Oedipal Conflict

The term Oedipus conflict, or Oedipus complex, refers to a theory developed by Sigmund Freud (based on an ancient Greek myth) as a way of explaining child development; that is, Freud wanted to understand the way, as a boy, he had felt toward his parents. Freud first suggested the existence of what he would later call the Oedipus complex in his seminal The Interpretation of Dreams (1900). In this work, he described subconscious feelings in children of intense competition and even hatred toward the parent of the same sex and feelings of romantic love toward the parent of the opposite sex. He felt that if these conflicting feelings were not successfully resolved, they would contribute to neuroses in later life.

Oedipus Rex, the classic Greek play by Sophocles, tells the story of Oedipus, who is abandoned at birth by his parents, King Lauis and Queen Jocasta. He later comes back and, as foretold by prophecy, kills his father and marries his mother before finding out his true identity. Freud saw in the play an archetypal dynamic being played out, and so he co-opted the character's name for his description. In essence, the Oedipus conflict describes a young boy's unconscious desire to have sex with his mother, thus supplanting [Page 621]his father. This includes feeling jealousy toward the father, as well as unconsciously wishing for his death. The Electra complex (in the Greek myth, Electra, daughter of Agamemnon, helped plan the murder of her mother) describes a similar phenomenon in girls, also directed toward the father.

Freud felt that the Oedipus conflict was a state of psychosexual distress occurring within the phallic stage of development (beginning at age 3 and lasting until age 5). In this view, a boy first chooses his mother as a sexual partner, as the object of his libidinal desire. The son realizes that the father will become furious and fears being castrated as a means of retribution. Eventually, the boy internalizes his father's rules, at which point the superego (Freud's term for “conscience”) comes into being. The boy now identifies with the father, and, not wanting to be castrated, he gives up on the idea of having his mother to himself. According to Freud, the absence or weakness of either parent, but especially the same-sex parent, often leads to homosexuality in adulthood, primarily because the Oedipal conflict has not been resolved.

“Little Hans” was the subject of a famous case study written by Freud that showed the power of Oedipal conflict, especially the fear regarding castration anxiety. Hans was a 5-year-old boy who refused to leave his house. He feared that a horse would bite him—or, Freud thought, that his father would castrate him in retaliation for his incestuous longings for his mother. This was the first opportunity for Freud to test one of his theories directly on a child instead of relying on adult memories of childhood. He believed that the boy showed the importance of childhood in the formation of adult neurosis. Freud saw Hans's phobia as being rooted in an incomplete repression of sexual feelings and other defense mechanisms the boy was using to combat forbidden urges toward his mother. Once Hans successfully transitioned through the Oedipal conflict, he and his father became close.

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