Oedipus Complex Essay, Research Paper
For this paper I have decided to include information about both readings we have covered. We read William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Sophocles’ Oedipus the King. Through reading both stories and by doing outside research I learned something interesting. This was that a Freudian theory was named for a few of the scenes in Oedipus the King and that this theory was also connected to Hamlet. This theory is known as the “Oedipus Complex” and when explained can provide a lot of insight into the interpretation of these plays.
Its actual definition can be found in psychology books and even most encyclopedia. It is a concept used in psychoanalysis that shows a child’s unconscious desire for the exclusive love of the parent of the opposite sex. This desire includes jealousy toward the parent of the same sex and the unconscious wish for that parent’s death (”Oedipus Complex”). Freud talks of the complex in boys and how this leads to attachment to the mother. In most cases it is explained using a boy for the example. (It is also explained for females, as a related complex known as “Electra”, Myers 464-65 and in Clark 168.) The child starts off as an infant being fed by the mothers’ breast or even by bottle, but either way the mother assumes the role of nourishing the child. She also cares for the child’s body, so much that in early life the child doesn’t even realize that they are or should be separate. With this, Freud says, ” it arouses in it a number of other physical sensations, pleasurable and unpleasurable. By her care of the child’s body she becomes its first seducer.” The mother has now established her importance to the child and is its first love object. The further development of a child (positive or negative) can depend highly on how the parent and child interact after this point. The most commonly used example I saw in Psychology
books talks of when a mother notices her child curiously playing with himself. The mother realizes her connection to these actions and eventually, there will be an age at which the mother decides that it is unacceptable behavior. This can lead to the mother requesting that the behavior stop. The child now is forced to conceal his behavior or in a lot of cases is threatened with being told on or talked to by the father. This was shown by Freud to lead to issues of resentment towards the father. This is closely linked to how the term “Oedipus Complex” came about. In Oedipus the King Jocasta, Oedipus’ mother, realizes what is going to happen to her family after hearing what the oracle had to say. She is told her newborn son will grow to kill his father and marry his mother. She doesn’t want the child she has cared for to have to live this prophecy so she sends her son away to die. By trying to escape her own fate she later leads her son right into killing his own father. Oedipus grows up living a lie, the son to the King and Queen of nearby Corinth. He is ignorant to what was foretold. One day a drunkard gets him to question his origins and he travels to Thebes to see what he can find out about what really happened and whether or not the people he was raised by were actually his parents. On the road to Thebes, a man confronts Oedipus and he kills him without a second thought. In his ignorance he had just killed the man who turned out to be his real father, Laios. In effect, Oedipus unconsciously kills his own father, which Freud related to the unconscious desires felt by children throughout their normal early development. As the plot goes on we see what the oracle said coming true. Oedipus ends up in Thebes to find a widowed queen. Being of royalty himself Oedipus marries the queen not knowing it was his own mother. Not only has fate itself brought them back together but also, if you look at it through Freud’s theory you see it is true once again. Oedipus’ unconscious desire brought him back to the nurturing of his own mother. In the play itself it takes a long time for Oedipus to come to terms with what happened, it is as if he doesn’t want to
believe it. But, in the end he is finally face to face with the truth. His own mother kills herself when she learns her plan didn’t work. She hangs herself and leaves Oedipus to deal with all the pain and suffering he has brought to himself by unknowingly fulfilling the prophecy. In the end, blinding himself with pins from Jocasta’s dress punishes Oedipus. His punishment was also interpreted as a symbolic substitute for castration, another closely linked theory of Freud’s that was based on dreams (F2).
Now, to look at Freud’s theory and have it applied to Shakespeare’s Hamlet, you must first look at the close relationship present between Hamlet and his parents. It is eluded to that young Hamlet and his father were extremely close and loved each other dearly and young Hamlet was also very close with his mother. While young Hamlet is away at school, King Hamlet dies suddenly. Claudius, the dead King’s brother, quickly courts the grief stricken widow, Queen Gertrude. They quickly take form as a couple and young Hamlet returns from school to find his beloved mother once widowed and now remarried to his own uncle. Hamlet is so upset with his father death that he at first never even questions Claudius getting the throne. He seems to go mad thinking about how his father is gone but soon realizes something worse has happened. He now realizes that Claudius has moved in and taken his beloved mother. Hamlet lets her know he is unhappy with how quickly they came together and begins to question the circumstances of his father’s death. He is visited soon after by the ghost of King Hamlet and is told how he was murdered. He now knows that Claudius poisoned his father, that it wasn’t a natural death. Since his mother was now married to his father’s murderer, Hamlet was reluctant in naming Claudius. He would have to be clever about it, things were not exactly clear and he couldn’t himself accuse someone of killing the King. Freud points to the fact that “Hamlet is able to do anything- except take vengeance on the man who did away with his father and took that father’s place with his mother, the man who shows him the repressed wishes of his own childhood realized. Thus the loathing which should drive him on to revenge is replaced in him by self-reproaches, by scruples of conscience, which remind him that he himself is literally no better than the sinner whom he is to punish” (qtd. In Clark, 360). This in itself shows how Hamlet had drove himself mad with “Oedipal jealousy” (Masterplots). Freud had even taken this theory further and came out to say that he felt guilt in his own fathers death and believed that Shakespeare, the author of Hamlet himself had been weighted with Oedipal guilt after the death of his own father in real life. He stated that he thought Shakespeare even modeled his play after these feelings (Clark, 361).
Most of the books I read about his different theories were well explained and although influenced by his personal beliefs made a lot of sense. Although many critics like to sideline most of Freudian theory it seems as though some of his findings are pretty relevant. People will always argue with Freud’s pattern of thought but in this case it seems to be a well founded one and was a rather helpful way to interpret some of the more controversial scenes of these plays.
For this paper I have decided to include information about both readings we have covered. We read William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Sophocles’ Oedipus the King. Through reading both stories and by doing outside research I learned something interesting. This was that a Freudian theory was named for a few of the scenes in Oedipus the King and that this theory was also connected to Hamlet. This theory is known as the “Oedipus Complex” and when explained can provide a lot of insight into the interpretation of these plays.
Its actual definition can be found in psychology books and even most encyclopedia. It is a concept used in psychoanalysis that shows a child’s unconscious desire for the exclusive love of the parent of the opposite sex. This desire includes jealousy toward the parent of the same sex and the unconscious wish for that parent’s death (”Oedipus Complex”). Freud talks of the complex in boys and how this leads to attachment to the mother. In most cases it is explained using a boy for the example. (It is also explained for females, as a related complex known as “Electra”, Myers 464-65 and in Clark 168.) The child starts off as an infant being fed by the mothers’ breast or even by bottle, but either way the mother assumes the role of nourishing the child. She also cares for the child’s body, so much that in early life the child doesn’t even realize that they are or should be separate. With this, Freud says, ” it arouses in it a number of other physical sensations, pleasurable and unpleasurable. By her care of the child’s body she becomes its first seducer.” The mother has now established her importance to the child and is its first love object. The further development of a child (positive or negative) can depend highly on how the parent and child interact after this point. The most commonly used example I saw in Psychology
books talks of when a mother notices her child curiously playing with himself. The mother realizes her connection to these actions and eventually, there will be an age at which the mother decides that it is unacceptable behavior. This can lead to the mother requesting that the behavior stop. The child now is forced to conceal his behavior or in a lot of cases is threatened with being told on or talked to by the father. This was shown by Freud to lead to issues of resentment towards the father. This is closely linked to how the term “Oedipus Complex” came about. In Oedipus the King Jocasta, Oedipus’ mother, realizes what is going to happen to her family after hearing what the oracle had to say. She is told her newborn son will grow to kill his father and marry his mother. She doesn’t want the child she has cared for to have to live this prophecy so she sends her son away to die. By trying to escape her own fate she later leads her son right into killing his own father. Oedipus grows up living a lie, the son to the King and Queen of nearby Corinth. He is ignorant to what was foretold. One day a drunkard gets him to question his origins and he travels to Thebes to see what he can find out about what really happened and whether or not the people he was raised by were actually his parents. On the road to Thebes, a man confronts Oedipus and he kills him without a second thought. In his ignorance he had just killed the man who turned out to be his real father, Laios. In effect, Oedipus unconsciously kills his own father, which Freud related to the unconscious desires felt by children throughout their normal early development. As the plot goes on we see what the oracle said coming true. Oedipus ends up in Thebes to find a widowed queen. Being of royalty himself Oedipus marries the queen not knowing it was his own mother. Not only has fate itself brought them back together but also, if you look at it through Freud’s theory you see it is true once again. Oedipus’ unconscious desire brought him back to the nurturing of his own mother. In the play itself it takes a long time for Oedipus to come to terms with what happened, it is as if he doesn’t want to
believe it. But, in the end he is finally face to face with the truth. His own mother kills herself when she learns her plan didn’t work. She hangs herself and leaves Oedipus to deal with all the pain and suffering he has brought to himself by unknowingly fulfilling the prophecy. In the end, blinding himself with pins from Jocasta’s dress punishes Oedipus. His punishment was also interpreted as a symbolic substitute for castration, another closely linked theory of Freud’s that was based on dreams (F2).
Now, to look at Freud’s theory and have it applied to Shakespeare’s Hamlet, you must first look at the close relationship present between Hamlet and his parents. It is eluded to that young Hamlet and his father were extremely close and loved each other dearly and young Hamlet was also very close with his mother. While young Hamlet is away at school, King Hamlet dies suddenly. Claudius, the dead King’s brother, quickly courts the grief stricken widow, Queen Gertrude. They quickly take form as a couple and young Hamlet returns from school to find his beloved mother once widowed and now remarried to his own uncle. Hamlet is so upset with his father death that he at first never even questions Claudius getting the throne. He seems to go mad thinking about how his father is gone but soon realizes something worse has happened. He now realizes that Claudius has moved in and taken his beloved mother. Hamlet lets her know he is unhappy with how quickly they came together and begins to question the circumstances of his father’s death. He is visited soon after by the ghost of King Hamlet and is told how he was murdered. He now knows that Claudius poisoned his father, that it wasn’t a natural death. Since his mother was now married to his father’s murderer, Hamlet was reluctant in naming Claudius. He would have to be clever about it, things were not exactly clear and he couldn’t himself accuse someone of killing the King. Freud points to the fact that “Hamlet is able to do anything- except take vengeance on the man who did away with his father and took that father’s place with his mother, the man who shows him the repressed wishes of his own childhood realized. Thus the loathing which should drive him on to revenge is replaced in him by self-reproaches, by scruples of conscience, which remind him that he himself is literally no better than the sinner whom he is to punish” (qtd. In Clark, 360). This in itself shows how Hamlet had drove himself mad with “Oedipal jealousy” (Masterplots). Freud had even taken this theory further and came out to say that he felt guilt in his own fathers death and believed that Shakespeare, the author of Hamlet himself had been weighted with Oedipal guilt after the death of his own father in real life. He stated that he thought Shakespeare even modeled his play after these feelings (Clark, 361).
Most of the books I read about his different theories were well explained and although influenced by his personal beliefs made a lot of sense. Although many critics like to sideline most of Freudian theory it seems as though some of his findings are pretty relevant. People will always argue with Freud’s pattern of thought but in this case it seems to be a well founded one and was a rather helpful way to interpret some of the more controversial scenes of t
For this paper I have decided to include information about both readings we have covered. We read William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Sophocles’ Oedipus the King. Through reading both stories and by doing outside research I learned something interesting. This was that a Freudian theory was named for a few of the scenes in Oedipus the King and that this theory was also connected to Hamlet. This theory is known as the “Oedipus Complex” and when explained can provide a lot of insight into the interpretation of these plays.
Its actual definition can be found in psychology books and even most encyclopedia. It is a concept used in psychoanalysis that shows a child’s unconscious desire for the exclusive love of the parent of the opposite sex. This desire includes jealousy toward the parent of the same sex and the unconscious wish for that parent’s death (”Oedipus Complex”). Freud talks of the complex in boys and how this leads to attachment to the mother. In most cases it is explained using a boy for the example. (It is also explained for females, as a related complex known as “Electra”, Myers 464-65 and in Clark 168.) The child starts off as an infant being fed by the mothers’ breast or even by bottle, but either way the mother assumes the role of nourishing the child. She also cares for the child’s body, so much that in early life the child doesn’t even realize that they are or should be separate. With this, Freud says, ” it arouses in it a number of other physical sensations, pleasurable and unpleasurable. By her care of the child’s body she becomes its first seducer.” The mother has now established her importance to the child and is its first love object. The further development of a child (positive or negative) can depend highly on how the parent and child interact after this point. The most commonly used example I saw in Psychology
books talks of when a mother notices her child curiously playing with himself. The mother realizes her connection to these actions and eventually, there will be an age at which the mother decides that it is unacceptable behavior. This can lead to the mother requesting that the behavior stop. The child now is forced to conceal his behavior or in a lot of cases is threatened with being told on or talked to by the father. This was shown by Freud to lead to issues of resentment towards the father. This is closely linked to how the term “Oedipus Complex” came about. In Oedipus the King Jocasta, Oedipus’ mother, realizes what is going to happen to her family after hearing what the oracle had to say. She is told her newborn son will grow to kill his father and marry his mother. She doesn’t want the child she has cared for to have to live this prophecy so she sends her son away to die. By trying to escape her own fate she later leads her son right into killing his own father. Oedipus grows up living a lie, the son to the King and Queen of nearby Corinth. He is ignorant to what was foretold. One day a drunkard gets him to question his origins and he travels to Thebes to see what he can find out about what really happened and whether or not the people he was raised by were actually his parents. On the road to Thebes, a man confronts Oedipus and he kills him without a second thought. In his ignorance he had just killed the man who turned out to be his real father, Laios. In effect, Oedipus unconsciously kills his own father, which Freud related to the unconscious desires felt by children throughout their normal early development. As the plot goes on we see what the oracle said coming true. Oedipus ends up in Thebes to find a widowed queen. Being of royalty himself Oedipus marries the queen not knowing it was his own mother. Not only has fate itself brought them back together but also, if you look at it through Freud’s theory you see it is true once again. Oedipus’ unconscious desire brought him back to the nurturing of his own mother. In the play itself it takes a long time for Oedipus to come to terms with what happened, it is as if he doesn’t want to
believe it. But, in the end he is finally face to face with the truth. His own mother kills herself when she learns her plan didn’t work. She hangs herself and leaves Oedipus to deal with all the pain and suffering he has brought to himself by unknowingly fulfilling the prophecy. In the end, blinding himself with pins from Jocasta’s dress punishes Oedipus. His punishment was also interpreted as a symbolic substitute for castration, another closely linked theory of Freud’s that was based on dreams (F2).
Now, to look at Freud’s theory and have it applied to Shakespeare’s Hamlet, you must first look at the close relationship present between Hamlet and his parents. It is eluded to that young Hamlet and his father were extremely close and loved each other dearly and young Hamlet was also very close with his mother. While young Hamlet is away at school, King Hamlet dies suddenly. Claudius, the dead King’s brother, quickly courts the grief stricken widow, Queen Gertrude. They quickly take form as a couple and young Hamlet returns from school to find his beloved mother once widowed and now remarried to his own uncle. Hamlet is so upset with his father death that he at first never even questions Claudius getting the throne. He seems to go mad thinking about how his father is gone but soon realizes something worse has happened. He now realizes that Claudius has moved in and taken his beloved mother. Hamlet lets her know he is unhappy with how quickly they came together and begins to question the circumstances of his father’s death. He is visited soon after by the ghost of King Hamlet and is told how he was murdered. He now knows that Claudius poisoned his father, that it wasn’t a natural death. Since his mother was now married to his father’s murderer, Hamlet was reluctant in naming Claudius. He would have to be clever about it, things were not exactly clear and he couldn’t himself accuse someone of killing the King. Freud points to the fact that “Hamlet is able to do anything- except take vengeance on the man who did away with his father and took that father’s place with his mother, the man who shows him the repressed wishes of his own childhood realized. Thus the loathing which should drive him on to revenge is replaced in him by self-reproaches, by scruples of conscience, which remind him that he himself is literally no better than the sinner whom he is to punish” (qtd. In Clark, 360). This in itself shows how Hamlet had drove himself mad with “Oedipal jealousy” (Masterplots). Freud had even taken this theory further and came out to say that he felt guilt in his own fathers death and believed that Shakespeare, the author of Hamlet himself had been weighted with Oedipal guilt after the death of his own father in real life. He stated that he thought Shakespeare even modeled his play after these feelings (Clark, 361).
Most of the books I read about his different theories were well explained and although influenced by his personal beliefs made a lot of sense. Although many critics like to sideline most of Freudian theory it seems as though some of his findings are pretty relevant. People will always argue with Freud’s pattern of thought but in this case it seems to be a well founded one and was a rather helpful way to interpret some of the more controversial scenes of these plays.
For this paper I have decided to include information about both readings we have covered. We read William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Sophocles’ Oedipus the King. Through reading both stories and by doing outside research I learned something interesting. This was that a Freudian theory was named for a few of the scenes in Oedipus the King and that this theory was also connected to Hamlet. This theory is known as the “Oedipus Complex” and when explained can provide a lot of insight into the interpretation of these plays.
Its actual definition can be found in psychology books and even most encyclopedia. It is a concept used in psychoanalysis that shows a child’s unconscious desire for the exclusive love of the parent of the opposite sex. This desire includes jealousy toward the parent of the same sex and the unconscious wish for that parent’s death (”Oedipus Complex”). Freud talks of the complex in boys and how this leads to attachment to the mother. In most cases it is explained using a boy for the example. (It is also explained for females, as a related complex known as “Electra”, Myers 464-65 and in Clark 168.) The child starts off as an infant being fed by the mothers’ breast or even by bottle, but either way the mother assumes the role of nourishing the child. She also cares for the child’s body, so much that in early life the child doesn’t even realize that they are or should be separate. With this, Freud says, ” it arouses in it a number of other physical sensations, pleasurable and unpleasurable. By her care of the child’s body she becomes its first seducer.” The mother has now established her importance to the child and is its first love object. The further development of a child (positive or negative) can depend highly on how the parent and child interact after this point. The most commonly used example I saw in Psychology
books talks of when a mother notices her child curiously playing with himself. The mother realizes her connection to these actions and eventually, there will be an age at which the mother decides that it is unacceptable behavior. This can lead to the mother requesting that the behavior stop. The child now is forced to conceal his behavior or in a lot of cases is threatened with being told on or talked to by the father. This was shown by Freud to lead to issues of resentment towards the father. This is closely linked to how the term “Oedipus Complex” came about. In Oedipus the King Jocasta, Oedipus’ mother, realizes what is going to happen to her family after hearing what the oracle had to say. She is told her newborn son will grow to kill his father and marry his mother. She doesn’t want the child she has cared for to have to live this prophecy so she sends her son away to die. By trying to escape her own fate she later leads her son right into killing his own father. Oedipus grows up living a lie, the son to the King and Queen of nearby Corinth. He is ignorant to what was foretold. One day a drunkard gets him to question his origins and he travels to Thebes to see what he can find out about what really happened and whether or not the people he was raised by were actually his parents. On the road to Thebes, a man confronts Oedipus and he kills him without a second thought. In his ignorance he had just killed the man who turned out to be his real father, Laios. In effect, Oedipus unconsciously kills his own father, which Freud related to the unconscious desires felt by children throughout their normal early development. As the plot goes on we see what the oracle said coming true. Oedipus ends up in Thebes to find a widowed queen. Being of royalty himself Oedipus marries the queen not knowing it was his own mother. Not only has fate itself brought them back together but also, if you look at it through Freud’s theory you see it is true once again. Oedipus’ unconscious desire brought him back to the nurturing of his own mother. In the play itself it takes a long time for Oedipus to come to terms with what happened, it is as if he doesn’t want to
believe it. But, in the end he is finally face to face with the truth. His own mother kills herself when she learns her plan didn’t work. She hangs herself and leaves Oedipus to deal with all the pain and suffering he has brought to himself by unknowingly fulfilling the prophecy. In the end, blinding himself with pins from Jocasta’s dress punishes Oedipus. His punishment was also interpreted as a symbolic substitute for castration, another closely linked theory of Freud’s that was based on dreams (F2).
Now, to look at Freud’s theory and have it applied to Shakespeare’s Hamlet, you must first look at the close relationship present between Hamlet and his parents. It is eluded to that young Hamlet and his father were extremely close and loved each other dearly and young Hamlet was also very close with his mother. While young Hamlet is away at school, King Hamlet dies suddenly. Claudius, the dead King’s brother, quickly courts the grief stricken widow, Queen Gertrude. They quickly take form as a couple and young Hamlet returns from school to find his beloved mother once widowed and now remarried to his own uncle. Hamlet is so upset with his father death that he at first never even questions Claudius getting the throne. He seems to go mad thinking about how his father is gone but soon realizes something worse has happened. He now realizes that Claudius has moved in and taken his beloved mother. Hamlet lets her know he is unhappy with how quickly they came together and begins to question the circumstances of his father’s death. He is visited soon after by the ghost of King Hamlet and is told how he was murdered. He now knows that Claudius poisoned his father, that it wasn’t a natural death. Since his mother was now married to his father’s murderer, Hamlet was reluctant in naming Claudius. He would have to be clever about it, things were not exactly clear and he couldn’t himself accuse someone of killing the King. Freud points to the fact that “Hamlet is able to do anything- except
take vengeance on the man who did away with his father and took that father’s place with his mother, the man who shows him the repressed wishes of his own childhood realized. Thus the loathing which should drive him on to revenge is replaced in him by self-reproaches, by scruples of conscience, which remind him that he himself is literally no better than the sinner whom he is to punish” (qtd. In Clark, 360). This in itself shows how Hamlet had drove himself mad with “Oedipal jealousy” (Masterplots). Freud had even taken this theory further and came out to say that he felt guilt in his own fathers death and believed that Shakespeare, the author of Hamlet himself had been weighted with Oedipal guilt after the death of his own father in real life. He stated that he thought Shakespeare even modeled his play after these feelings (Clark, 361).
Most of the books I read about his different theories were well explained and although influenced by his personal beliefs made a lot of sense. Although many critics like to sideline most of Freudian theory it seems as though some of his findings are pretty relevant. People will always argue with Freud’s pattern of thought but in this case it seems to be a well founded one and was a rather helpful way to interpret some of the more controversial scenes of these plays.