Sigmund Freud and His Oedipal Complex

Differently to what is thought nowadays, the Oedipus complex described by Freud goes beyond just the son 's desire to have sex with his mother. The Oedipus complex includes the teenager 's psychosexual idea of feeling jealousy, anger, and above all, competing with his father. Besides, Freud’s theory emphasizes that boys select their mother as their principal object of desire, and subconsciously wish to usurp or even murder their fathers in order to gain exclusive possession of her and become their mothers ' lover.

Oedipus Rex, an ancient Greek tragedy authored by the playwright Sophocles, includes many types of psychological phenomena. Most prominently, the myth is the source of the well-known term Oedipal complex, coined by psychologist Sigmund Freud in the late 1800s. In psychology, “complex” refers to a developmental stage. In this case the stage involves the desire of males, usually ages three to five, to sexually or romantically posses their mother, and the consequential resentment of their fathers. In the play, a prince named Oedipus tries to escape a prophecy that says he will kill his father and marry his mother, and coincidentally saves the Thebes from a monster known as the Sphinx. Having unknowingly killed his true father Laius during his

The Oedipus conflict or complex is a concept developed by Sigmund Freud to explain the origin of certain psychological disorders in childhood. It is defined as a child's unconscious desire for the exclusive love of the parent of the opposite sex. This desire includes jealousy toward the parent of the same sex and the unconscious wish for that parent's death. Horney states that it is not a “biologically given phenomenon” but rather a response to the “provocation’s” of the outside world.(Horney)

Sigmund Freud is highly renowned psychologists known for his most controversial theories in the history of psychology. He is also believed to be the father of modern psychiatry and psychology. His works are read widely and are criticized as well. He has left behind numerous theories regarding human mind and behavior out of which some are commonly accepted and some are widely debated. The question after that arises now is “Why did Freud’s theories get many criticisms?”

I find Sigmund Freud's theory about Oedipus Rex's complex a tragedy of destiny. His theory is widely misinterpreted by many as a sexual thing, but I see it from a different perspective. In fact, this theory is considered in the science world today as irrelevant. If I were to liken this to my personal experience, i am more affectionate towards my mum than to my dad. I spend most times having a chat with my mother than i do with my father. I am an

Freud’s theory of the Oedipal Complex is based off of this play, even though Oedipus did not suffer from the Oedipal Complex. My idea of this is the fact that Oedipus really doesn’t suffer from the oedipal complex because the complex that Freud explain is that a boy has the desire to have a sexual relationship with his mother and even though Oedipus did have sexual with his biological mother, he didn’t know that was his biological mother. This means that Oedipus’ desires to have sexual

Freud is wrong for naming the Oedipus Complex after Oedipus, and here is why. In this complex, Freud states that an infant developing a sexual love for his or her opposite gender parent is a necessary step in the psychological development of a human being. Though this

Born in Kentucky, the author received a Masters of Hospital and Health Administration in 1975 from Xavier University, Cincinnati, OH. After working thirty years in hospital administration, he is now retired in Miami,

The Oedipus Complex or Oedipus Rex is the “complex of emotions that is aroused typically around the age of four, by an unconscious sexual desire for the parent of the opposite sex and a wish to exclude the parent of the same sex.” This idea of Oedipus Complex came from or was derived from Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus. In Oedipus Tyrannus, Oedipus was cursed to kill his father to sleep with his mother. Sigmund Freud, an Australian neurologist who was also known as the father of psychoanalysis diagnosed Hamlet with Oedipus Rex. Freud had many ideas on things such as the psychosexual stages, defense mechanisms, and many more. Many of his theories have been disproven. But, this diagnosis of Hamlet is one of his most popular theories because of the evidence that supports his theory. But, many say that Freud misdiagnosed Hamlet and modern day doctors could diagnose Hamlet differently.

In the year eighteen ninety-nine, psychologist Sigmund Freud introduced the Oedipus complex in his book Interpretation of Dreams. Sigmund Freud is a psychoanalytic psychologist who focused on sex and violence, reflected in his views on the Oedipus complex, in which sons are in love with their mothers and are jealous of their fathers. An Oedipus complex is when a son loves his mother in a inappropriately sexual way. The term Oedipus complex comes from a Greek hero, Oedipus, whose parents were told that their son was going to kill his father and marry his mother. To circumvent the ordeal, his parents send him away.

A passing Christian knocked his cap off while telling him to get out of the way and expressing how much he disliked Jews. Instead of standing up to the Christian, Freud's father just moved out of the way and retrieved his cap from the ground. After hearing this story Freud was greatly affected because he lost confidence in his father as a role model. Freud later based his Oedipus Complex theory off of Sophocles's play “Oedipus the King.” The story was similar to his father's story only in the play when the main character is told to move off the road by the king the character instead retaliates and murders the king. The Oedipus Complex is a child's desire for sexual involvement with either the mother or the father depending on the child's gender followed by rivalry with the parent of the same sex (Breger, 2012). The Oedipal theory somewhat combines Freud's longing for his mother's attention and his contempt for his father. Freud did not want to apply his patient's traumatic experiences to himself so instead he applied his own experiences to his patients through this Oedipal

It has been said by Karl Taro Greenfield that: “The harsh truth of every relationship, even between those who love each other, like fathers and sons and daughters, or husbands and wives, is that the love is always unequal”. When a child is little, everything their parents do is seen as perfect, a parent can do no wrong. As a child grows older, they start to see that their parents are in fact flawed and this can cause an inward conflict for the child. Psychology has done a lot of research about family relationships, especially the relationship between a mother and her son. Sigmund Freud himself came up with the Oedipus complex, which is when a boy has an attachment to the mother, which in turns results in aggressive and envious feelings toward the father and these feelings are largely repressed. The Oedipus complex comes from Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus but has largely been associated with Hamlet as well, since he and his mother Gertrude, have an extremely complicated relationship (Oedipus Complex). Hamlet is the predecessor of modern psychological thought because Freud came after Shakespeare. In the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, the relationship between Hamlet and Gertrude is complicated, and it is hard to know the truth because of Hamlet’s emotional state along with his Oedipus complex, Gertrude’s possible involvement with her husband’s murder, and her relationship with Claudius. Although their relationship is still complicated, towards the end of the play it starts

Freud’s theory was initially based on his own person and experiences and memories, hence, lacking experimental and scientific

Freud thought that the Oedipus complex appeared during what he referred to as the “phallic stage” of development, the third of the five stages of a child's psychosexual development that Freud recognized, which occurred when a child came up between the ages of three and six. During this pivotal stage of a child's psychosexual development, Freud theorized that the child's genitals served as his or her primary source of pleasure, thus it is during this stage that a child begins to become sexual and recognize him or herself as a sexual being. (cf. Bressler,

Whether having had an Oedipus complex, or having created a complex Oedipus, Sophocles crafted an excellent story which became a basis for much psychoanalysis. Oedipus Rex tells the story of a man who murdered his father and married his mother, which centuries later, would lend itself to become a psychosexual diagnosis for those who followed similar suit. The underlying Oedipal desires of Hamlet causes a series of internal and external problems for the characters revolving around action and the inability to do so, and creates an overall theme that subconscious needs overpower conscious actions.