Oedipus complex

Psychoanal a group of emotions, usually unconscious, involving the desire of a child, esp a male child, to possess sexually the parent of the opposite sex while excluding the parent of the same sex

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

Oedipus Complex

the unconscious wish of little boys to kill the father and marry the mother (from the Greek legend of King Oedipus). This is regarded as integral to the Phallic Stage in FREUD's psychodynamic theory of development.

Freud suggested that between three and five years old a boy develops sexual jealousy of his father, and since his wishes cannot be realized in fact, he resolves the situation by realizing them vicariously through identifying with his father. This IDENTIFICATION involves internalizing the perceived moral standards of the father, thus forming the SUPEREGO. The obverse of the Oedipus Complex, for the little girl, is the Electra Complex, involving the unconscious wish to kill the mother and marry the father, though the term Oedipus Complex is generally used for both sexes.

Though the theory still has credibility among some psychoanalysts, feminist psychodynamic theorists have proposed other explanations for the development of the superego. Freud's theory was not a satisfactory explanation of female personality development. CHODOROW (1978) suggests that when gender awareness develops (between three and five years) a boy needs to differentiate from his mother with whom he has had a close physical and emotional identity. He therefore develops ways of coping with feelings of insecurity and a veneer of independence. A little girl does not have this need to differentiate, therefore she continues modelling on her mother and is thereby assisted in developing a mature personality. See also KRISTEVA, NARCISSISM.

Collins Dictionary of Sociology, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2000

Oedipus complex

[′ēd·ə·pu̇s ‚käm‚pleks]

(psychology)

In psychoanalytic theory, the attraction and attachment of the child to the parent of the opposite sex, accompanied by feelings of envy and hostility toward the parent of the child's sex, whose displeasure and punishment the child so fears that the child represses his or her feelings toward the parent of opposite sex.

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References in periodicals archive

In order to incorporate siblings into the Oedipus complex, Sharpe and Rosenblatt (1994) expanded the usage of the term oedipal by referring 'primarily to the developmental level of structuralisation and object relations, not to the specific sexual fantasy regarding a parent' (p.

Hide-and-seek with siblings: A theoretical exploration of siblings in psychoanalysis

Because of its centrality within the field of psychoanalysis, the concept of the Oedipus complex has often become the object of scrutiny and criticism on the part of scholars from different schools and disciplines.

Oedipal Desire in Chua fa din salai and Rueang khong Chan Dara: the politics of deferral, the deferral of politics

There is something obsessive about the narrator's proclamations of sexual desire for Micol and his inability to act, initially, on that desire, something the narrator both recognizes and denies, something we might tentatively term "fetishistic" in his treatment of Micol, providing we remember that fetishism can be an enabling fiction in the face of trauma--not the trauma of the recognition of sexual difference, but the trauma of the Oedipus complex itself, which requires the human subject to abandon its polymorphous desires and "settle" for heterosexuality.

Bassani's The Garden of the Finzi-Continis and Italian "queers"

Crowe by Grey, a troubled child patient--seems to refer explicitly to the Oedipus complex. The former patient kills the doctor who has been unable to heal his psyche, by realizing a wild fantasy to kill a hostile father figure.

Ancient myths in contemporary cinema: Oedipus Rex and Perceval the knight of the holy grail in Pulp Fiction and The Sixth Sense

Chen confronts the killer with his thesis: I've mentioned the Oedipus complex, in which two aspects are mixed.

The detective novels of Qiu Xiaolong

Her father's ineffectual and fierce personality prevents her entry into the Oedipus stage and the resolution of her Oedipus complex. His ongoing oppression produces hatred in Dimitra, because he treats her violently and limits her freedom.

The idea of mothering and mother-child relationships in "Matmazel Dimitra'nin Bitmemis Hikayesi" (1) / "Matmazel Dimitra'nin Bitmemis Hikayesi" adli oykusunde annelik ve anne- cocuk iliskileri

Juliet Mitchell's book Psychoanalysis and Feminism (1974) argues that Freud's analysis of the Oedipus complex is key to understanding how patriarchal ideology perpetuates itself through the institution of the family-as-mediator between nature (biology) and culture (social rules and roles).

Book review: Juliet Mitchell, the obsolescent Oedipus complex, and the decline of patriarchy

Heather Mills may be madder than a syphilitic king with an Oedipus complex, but I don't believe her behaviour is pushing her hubby into a pit of depression.

Macca's divorce isn't half unfair

The first phase of psychoanalytic criticism derived from Freud's own interpretation of literary texts, and emphasizes the Oedipus complex, instinct, and drive theory.

Susannah B. Mintz, Threshold Poetics: Milton and Intersubjectivity