differing views with Freud.

Minsky refers to psychologists Firestone (1979) and Millet (1970), and claims that they argued that Freud’s structure of gender and the inequality he portrays between the male and female genders are fixated around the father figure and the phallic stage. Firestone and Millet asked why a child would initially assume that every human being is born with a penis and why this particular body part provokes envy (Aslop, 2002).

Conclusion:

In conclusion, it is clear that Freuds view on females was a trigger to many women. Freud’s suggestion that our gender is based on what happens in our unconscious mind during the phallic stage is something that many female psychoanalysts, such as Horney and Firestone disagree with. However, we can also note the controversial views from Freud somewhat paved a way for female psychology to become more and more prominent, as it allowed for female psychanalysts to delve further into the subject so that they could, in their way, show that Freud was wrong.

References:

1. Alsop, R., Fitzsimons, A., & Lennon, K. (2002). Theorising gender. Oxford: Polity. 39-63
2. Burke, N. (1998). Gender & Envy. Routledge, New York; London: 20-23
3. Deutsch, H. (1944-1945). The psychology of women: A psychoanalytic interpretation. Vol. 1: Girlhood; Vol. 2: Motherhood. New York: Green and Stratton.
4. Freud, S. (1905). Three essays on the theory of sexuality. Se, 7.
5. Freud, S. (1909). Analysis of a phobia of a five-year-old boy. In The Pelican Freud Library (1977), Vol 8, Case Histories 1, pages 169-306
6. Freud, S. (1894). The neuro-psychoses of defence. SE, 3: 41-61.
7. Freud, S. (1896). Further remarks on the neuro-psychoses of defence. SE, 3: 157-185.
8. Horney, K. (1924). On the genesis of the castration complex in women. International Review of Psycho-Analysis, 5, 50-65.
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A Theory Rising Up from the Tragedy: Freud’s Oedipus complex

• “Long, long ago; her thought was of that child
• By him begot, the son by whom the sire
• Was murdered and the mother left to breed
• With her own seed, a monstrous progeny.
• Then she bewailed the marriage bed whereon
• Poor wretch, she had conceived a double brood,
• Husband by husband, children by her child.”

-Sophocles

One of the best-known examples of Greek tragedies, Oedipus the King, the king of Thebes is composed by Sophocles who is considered as one of the three classic tragedy playwrights. His famed work Oedipus the King makes an incredible effect in which is known as the golden age. Since from the principal contemporaries of Sophocles to other important writers and thinkers, he encourages to some remarkable hypotheses. The narrative of Oedipus is the best known about all the Greek legends, however, it doesn’t have just a permanent status in Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus—yet on account of Sigmund Freud, the name Oedipus also produces a different way related to the psychological theory. ‘Freud reads Oedipus: the Oedipus complex draws its specificity from the Sophocles tragedy, rather than just from the ostensible semantic content of the Oedipus legend.’ The hypothesis of Oedipus which is stated by Sigmund Freud is one of these hypotheses, yet before clarifying the main subject of this article, I will examine the premise source of the article.

The plot of Oedipus the King is based on the myth about Oedipus. Laius, the ruler of Thebes, learns from an oracle that he will be executed by his own child. Because of this, he puts in an order for his child to be taken to the mountain Kithairon so that the animals can eat him. The shepherd feels frustrated about him and offers him to another shepherd. From that point forward, another shepherd gives the child to lord Polybus. Oedipus grows up and hears that he was adopted yet his folks deny it and he goes to want Oracle from Delphi. The prophet answers him by giving him foresight and says you will kill your dad and get your mother pregnant. Upon this, Oedipus concludes that he can’t return home. In this time, a plague breaks out among the general population of Thebes as the Sphinx. The Sphinx asks a riddle, and on the off chance that you can’t answer it, it’s anything but a decent circumstance. Along these lines, to support his kin, King Laius chooses to go to the Oracle at Delphi to look for an answer. After, Oedipus and his real father encounter with one another in the street. The two men have the option to continue through the way but the King strikes Oedipus first and they break into a battle. At that point, Oedipus executes the ruler. Oedipus lands in Thebes and experiences the Sphinx he knows the proper response of the riddle and the general population of Thebes meets him by making him their ruler. In different words, Oedipus weds Queen Jocasta, his real mother. The two have four babies and live cheerfully ever after. But after, he understands the terrifying truth about himself and his identity.

Of the children, inmates of his home,

He shall be proved the brother and the sire,

of her who bare him son and husband both,

Co-partner, and assassin of his sire.

Against this background, the central question that motivates this paper is the notable theory of Oedipus which is termed by Sigmund Freud who is considered one of the greatest physicians and psychoanalysts. According to Freud, The Oedipal complex happens throughout the Phallic phase of improvement (ages 3-6) in which the wellspring of libido (life power) is filled in the erogenous zones of the baby’s body. Throughout this stage, kids experience an unconscious emotion of want for their inverse sex parent and desire and jealousy toward their equivalent sex parent. Also, the child sees his mother as a property in an emotional frame that is improved by him. In other words, in the young man, Oedipus unpredictable or all the more accurately, struggles emerges on the grounds that the kid creates unconscious sexual (pleasurable) wants for his mom. Likewise, as regards to the symptoms of this complex, Freud asserts that there are different practices that children take part in that are really a consequence of this complex. Some social appearances of the complex may include a kid communicating possessiveness towards his mom and say to his dad not to hug or kiss his mother. In the light of this information, Freud takes the idea which accidentally caused a sexual complexity between Oedipus and his mother and it is theorized psychoanalytically within the tragedy of the king Oedipus. The case history of ‘Little Hans’ (1909b) outlined and balanced Freud’s negotiation of the ‘sexual hypotheses of kids. ‘In a brief, Freud used the term to refer to a stage in the development of young boys. He assumed that in early development, around the age of five, young children wish to have their entire mother’s love. Thus, jealousy causes them to resent and even unconsciously wish the death of their father. The term Oedipus complex was indeed named after the name of a Greek mythical figure.’ Jaundice and jealousy is felt for the dad, the object of the mother’s friendship and consideration. These affections for the mother and contention towards the dad lead to dreams of disposing of his dad and having his spot with the mother. The antagonistic emotions towards the dad lead to castration nervousness, a silly dread that the dad will castrate (take away his penis) him as a torment. ‘A submissive, “castrated” attitude toward the father is an element in the oedipal conflict; but so is that direct, preoedipal father identification which, according to Freud, helps to prepare the oedipal constellation and is reinforced and modified in the direction of submission by the castration threat.’[footnoteRef:5] As it were, the kid wishes to have his mom and changes his dad, who the kid sees as an opponent for the mother’s affections. Be that as it may, this circumstance directs a dread of castration as well as to adapt to this nervousness, the child identifies to his dad. This implies that the child disguises the frames of mind, qualities, and worth that his dad holds but after dad turns into a good example as opposed to an opponent. After, young men obtain their superego and the male sex job. The kid substitutes his longing for his mom with the desire for other ladies. ‘Freud thought that a little boy is »condemned« to follow his drives and wishes, the same way as Sophocles’ Oedipus is condemned to do. In his opinion, this is the reason why he became involved in a strong emotional drama, which is resolved due to castration anxiety. The boy believes that his father, a strong rival, is the one who will castrate him unless he abandons his oedipal wishes. He finds a solution in the process of identification with his father, constitution of the Superego structure, and transferring his sexual strivings from his mother to other female figures.’

With respect to the above, this theory is supported by a remarkable example of a work in which written as one of the top literary cases in the Renaissance period, it is named Hamlet and its author is Shakespeare who is considered one of the great writers in terms of the period. Shakespeare demonstrates the same psychological features or the same pattern of behaviors in his famous play as Sigmund Freud demonstrated in his theory at a much later time. If the theory is looked at in terms of the Oedipal complex, in other mean relationships between Hamlet and his mother, can be analyzed with this Freudian idea. As having mentioned above Freud explain that ‘The child takes both of its parents, and more particularly one of them, as the object of its erotic wishes.’[footnoteRef:7] Because of making a desire in the child’s mind, the child sees as an enemy or rivalry with the parent of the same sex. With this in mind, Hamlet reveals up a big hostility for his uncle Claudius who married his mother upon the death of his real father. Because Hamlet finds the mother’s affair for his uncle very disgusting and he tries to cope with this situation through their marriages or relationships. He thinks that dominantly he has a kind of incestuous feelings towards his mother, Gertrude. Because he does not do anything or any actions, any searching related to the death of his father until he met the ghosts, and as opposed to that he is more engaged the marriage of his mother than the death. The light of this information, Hamlet unconsciously believes that dad is dead and all rivalry about his death is gone and so the father’s position among them shifts and ruins. There is no more adverse condition between them. It fits in with the Oedipal complex in which Hamlet’s desire meant a sexual object for his mother. ‘Freud’s most famous statement about Hamlet, indeed, his most famous contribution to Shakespeare scholarship generally, was to point out Hamlet’s Oedipus complex. Conversely, Hamlet seems almost to have helped Freud Formulate the conception of the Oedipus complex. In the very letter (dated 15 October 1897) in which Freud first said, ‘ I have found a love of the mother and jealousy of the father in my own case, too, and now believe it to be a general phenomenon of early childhood,’ he immediately went on so to apply the concept to Oedipus Rex and Hamlet.’ Also in addition to this, in act one scene two, Hamlet is reflected as an angry, hateful, and jealous man who is full of sexual feelings towards his mother and shows the oedipal complex attitudes in the relationship with the mother and he makes very much sexually sarcastic behaviors. He especially is obsessed with his mother’s sexual life with his uncle through their marriages.

‘Married with my uncle,

My father’s brother, but no more like my father

Then I to Hercules: within a month:

Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears

Had left the flushing in her galled eyes,

She married. O, most wicked speed, to post

With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!’

Finally, this article aims to explain the complex of Oedipus which is to be known as the most important Freudian theory, based on the Greek tragedy of Sophocles. This tragedy shows us the king of Oedipus marries with his mother accidentally and he has children from his mother. Upon this, play, the famous physician Sigmund Freud take the idea and make a theory. This complex asserts that there is a sexual relationship or lust that arises from the child to his mother in the child’s range of the Phallic period. According to this development in sense of the baby, a rivalry towards the figure of the father reveals up unconsciously and the child’s actions for his father are shaped with reference to the sexual idea but the internal desire belongs to the child is refused by his mother due to the absence of hoped-for satisfaction. With respect to the ignoring, the child eventually gives up his desire and he chooses another role model for doing this, by obtaining his own superego and male sex part. As a result of this progress, the complex of Oedipus is collapsed and it is completed in terms of the child. On the other, in the final part of the article, as regards to the subject, a great example, Hamlet which is written by the best-known writer Shakespeare in the Renaissance period is presented in a brief way, without looking at the comprehensive of the play. According to the play, the Freudian hypothesis has been tried to be explained based on information provided by the play. Especially, Hamlet’s jealous behavior and attitude to his mother and instead of the death of his father, his focusing on the marriage of his mother are demonstrated and set up a connection as a good example of Freudian theory.

Works Cited

1. Sophocles. “Oedipus the King.” Ancient Wisdom for Modern Minds, classicalwisdom.com/Greek books/Oedipus-the-king/11/.
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