Explain the Nature of the Oedipus Complex

Oedipus The King, written by Sophocles, is an ancient play featuring Oedipus, the king of Thebes, and the pursuit of the murderer of King Laius, the former king of Thebes. It is later revealed that Oedipus blindly killed his own father, Laius, and is charged for the murder. When Oedipus was an infant, he was given to a shepherd to abandon him, so he never knew his real parents. The other major abandonment which occurs later in the play is when he witnesses his own mother’s suicide. With that, Oedipus’ downfall was caused by various reasons, however all of them had one theme; abandonment. Abandonment in Oedipus’ case caused; PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder of abandonment, irrational outbursts of anger, and insecure, conceited behaviors.

I agree with the fact that Sophocles’ Oedipus had suffered from the Oedipus complex because Oedipus has shown that he is part of the triangle of being the young child who is “in love with one parent and hating the other” (Freud 472). If a person is one to not get over this stage in his childhood, to detach from his mother and forgive his father, then the conflict of the triangle has not been resolved leading him to be psychoneurotic. In the next paragraphs, I’m going to discuss why I think the oracle is at fault for Oedipus turning out the way he did, the tragic relationship with his father, and also about the unknowing relationship with his mother.

The book puts in question what are the important factors to a child’s development all the way until there teenage years. When growing up there are two main group of people that make us who we are; our parents and the outside world. When we are little, before we start school we do not know anything other than our family, this is called the first stage of development. By only knowing your family members this causes you to only act the way you see. However, a few years later, when

Talk about road rage! Oedipus is pushed out the way by a wagon, and he retaliates by killing almost everyone in the wagon, including his father! Sure, Oedipus was destined to kill his father anyway, but the manner in which he did so gives an insight into his demeanor. Oedipus could have killed his father in any number of ways, but to do so in a fit of rage set off by so seemingly trivial of an event is just not rational. Murder may not have been as big of a deal at that time, but if Oedipus had tried that in today’s world, he would have either been executed or have been spending the rest of his life in a mental institution. This incident goes to show that Oedipus is a very rash and impulsive man, and this carries over into his administration and decision-making.

Oedipus-Rex was filled with many impulsive, difficult decisions; much like when Jocasta and her husband at the time decided to attempt to murder their son, Oedipus. The prophet, Tiresias, came to Jocasta and Laius and warned them of Laius’ fate. Tiresias told Laius, former King of Thebes, that his son would ultimately be the death of him and his power. He and his wife, Jocasta, devised a sinister plan to “eliminate” the chance of this prophecy coming true. Shackling the newborn’s ankles together and leaving him to die on top of a mountain called Cithaeron. But as everyone in Thebes believes “fate works in magical ways”. Oedipus, the newborn at the time, was led by something mysterious back to Thebes to solve a riddle, kill his father and become the new king by marrying Jocasta and solving the Sphinx’s riddle. This put Oedipus exactly where fate wanted him. Later causing him to dig deeper into his past when things just don’t seem to add up. “Parents? Wait! Who was I born from after all?” Oedipus asked of Tiresias which started everything. After catching wind of this new investigation into Oedipus’ past and the acquiring of all these new details Jocasta finally connected the dots. Oedipus was the son she thought

In the play, “Oedipus Rex”, many ironies took place, as well as fate playing a huge part in the story. “Oedipus Rex” is a story about a man that tries to overcome adversity but cannot escape his prophecy. His parents took him to a hillside as an infant, sliced his Achilles tendons and left him there. A shepherd soon came to his rescue. “King and Queen of Thebes, gave their infant to a shepherd in with orders that he be left on the side of the mountainside to die” (Johnson 1205). As he grew older and much wiser, he went to see the Oracle of Delphi. The Oracle informed him that his destiny was to kill his father and marry his mother. The main ironies in the play are the killing of Oedipus’s biological father, the odd relationship with his mother, and the inability of Oedipus to avoid his fate.

Innocence may be preserved in a child indefinitely. However, influences from both family and society impose standards of maturity on children which gradually strip the youthfulness away from a child. Additionally, children may isolate themselves or face ostracization, which leads to the degradation of a child’s purity as he begins creating his own unique worldview apart of his community.

Un Chien Andalou (1929) was the first masterpiece of surrealism directed by one of the greatest Spanish director Luis Buñuel and the renowned surrealist painter Salvador Dalí. The Mise-en-scene of the film was striking in the era of its establishment and even nowadays, the film actually aimed to create no rational meanings, said by Bunuel (1983). Its major inspiration came from their dreams. Due to the film’s resemblance with dreaming, I found its visual representation coincidently matches Freud’s concept of the Oedipus complex, in a metaphorical manner.

Oedipus was destined to kill his father and marry his mother, according to the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi. He unsuccessfully tried to change his fate, when he left Corinth for Thebes for fear that he might kill Polybus. On the way he killed Laius, his biological father. Another time he attempted to avoid his fate was when

During the oral stage, the infant enjoys eating and sucking objects, during the anal stage, it develops an interest in the anal region, and during the phallic stage it gains satisfaction from the genital region. Afterwards, there is a latency stage and a genital stage. During the Phallic stage, it was proposed that boys developed the Oedipus complex. This involved a

The oral stage is associated with the mouth area as the infant gains pleasure from sucking, swallowing, biting and chewing. The psychological theme to the oral stage is dependency as a baby can do little for itself. Too much or too little fulfilment can result in Oral Fixation. This fixation will be carried onto later life, where this type of personality may have a stronger tendency to smoke, drink, over eat and bite their nails. The anal stage is associated with the anal cavity and sphincter muscles of the bowel, which are now the main sources of pleasure. The child learns to control anal stimulation. Anal fixation can result in obsession with cleanliness and perfection. On the opposite side they may become disorganised and/or untidy. The phallic stage is associated with the genital area where this becomes the primary area pleasure. The child at this stage becomes aware of the sex differences; both boys and girls experience emotional feelings in relation to the opposite sex parent. The latency stage is the

Oedipus was informed by an oracle that he would be the one to murder his father and marry his mother. It is important to know that Oedipus is a descendant of the first King of Thebes and because of this several of his relatives have met tragic deaths by taking unwarranted actions into their own hands. Before Oedipus was born his father Laius was told by the same oracle not to have any children by his wife Jocasta which he did anyway. This was not a situation that originated with Oedipus; it seems that this type of fate is destined to be intertwined in this family’s bloodline.

“You are your own enemy” (Guthrie, Oedipus Rex, 22:43). In the film adaptation of Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex” (1957), Sir Tyrone Guthrie portrays the characters as truth seekers that are ignorant when trying to find King Laius’ murderer. On the other hand, Sigmund Freud’s hypothesis of Sophocles’ work introduces us to “The Oedipus Complex” (1899) which states that as we’re young we grow infatuated with our opposite sex parent and feel resentment towards our same-sex parent. These two pieces have adapted mirror like meanings of Sophocles’ tragic play. Sir Tyrone Guthrie and Sigmund Freud explore this through the use of ethos, irony, social distance, and the visualization of state of mind in order to show the manifestation Oedipus undergoes

Oedipus Rex, is a Sophocles play, that according to Freud exemplifies a formative stage in a individuals psychosexual development. The psychosexual stages are the age related developmental periods in which sexual impulses are exerted through different bodily zones and then activities are associated with those areas in the bodily zones. These is when a young child will transfer his love object from the breast to the mother. When the child gives up the breast and moves to the mother it is known as the oral phase. The child then has the sexual desire for the opposite sex parent and will usually have hostility towards the same sex parent.

During this stage pleasure arises from genital stimulation. This is also the stage where children experience the Oedipus or Electra complex (Barlow, Durand, Stewart, 2009; Shaffer et al., 2010). Freud alleged that young boys would have sexual fantasies that included their mothers with accompanying feelings of anger toward their fathers. This was coupled with fears that their fathers would castrate them led to the Oedipus complex (Barlow, Durand, Stewart, 2009). Alternatively, girls may suffer from what is known as the Electra complex. Freud supposed that girls wanted to replace their mother’s place and assume a relationship with their father. This was coupled with penis envy of a brother or father as girl’s wished they could be more like the male figures in their life (Barlow, Durand, Stewart, 2009). If this stage was not resolved in childhood, Freud believed that anxiety from unresolved conflicts with same-sex parent lead to neuroses (Shaffer et al, 2010).