The Oedipus Complex

The Oedipus complex is evident in many stories, especially Oedipus Rex. The Oedipus complex can be defined as: "a desire for sexual involvement with the parent of the opposite sex and a concomitant sense of rivalry with the parent of the same sex" ( Encyclopædia Britannica). The reasoning behind the name is that in the story Oedipus Rex, Oedipus accidentally slays his father and marries his mother. Obviously this is a prime example of the Oedipus Complex because Oedipus, being a male, would somehow be connected to his mother in a primitive sense, and in the story he marries his mother. Similarly, in theory, Oedipus should have a sense of rivalry with his father. Just as the complex implies, Oedipus actually murders his father without even realizing what he has done.

In my opinion, the Oedipus complex is a hyperbolized version of an actual thing. By this I mean that sometimes people end up with others who look like their mother or father, but I don't think there is a desire towards ones parent. I feel like this another classic example of freud trying to be a psychological innovator finding odd sexual theories in everything that happens. For example, my mother is an artist, and yes I do like artistic girls but there is definitely no sexual attraction to my own mother because that is kind of gross.