In Peter Shaffer’s Equus, published in 1973, the main character, Alan, suffers from

Oedipus complex and as a result is unable to repress socially unacceptable desires

back into the unconscious.

The Oedipus complex is a term described by Sigmund Freud in his theory of psychosexual
stages of development. The oedipal complex occurs during the third stage of development,
called the phallic phase (ages 3-6), in which the child discovers the pleasure of genital
stimulation. The first phase is called the oral phase, because it is characterized by sucking-
first to be fed from our mother’s breast, then to enjoy our thumbs or, later, even kissing. The
second is the anal phase, a period that recognizes not only the need for elimination but also
the presence of another erogenous zone, a part of the body that provides sexual pleasure.

During the phallic stage, boys experience an unconscious feeling of sexual desire for their
mother and jealousy and envy toward their father. This is known as Oedipus complex. The
hostile feelings towards the father lead to castration anxiety, an irrational fear that the father
will castrate him as punishment. To cope with this anxiety, the son identifies with the
father. This means the son adopts or internalizes the attitudes, characteristics and values
that his father holds. The father becomes a role model rather than a rival. Through this
identification with the aggressor, boys acquire their superego and the male sex role. The
boy substitutes his desire for his mother with the desire for other women. Furthermore, he
adds that if these childhood meets are not met, the adult is likely to suffer from arrested
development. The mature person may become fixated on a behaviour that was not satisfied
at an early age. The early years, therefore, encompass critical stages of development
because repressions formed at that time may surface as problems later.

The Oedipus complex is portrayed in the play with the close relationship that Alan has with
his mother, Dora. They share a religious bond by which Alan tries to realize his Oedipal
complex. Additionally, Alan’s father, Frank, seems to disapprove of their relationship. There
are several instances in the play that account for this:

“They have always been as thick as thieves. I can’t say I entirely approve- especially when
I hear her whispering that Bible to him hour after hour, up there in his room”. (53)

“Well, look at it yourself. A boy spends night after night having this stuff read into him: an
innocent man tortured to death- thorns driven into his head- nails into his hands- a spear
jammed through his ribs. It can mark anyone for life, that kind of thing. I’m not joking. The
boy was absolutely fascinated by all that. He was always mooning over religious pictures. I
mean really kinky ones, if you receive my meaning. I had to put a stop to it once or twice!...
Bloody religion- it’s our only real problem in this house, but it’s insuperable: I don’t mind
admitting it”. (53)

These quotations demonstrate that Frank is always interfering with the son and mother
relationship. He says that he “had to put a stop to it once or twice”. While Freud’s theory of
the Oedipal complex says that in the end the son identifies with his father, submits to his
authority and represses his sexual desire for the mother, we see throughout the play that
Alan rebels further against the authority that is imposed by his father. We can trace several
symbolic castrations suffered by Alan, who refuses to submit and integrate himself
successfully into society.

For example, when Alan is retelling to Dysart about the first time that he rode a horse he
says:

“I was pushed forward on the horse. There was sweat on my legs from his neck. The fellow
held me tight and let me turn the horse which way I wanted. All that power going any way
you wanted…His sides were all warm, and the smell… Then suddenly I was on the ground,
where Dad pulled me. I could have bashed him…” (69)

On this quotation, we can perceive the sexual connotation that Alan gives to the riding of
the horse and that he feels angry because of the interruption.

Furthermore, we know that Dora used to read a story to him that reflects the bond they had:

“And when he was seven or eight, I used to have to read him the same book over and over,
all about a horse…It was called Prince, and no one could ride him” (49)

The story she used to read him may be related to the sexual power that Alan experienced
while riding the horse. Here we can see that Alan’s desire to realize his Oedipal complex,
which was depicted as the close connection with his mother, is then replaced by an all-
consuming passion with horses, and especially with the Equine religion that was invented
on his mind. To explain this, I will mention Freud’s concept of displacement. This is a
psychological defence mechanism that occurs subconsciously, i.e., the person is not aware
of doing it. Defence mechanisms are one way the mind unconsciously attempts to reduce
our anxiety and restore emotional balance. When we use displacement, a person redirects
a negative emotion from its original source to a less threatening recipient. Because our
mind senses that reacting to the original source of our frustration might be unacceptable, it
finds a less threatening subject that can serve us as a safer outlet for our negative feelings.

In the play, Alan’s incestuous love is portrayed with the religious bond he shares with his
mother, so, as a defence mechanism, he redirects this love to an object related to her, in
this case horses. This can be supported by Dora’s own words:

“Well, actually, it took the place of another kind of picture altogether… It was a reproduction
of our Lord on his way to Calvary… My husband was very displaced… In all fairness I must
admit it was a little extreme. The Christ was loaded down with chains, and the centurions
were really laying on the stripes... Mr Strang stood it for a while, but one day we had one of
our tiffs about religion and, he went straight upstairs, tore it off the boy’s wall and threw it in
the dustbin. Alan went quite hysterical” (65)

Then, Dora says that Alan recovered when he was given the photograph of the horse in its
place. Additionally, she tells Dysart that Alan hung it in exactly the same position and that
made him stop weeping.

In this scene, we can see how the picture he had hanging on a wall from Jesus was then
replaced by one of a horse. This clearly symbolizes the transition from his devotion to Christ
to the Equine specie.

On the other hand, it is of prime highlighting the distinction Freud makes between
conscious, preconscious, and unconscious mind. The conscious mind contains all of the
thoughts, memories, feelings, and wishes of which we are aware at any given moment. The
preconscious consists of anything that could potentially be brought into the conscious mind.
Finally, the unconscious mind is a reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges, and memories that
are outside of our conscious awareness. Most of the contents of the unconscious are
unacceptable or unpleasant, such as feelings of pain, anxiety, or conflict.

While trying to describe the conscious and unconscious mind, he divided the human psyche
into three parts: the id, the superego, and the ego. They are, for the most part,
unconscious. The id is the only component of personality that is present from birth. It is the
repository of the libido and the source of our psychic energy and our psychosexual desires.
It is driven by the pleasure principle, which strives for immediate gratification of all desires,
wants, and needs. As it operates without any thought of consequences, it can be a
destructive force. The ego operates based on the reality principle, which strives to satisfy
the id's desires in realistic and socially appropriate ways. Its function is to make the id’s
energies non-destructive by postponing them or diverting them into socially acceptable
actions. We come closest to knowing it when it is relaxed by hypnosis, sleep, or
unintentional slips of the tongue. And finally, the superego, which begins to emerge around
the age of five, provides additional balance to the id. It operates according to the morality
principle, for it provides the sense of moral and ethical wrongdoing. Parents, who enforce
their values through punishments and rewards, are the chief source of the superego, which
furnishes a sense of guilt for behaviour that breaks the rules given by parents to the young
child. Later in life, the superego is expanded by institutions and other influences.
Consequently, the superego works against the drive of the id and represses socially
unacceptable desires back into the unconscious. Balance between the license of the id and
the restrictions of the superego produces a healthy personality.

Referring back to the play, as I mentioned before, Alan did not pass successfully through
the three stages of psychosexual development and he did not resolve his Oedipus complex.
So, therefore, he is unable to repress his desires back into the unconsciousness and to
become aware of his place in a moral system of behaviour. This is what should have
happened in order to develop a healthy personality. This step is fundamental in every guy’s
growth.

As can be seen, considering the psychological approach, the incestuous love that Alan
experiences as a result of suffering from Oedipal complex is later displaced in an obsession
with horses. Alan’s religious bond with his mother then takes the place of a passionate
devotion to his God Equus that, in the end, results in his violent episode of the blinding of
the horses at the stable.