The Subconscious Mind In Oedipus The King
Oedipus Rex, is a compelling play, with a main character story line that is very complicated. Oedipus, who was adopted into a royal family, but never told he was adopted, obtains a prophecy that he will kill his father and marry his mother. He runs away from his family, to escape the prophecy, but finds them to come true in the end, when he is reconnected with his birth family. An ongoing, popular question readers have at the end of the play, is if Oedipus’ outcome was due to fate or free will. Could he have had the power to stop the prophecies from coming true, or were they destined to happen? Looking through the literary lens of Psychoanalytic Criticism based on Sigmund Freud's theories of psychology, we can try to determine if Oedipus’ subconscious chose to make the decisions he did. Psychoanalytic criticism looks
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at how childhood events influence our unconscious minds and fear, sexuality, death and more.
Three main aspects of our unconscious mind that can help understand our thoughts are the id, ego and the superego. The id is the unconscious part of our mind. It controls our impulses, our needs, why we do whatever we want in the moment. This is the part of the mind that would control Oedipus’ impulse to kill Laius. Oedipus’ id drove him to feel extreme anger towards Laius, resulting in killing his own father, “The driver, an old man himself, tried to push me off the road. In anger I struck the driver as he tried to crowd me off” (pg. 45). Fear is controlled by this part of the mind, a quote shows how fear greatly influenced Oedipus’ actions during the play “So! Why then, Jocasta, should we study Apollo’s oracle, or gaze at the birds screaming over our heads-those prophets who announced that I would kill my father? He’s dead, buried below ground. And here I am in Thebes-I didn't put hand to sword. Perhaps he
died from longing to see me again. That way, it could be said that I was the cause of his death. But there he lies, dead, taking with him all these prophecies I feared-they are worth nothing.. It is. But I was led astray by fear” (pg. 53). The superego is our morals, our belief of what is right and what is wrong taught by society and family. Oedipus’ superego seemed to be suppressed when he murdered Laius, but his morals are shown when he believes he should be banished from Thebes, because of what he has done. The ego is the conscious part of the psyche, it maintains the balance between the id and the superego. It thinks about our actions, how they affect the feelings of others, and helps us make decisions. This is the part of the mind that controlled Oedipus’ action to leave his family, in order to escape the prophecies. Using these levels of the mind, we can start to understand Oedipus’ reactions to the events.
A part of the psychoanalytic theory is the oedipal complex, which is the the unconscious desire stemmed from childhood, that we would want to replace the same sex parent, in order to become more attached with the opposite sex parent. This theory can help explain why oedipus’ prophecies led him to his own parents. Oedipus unconsciously seeked out the romantic connection that was familiar to him because of his very early childhood connection he had. The unconscious familiarity with his mother is what made him romantically and sexually attracted to her. The drive to kill his father Laius, may have stemmed from the unconscious jealousy he had towards him. This jealousy Oedipus’ superego, with such a small encounter driving him to kill Laius, something very out of character to do. This quote shows how an unconscious part of Oedipus’ mind, one that is very different from his conscious, made the decision to kill, “In no time at all he was hit by the stick I held in my hand and rolled backwards from the center of the wagon. I killed a whole lot of them. Now if this stranger had anything to do with Laius- is there a more unhappy man than I? Who could be more hateful to the gods than I am?” (Pg. 46) The oedipal complex delves into how Oedipus’ actions were both fate and freewill. It was fate that Oedipus’ actions were derived from, but free will his of unconscious mind that would choose to make the decisions he did.
This psychoanalytic criticism tells us about the author Sophocles that he focuses on early childhood development theories, and what our unconscious mind can do. He likes to focus on fear, and how fear affects all the characters. Both Oedipus and Laius were driven by the id, to be fearful of the prophecies. They both tried to escape the prophecies, but a different part of the unconscious mind, one that is influenced by childhood memories, forced their freewill to make the prophecies come true. The author focuses on the psychology of his characters, and how the gods can influence them. Sophocles wants to make readers interpret the text in many different ways. The different aspects of the mind can tell us about fate and free will. Which is common for readers to interpret the text differently, and take different meanings. Different readers interpret text different based on their superego; morals, and beliefs. People from different societies and from different backgrounds will see different based on what they know.
To fully analyze the actions of Oedipus and others in the play psychoanalytic is used. The id, ego, and superego all influence the behaviours and the free will and fate of the characters. They tell us why a character did the actions and their motivations. Also looking through the oedipal complex we can determine why Oedipus may be driven to kill his father and marry his mother. He was unconsciously driven by childhood memories of his birth parents, to be jealous of his father, and romantically and sexually attracted to his mother. Sophocles involved psychology in the play often, and was driven by psychological between characters, the gods, and the audience.
at how childhood events influence our unconscious minds and fear, sexuality, death and more.
Three main aspects of our unconscious mind that can help understand our thoughts are the id, ego and the superego. The id is the unconscious part of our mind. It controls our impulses, our needs, why we do whatever we want in the moment. This is the part of the mind that would control Oedipus’ impulse to kill Laius. Oedipus’ id drove him to feel extreme anger towards Laius, resulting in killing his own father, “The driver, an old man himself, tried to push me off the road. In anger I struck the driver as he tried to crowd me off” (pg. 45). Fear is controlled by this part of the mind, a quote shows how fear greatly influenced Oedipus’ actions during the play “So! Why then, Jocasta, should we study Apollo’s oracle, or gaze at the birds screaming over our heads-those prophets who announced that I would kill my father? He’s dead, buried below ground. And here I am in Thebes-I didn't put hand to sword. Perhaps he
died from longing to see me again. That way, it could be said that I was the cause of his death. But there he lies, dead, taking with him all these prophecies I feared-they are worth nothing.. It is. But I was led astray by fear” (pg. 53). The superego is our morals, our belief of what is right and what is wrong taught by society and family. Oedipus’ superego seemed to be suppressed when he murdered Laius, but his morals are shown when he believes he should be banished from Thebes, because of what he has done. The ego is the conscious part of the psyche, it maintains the balance between the id and the superego. It thinks about our actions, how they affect the feelings of others, and helps us make decisions. This is the part of the mind that controlled Oedipus’ action to leave his family, in order to escape the prophecies. Using these levels of the mind, we can start to understand Oedipus’ reactions to the events.
A part of the psychoanalytic theory is the oedipal complex, which is the the unconscious desire stemmed from childhood, that we would want to replace the same sex parent, in order to become more attached with the opposite sex parent. This theory can help explain why oedipus’ prophecies led him to his own parents. Oedipus unconsciously seeked out the romantic connection that was familiar to him because of his very early childhood connection he had. The unconscious familiarity with his mother is what made him romantically and sexually attracted to her. The drive to kill his father Laius, may have stemmed from the unconscious jealousy he had towards him. This jealousy Oedipus’ superego, with such a small encounter driving him to kill Laius, something very out of character to do. This quote shows how an unconscious part of Oedipus’ mind, one that is very different from his conscious, made the decision to kill, “In no time at all he was hit by the stick I held in my hand and rolled backwards from the center of the wagon. I killed a whole lot of them. Now if this stranger had anything to do with Laius- is there a more unhappy man than I? Who could be more hateful to the gods than I am?” (Pg. 46) The oedipal complex delves into how Oedipus’ actions were both fate and freewill. It was fate that Oedipus’ actions were derived from, but free will his of unconscious mind that would choose to make the decisions he did.
This psychoanalytic criticism tells us about the author Sophocles that he focuses on early childhood development theories, and what our unconscious mind can do. He likes to focus on fear, and how fear affects all the characters. Both Oedipus and Laius were driven by the id, to be fearful of the prophecies. They both tried to escape the prophecies, but a different part of the unconscious mind, one that is influenced by childhood memories, forced their freewill to make the prophecies come true. The author focuses on the psychology of his characters, and how the gods can influence them. Sophocles wants to make readers interpret the text in many different ways. The different aspects of the mind can tell us about fate and free will. Which is common for readers to interpret the text differently, and take different meanings. Different readers interpret text different based on their superego; morals, and beliefs. People from different societies and from different backgrounds will see different based on what they know.
To fully analyze the actions of Oedipus and others in the play psychoanalytic is used. The id, ego, and superego all influence the behaviours and the free will and fate of the characters. They tell us why a character did the actions and their motivations. Also looking through the oedipal complex we can determine why Oedipus may be driven to kill his father and marry his mother. He was unconsciously driven by childhood memories of his birth parents, to be jealous of his father, and romantically and sexually attracted to his mother. Sophocles involved psychology in the play often, and was driven by psychological between characters, the gods, and the audience.