Argue for or against the validity of Sophocles' Oedipus the King being interpreted through Sigmund Freud's theory of the Oedipus complex
According to Sigmund Freud, the stalwart of psychology, Oedipus complex is the tension between the child and the father as the child takes his mother as his object of sexual desire. Thus, a friction grows between the two male members of the family. The child sees the father as a competition to him for the lady’s love and affection. The child despises the love and bond between the parents and feels like being in the centre of attraction for the mother. Oedipal phase is one of the very first phases of sexual development of the child. Oedipus goes on to say in the course of events, “Let it burst! Whatever will, whatever must! I must know my birth, no matter how common it may be” (Sophocles 224)
Oedipus the King portrays the tale of the valiant fighter Oedipus who was on the receiving end of the mockery of fate. He was abandoned by his father as a prophecy was made that he would be the one to kill his own father. However, as life had it stored for the two of them, in a duel, Oedipus killed his father and married his own mother not knowing of his relation with her. Thus, his mother became his object of sexual desire and he outdid his father in the duel to win over the lady in the course of the play. Oedipus even had children from his own mother. Freud explains in The Ego and the Id saying, “At a very early stage the little boy develops an object-cathexis for his mother..” (Freud 21) Hence, it is absolutely correct to argue for the validity of the play being read through the psychoanalytic theory of Freud.
Here, mother is the obvious object of sexual interest and therein remains the commonality with the story of Oedipus the King. Sigmund Freud coined the term being inspired from the story of Oedipus. The theoretical phase of sexual development is a huge stepping stone toward understanding the growth and identity production of the human child and the work by Sophocles can be comprehended very well by the application of this psychological theory.
Works Cited
Sophocles. Oedipus the King. London: The University of Chicago Press, 1991. Print.
“What is Oedipus Complex?” About.com Psychology. n.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.
