Comparing Sophocles Edipus And The Oedipal Complex

Oedipus and the Oedipal Complex In Sophocles’s play, Oedipus the King, Oedipus did have the Oedipal Complex. Through the play, we can see why he had this complex and the consequences it had on his life. The love Oedipus has for his mother and wife Jocasta is evident through his actions and emotions. Oedipus talks to her with full respect and shows his strong affection towards her by saying things like “For I respect you, my lady, more than them” (Myatt 20). This is solely due to his conflicts as an infant. When he was born, he was not able to fully receive love from his mother in the Oral stage of psychosexual development. During this time of his life, he was not feeding
He slowly began to crave love and sexual pleasures from his mother. Moreover, this caused him to kill his own father. This fact can’t be denied because the reason for him killing his father is very simplistic and unjust: “... and the Elder, observing this from his chariot, watched for me to go past and then on the middle of my head struck me with his forked goad. He was certainly repaid with more. By a quick blow from the staff in this, my hand he fell back...” (Myatt 23). At first glance, it makes no sense as to why anyone would become so enraged and kill someone just because they signaled them to move faster. However, the true reasons for Oedipus’s actions only make sense in the light of psychoanalysis. It was during this stage that Oedipus developed the Oedipal Complex. Oedipus’s repression build-up finally exploded and caused him to murder his father. When Oedipus saw the “man” that was bugging him, his unconscious mind, realized that this was his father and made him instantly kill him to get revenge from the jealousy of his father having an intimate relationship with Jocasta. The visual exposure of his father during childhood was enough for Oedipus to realize whom the obnoxious Elder was because of his severely repressed thoughts and
In addition, it probably seems strange that he did not feel any regret or guilt after committing the sinful act. However, Oedipus was strongly determined and motivated because he remained fixated in the Phallic stage and his Oedipal Complex. Thus, he could not properly developed a superego. The superego is “... the sense of right and wrong that develops with the internalization of parental figures at the close of the Phallic stage.” Being fixated in this stage caused him to remain strongly in love with his mother and have many children with her. Unfortunately, he did not realize the immorality with his lifestyle until the very end of the play. This harsh impact of this can be seen when Oedipus gouges his eyes out and says, “For why should I have sight when there was nothing pleasing to see?” (Myatt