The Oedipus Complex

1. The Oedipus Complex

2. The Oedipus Complex • Named after the mythical figure Oedipus Rex, who unwittingly murdered his father and married his mother.

3. The Oedipus Complex • When the truth was revealed, Oedipus blinded himself in horror.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. The Origins of the Oedipus Complex • Totemism provides a structure for exogamy—marriage outside the group, usually by custom or law.

7. 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!”

8. 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.

9. The Origins of the Oedipus Complex • Classical mythology, for example, draws frequently on thinly-veiled Oedipal imagery. Saturn devouring his children.

10. 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’

11. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.