The Oedipus Complex
The Oedipus Complex
• Named after the
mythical figure
Oedipus Rex, who
unwittingly murdered
his father and married
his mother.
The Oedipus Complex
• When the truth was
revealed, Oedipus
blinded himself in
horror.
The Oedipus Complex
• Anxious desire for the mother—the boy
wants to command her complete attention.
• Recognition of the father as a rival.
• Hostility and aggression directed towards
the father.
• In his book Totem and Taboo, Freud
explained the origins of the Oedipal
complex.
The Origins of the Oedipus
Complex
• Totemism is a type of
social organization in
pre-literate societies.
• A totem is a symbol of
a clan or tribe. It’s
usually an animal
which it is forbidden
to kill or eat.
The Origins of the Oedipus
Complex
• Totemism provides a
structure for
exogamy—marriage
outside the group,
usually by custom or
law.
The Origins of the Oedipus
Complex
• In The Origin of Species,
Darwin theorized that early
humans lived in small tribal
groups, dominated by an alpha
male.
• Competition for the females
would occasionally lead the
other males to kill and eat the
‘father’ figure and another
being installed in his place.
• “The King is Dead—Long Live
the King!”
The Origins of the Oedipus
Complex
• Soon taboos—ritual
prohibitions, without the
need for law—arose
against sexual relations
within the totem group.
• Repressed guilt over this
‘original sin’ represents
the beginning of art and
culture.
The Origins of the Oedipus
Complex
• Classical mythology, for
example, draws frequently on
thinly-veiled Oedipal imagery.
Saturn devouring
his children.
The Origins of the Oedipus
Complex
• Classical mythology, for
example, draws frequently
on thinly-veiled Oedipal
imagery.
• As does Christian
mythology. Adam and Eve
are banished from Eden
for an oral sin, directed
against ‘God-the-father’
The Origins of the Oedipus
Complex
• Freud saw a connection
between desire and taboo.
Only that which we deeply
want to do needs the
prohibitive power of a
taboo.
• In other words, people
fear their wishes and
desires and paradoxically
desire what they fear.
How is the Oedipus Complex
Resolved?
• To RID himself of the Oedipus Complex, a boy
must:
Repress his desire for his mother.
Identify with his father—seek to be like him.
Displace his feelings for his mother onto a socially
appropriate member of the opposite sex.
The Origins of the Oedipus
Complex
• Freud saw a connection
between desire and taboo.
Only that which we deeply
want to do needs the
prohibitive power of a
taboo.
• In other words, people
fear their wishes and
desires.