Name: Evita

NIM: 183211034
Class: 5F English Literature
Subject: Dramatic Studies

Freud Analysis on the Inner Problem of Oedipus Complex

In mythology, Oedipus is the son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta. Before he was
born, his parents met Oracle Delfi. He predicted that the king of Laius would be killed by
his own son. Therefore, Oedipus was thrown into the forest in the hope that he would soon
be eaten by wild animals. But he was found by a shepherd and brought him to Corinth to
be cared for by the king Polybus.
Years later, a drunk tells Oedipus that Polybus is not his real father. Then, he went
to see Oracle. But he did not tell Oedipus about his biological parents, instead he told him
that Oedipus was destined to kill his father and marry his mother. Finally, Oedipus went
from Corinth to Thebes. On the way, he met a man riding a horse carriage. The man is the
king of Laius. Laius orders Oedipus to step aside from the road so that the train can pass,
but Oedipus does not want to comply. Oedipus did not know Laius at the time, but the two
of them became involved in a fight and ended with Oedipus killing Laius.
As he continued on his way to Thebes, he encountered Sphinx. He stopped everyone
passing by that way while giving him a riddle. Then Oedipus managed to answer the riddle
and managed to kill Sphynks. Finally, Oedipus was appointed king of Thebes and was also
married to the widow of Laius, namely Jocasta. They have four children: two sons,
Polineikes and Eteocles and two daughters, Antigone and Ismene.
Meanwhile, king Polybus (the king of Corinth who was thought to be Oedipus’s
father) died. Empress Merope decides to reveal Oedipus’s secrets. He instructs the
messenger to tell Oedipus in Thebes about Polybus’ death and Oedipus’s origins. After
learning the truth, Jocasta was shocked and embarrassed, until he hanged himself, while
Oedipus stabbed his eyes blind. He gave the throne to his sons and then cursed them that
they would get into civil war. He was then expelled from Thebes and went into exile.
Born from a myth, Sophocles’ Oedipus plays a tragic hero who kills his father and
marries his mother. A victim of fate slandered by everyone, she found her own damage and
shed tears of self-punishment.
The essence of Oedipus’s character lies in his desire to know and also control reality.
Oedipus’s brilliance and determination serve him well in solving mysteries, such as those
of the Sphinx, but that ultimately leads to his tragic downfall.
 The petition of the choirs making Oedipus the King proves Oedipus’s leadership
responsibilities. He had become a good king for Thebes, and in crisis he moved decisively
to save the city and its people, but in his joy Oedipus lacked wisdom. When, for example,
Creon wisely hints that they should discuss the news of the oracle in private only, Oedipus
immediately rejects it. He insisted that every action he took to find and clean corruption
from the city should be made public.
Even without reason or advice, Oedipus follows his will with intellectual passion.
His inner drive to unravel the mystery as well as his pride in performing his intellectual
feats before the entire city and its people, he reveals a mystery that ends in horror, as he
discovers that the object of his relentless search is himself. In the chorus, Oedipus describes
his blindness as his sad inability to see his loved ones again, but violence also represents
his attack on the part of himself that cannot stop searching and discovering what is hidden,
despite the decisive consequences.
In Oedipus at Colonus, the appalling legend endures in his will and assurance, in
spite of his age, visual impairment, and expulsion. In differentiate to the Oedipus
who acknowledged ignominy and asked for discipline at the conclusion of Oedipus
the Lord, the Oedipus of Oedipus at Colonus keeps up angrily that his agonized past was
not his blame. All the mental energy that he once given to understanding the secret of the
Sphinx and finding Laius' killer, he presently pours into his self-defense. He did not know
that he was doing the sin.
So, until the end, knowledge burns Oedipus's tragic heart. However, after his long
suffering, he also attained something deeper, namely wisdom and transcendence. At
Oedipus's end at the Colonus, Oedipus leads Theseus, king of Athens, and his daughter to
his resting confidently, as if he has regained his sight, and there, in the place promised to
him, he regains his integrity into being united with the strength that ever he tried to run
away and deny.
And these are the characterization in Oedipus the king and Oedipus at colonus plays:
Oedipus King of Thebes. As a young man, he saved the city of Thebes by solving the
puzzle of the Sphinx and destroying the monster. He now began looking for the killer of
the former king Laius to save Thebes from the plague. Creon, he is Oedipus's brother-in-
law. He is Oedipus's trusted advisor, chosen to go to the oracle at Delphi to seek Apollo's
advice in saving the city from the plague.
Tiresias A blind prophet who had guided the kings of Thebes with his advice and
advice. Jocasta Queen of Thebes, wife of Oedipus. She was the widow of the former Thebes
king Laius, and married Oedipus when he saved the city from the Sphinx. A Messenger
from Corinth, a man who brings news of the royal family to Oedipus. A Shepherd, a
shepherd from the nearby mountains, who had served at Laius' house. A Messenger, a man
who came from the palace to announce the death of the queen and the blindness of Oedipus.
Antigone and Ismene, the young daughter of Oedipus. Chorus, a group of Theban
elders, and their Leader, who commented on the events of the drama and reacted to its
tragic developments. Oedipus in Colonus, oedipus The former king of Thebes, is now a
blind beggar who wanders from one place to another. Considered a pariah for his sins,
Oedipus suffered abuse and rejection wherever he went. Antigone, daughter of Oedipus.
He led his blind father on his journey and served his needs. A Citizen of Colonus, passersby
who notice Oedipus and Antigone trespassing on the holy land. Ismene Princess Oedipus,
sister of Antigone. He lived in Thebes and brought news of his father and sister during their
stay in the Colonus.
Theseus King of Athens, he acted as an ally of Oedipus by protecting him on the
Colonus and witnessing his death. Creon King of Thebes, Oedipus's brother-in-law. In
charge of Oedipus's exile, Creon is now interested in returning the former king to Thebes
to escape the curse. Polynices Son of Oedipus, brother of Antigone and Ismene. Expelled
from Thebes after a power struggle with his brothers Eteocles and Creon, he is an exile like
his father, and plans to take Thebes by force. A Messenger A man who told the elders of
the city of Oedipus's death. Chorus A group of Colonus elders who confront Oedipus and
comment on ongoing events in the play.
The daughter of Antigone of Oedipus, she opposed the civil law prohibiting the
burial of her brother Polynices in order to enforce the divine law requiring that the dead be
rested by proper ritual. Ismene Sister of Antigone, daughter of Oedipus. She timidly
refused to join her sister in breaking the civil law, but later wanted to join him in death.
Creon King of Thebes, brother-in-law of Oedipus, uncle of Polynices, Antigone, and
Ismene. His stern orders to leave Polynices' body unburied and his refusal to admit the
possibility that he had brought the events of the tragedy wrong. Haemon Son of Creon,
promised to marry Antigone. He argues calmly for Antigone's release, but meets angry
rejection. A Sentry Who brings news of Polynices' burial experiments.
Tiresias the blind prophet who advised Laius and Oedipus, before Creon. His
inauguration shows that the gods were angry at Creon's decision to leave the Polynices
unburied. Eurydice Queen of Thebes, Creon's wife. Upon hearing of her son's death, she
committed suicide. A Messenger, a man who tells about the deaths of Antigone, Haemon,
and Eurydice. Chorus of the Elders of Thebes and their Leaders. They loyally listened to
Creon and rebuked Antigone, but advised the king to change his mind when Tiresias
warned of the gods' punishment.
The legend of Oedipus is widely told in various versions and was later used by
Sigmund Freud who was the father of psychological analysis from Austria to name the
Oedipus Complex in the late 1800s. He coined the term to refer to a stage of psychosexual
development in childhood in which boys perceive their fathers as enemies and rivals in
obtaining love exclusively from their mothers.
Sigmund Freud argues that everyone experiences Oedipus Complex at the age of
around 2-5 or 6 years in the process of psychological development. Freud saw that what
happened to the characters in this myth was the same as what happened to the psychological
development of everyone. Bertens defines Freud's concept of the Oedipus Complex as,
“The whole largely unconscious thoughts and feelings revolve around the desire of a young
child to have parents of a different sex from him and to get rid of the parents of the same
sex.” For Freud, everyone experiences a phase of love for their parents themselves, which
then ends with sublimation of these feelings.
The Oedipus complex occurs in what is called Freud's phallic phase. The phallic
phase is when children begin to find pleasure with their genitals. This phase follows the
oral and anal phases, during which children find pleasure with the mouth (oral) and sewage
(anal). If in the oral and anal phase the child's sexual satisfaction is only focused on himself
(autoerotism) through the organs of eating and disposal, in the phallic phase the child
begins to direct his sexual intention to an object outside himself, namely the parent.
According to psychologist A. Kasandra, the tendency of men to fall in love with
women who are older than them is a manifestation of an obsession with their mother's
character. It is possible since childhood the man was emotionally attached to a mother
figure. So, indirectly, his subconscious will record the memory of the love that has been
given to him by the mother.
And according to Freud, the development of a person's personality is related to the
development of his sexuality. The adult human personality is determined by the
development of sexuality since childhood. Freud recognized the existence of sexuality in
children. This sexuality is not like that of adults. The sexuality of children is not hindered
by moral rules so that its form, when judged from an adult's point of view, appears to be
preversion. This sexuality takes place unconsciously.
Freud recommended that the Oedipus complex played a vital part within the phallic
stage of psychosexual development. He moreover accepted that fruitful completion of this
stage included distinguishing with the same-sex parent which eventually would lead to
creating a develop sexual character.
Concurring to Freud, the boy wishes to have his mother and supplant his father, who
the child sees as an equal for the mother's affections. Amid the stage development, Freud
proposed that the child creates a sexual fascination to his or her opposite-sex parent and
antagonistic vibe toward the same-sex parent.
Freud suggested that there are a number of behaviors that children engage in that
are actually the result of this complex. Some of the complex behavioral manifestations may
involve boys expressing possessiveness towards their mothers and telling their fathers not
to hug or kiss their mothers. Little girls at this age may state that they plan to marry their
father when they grow up.
At every stage in Freud's theory of psychosexual development, children face
developmental conflicts that must be resolved to form healthy adult personalities. To
develop into a successful adult with a healthy identity, the child must identify with same-
sex parents to resolve phallic stage conflicts.
 Freud suggested that while the main id wanted to get rid of the father, the more
realistic ego knew that the father was much stronger. Apart from that, boys also have a
positive attachment to their fathers. Id, is the main source of energy that seeks to
immediately satisfy all subconscious impulses. The ego is the part of the personality that
appears to mediate between the id's drive and the demands of reality.
According to Freud, boys would experience what he called castration anxiety which
was a fear of literal and figurative weakness. Freud believed that when the child became
aware of the physical differences between a man and a woman, he assumed that the
woman's penis had been removed and that her father would also castrate her as punishment
for wanting her mother.
In order to resolve the conflict, a defense mechanism known as identification is
initiated. It is at this point that the super-ego is formed. The super-ego becomes a kind of
inner moral authority, an internalization of the father figure that tries to suppress the id
drive and get the ego to act on this idealistic standard. In The Ego and the Id, Freud
describes the child's superego as preserving the father-son character and that Oedipus's
strong complex feelings are suppressed. Outside influences including social norms,
religious teachings, and other cultural influences helped contribute to the repression of the
Oedipal complex.
This is where the conscience of the child emerges, or the overall sense of right and
wrong. However, in some cases, Freud also suggested that these depressed feelings can
also result in unconscious guilt. Although this guilt may not be felt overtly, it can still
influence an individual's conscious actions.
As when a conflict at another psychosexual stage is not resolved, fixation at that
point in development can occur. Freud suggested that boys who do not deal with this
conflict effectively become fixated on the mother while girls become fixated on the father.
The unresolved Oedipus complex can pose challenges in achieving mature romantic
relationships, and conflicts with same-sex competitiveness. Psychoanalysis focuses on
helping to resolve these conflicts.
From his concept of the Oedipus Complex, Freud argued that before the phallic
phase, everyone was not familiar with psychosexual differences and sexual taboos. It is
only after the phallic stage that a person begins to identify one's gender and substitute same-
sex love and with respect to blood to a different sex and not with respect to blood. Coupled
with moral and religious teachings, everyone then arrives at the stage of adult sexuality.
However, Freud warned that the symptoms of sexual preversion do not completely
disappear from adults. Despite intense repression, these symptoms still remain in the
subconscious.
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