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What if I told you the excessive attachment and possessiveness that boys feel for their mothers that somehow subconsciously drives a rift between them and their fathers was in fact not mere love but a psychological condition? Crazy, right? As absurd as it sounds, Sigmund Freud came up with a concept that proves this in his book ‘Interpretation of Dreams’ in 1899.
The Story Behind the Title- Who was Oedipus?
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‘Oedipus Rex’, popularly known by its Greek title ‘Oedipus Tyrannus’, is Sophocles' Theban tragic play. The play was first performed around 429 BC and talks about the protagonist Oedipus who kills his father Laius and goes on to marry his mother Jocasta, although unwittingly.
There is this prophecy concerning the Theban king that Oedipus thus fulfills by doing what he does. The plot of the play concerns Oedipus’s search for the murderers of Laius to end a plague that has been ravaging Thebes.
Towards the end of the play, Oedipus finds out that the killer he has been so passionately looking for is nobody but himself and the truth behind the prophecy unfolds. After the dawning of the truth, Jocasta hangs herself while Oedipus, horrified by his crimes of patricide and incest gouges his eyes out in despair.
What is the Oedipus Complex?
Oedipus Complex is a term used in the psychosexual development of a child, especially a male child. Sigmund Freud described it as “the complex of emotions aroused in a young child, typically around the age of four, by an unconscious sexual desire for the parent of the opposite sex and wish to exclude the parent of the same sex.”
The concept of the Oedipus Complex was first proposed by Freud in his ‘Interpretation of Dreams’ but was not formally used until 1910. It refers to the attraction of a male child towards his parent of the opposite sex and the development of a feeling of rivalry towards the parent of the same sex.
According to this controversial concept, a son feels extremely possessive of his mother- to an abnormal extent and sees his father as a rival. The boy needs to compete with his father for his mother’s attention. This is probably the reason behind the stereotypical belief that boys are closer to their mothers, which is sometimes true, especially when it comes to Indian households.
The controversy that centers around the theory since according to Freud a child with the Oedipus Complex has sexual feelings for the parent. He believed that although these feelings may be repressed or not apparent, they are still there. We can see where the problem with the theory’s acceptance may have risen.
Signs or Symptoms of Oedipus Complex
The signs of the Oedipus Complex are not as overtly sexual- if at all as the theory might make us think. In reality, they are extremely behavioral and more often than not are even not noticeable by parents. They come in forms that wouldn’t really make a parent lean in the direction of the realization that their child might have a complex.
Some of the signs include-
1. A boy being possessive of his mother and asking his father not to touch her.
2. A child who insists on sleeping between his parents.
3. A child who wishes for his father to perhaps go out of town so he can take his place.
Apart from these signs, one very important and common trait that modern scholars have associated with the Oedipus Complex is that of a man looking for maternal qualities in his female partner. For example, men tend to marry women who have qualities resembling their mothers. That might be extremely offending and perhaps disturbing but this is what the scholars believed in.
The Portrayal of Oedipus Complex in Literary Characters
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D.H. Lawrence, in his novel ‘Sons and Lovers’ talks about the Oedipus Complex through the characters of William and Paul Morel. The novel is full of psycho-analytic themes. The most prominent one is what Sigmund Freud termed the Oedipus Complex.
Lawrence has very beautiful and cleverly projected the relationship of Paul Morel with his mother and there are instances in the novel where one sees that Paul feels a certain attraction towards his mother and depends on her a little too much.
It is his complicated relationship with his mother that prevents him from accepting Miriam or marrying her. His affection for Clara, who is an older woman, and the intimacy they share all hint towards the complexity that Paul has.
Conclusion- The Bottom Line
Freud believed that the first five years of a child’s life are extremely crucial for the child’s development and it is this time that hints towards the kind of adult the child would grow up to be.
The Oedipus Complex is perhaps the most discussed, criticized, and controversial theory of all time. Psychological experts continue to have differing views on the complexity and authenticity of the concept and will probably continue to do so for the foreseeable future because it is quite evidently not something that can be easily accepted as the truth.
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