The Oedipus Complex

Definition
Oedipus complex, in psychoanalytic theory, 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; a crucial stage in the normal developmental process. The term derives from the Theban hero Oedipus of Greek legend, who unknowingly slew his father and married his mother; its female analogue, the Electra complex, is named for another mythological figure, who helped slay her mother.

The Oedipus Complex according to Freud
Oedipus complex denotes the emotions and ideas that the mind keeps in the unconscious, via dynamic repression, that concentrates upon a child's desire to sexually possess his/her mother, and kill his/her father. Sigmund Freud, who coined the term "Oedipus complex" believed that the Oedipus complex is a desire for the mother in both sexes (he believed that girls have a homosexual attraction towards their mother).

In classical Freudian psychoanalytic theory, child's identification with the same-sex parent is the successful resolution go the Oedipus complex and of the Electra complex; key psychological experiences that are necessary for the development of  a mature sexual role and identity. Sigmund Freud further proposed that boys and girls experience the complexes differently: boys in a form  of castration anxiety, girls in a form of penis envy; and that unsuccessful resolution of the complexes might lead to neurosis, paedophilia, and homosexuality. Men and women shot are fixated in the Oedipal and Electra stages of their psychosexual development might be considered "mother-fixated" and "father-fixated". In  adult life this can lead to a choice of a sexual partner who resembles one's parent.

In order to develop into a successful adult with a healthy identity, the child must identify with the sae-sex parent in oder to resolve the conflict. Freud suggested that while the primal id wants to eliminate the father, the more realistic ego knows that the father is much stronger.

According to Freud, the boy then experiences what he called castration anxiety - a fear of both literal and figurative emasculation. Freud believed that as the child becomes aware of the physical differences between males and females, he assumes that the female's penis has been removed and that his father will also castrate him as a punishment for desiring his mother.

In order to resolve the conflict, the boy then identifies with his father. it is at this point that the super-ego is formed. the super-ego becomes a sort of inner moral authority, and internalisation of the father figure that strives to suppress the urges of the id and the ego act upon these idealistic standards.

The Electra Complex
The Electra complex derives from the 5th-century BC Greek mythologic character Electra, who plotted matricidal revenge with Orestes, her brother, against Clytemnestra, their mother, and Aegisthus, their stepfather, for their murder of Agamemnon, their father.

Initially, Freud equally applied the Oedipus complex to the psychosexual development of boys and girls, but later modified the female aspects of the theory as "feminine Oedipus attitude" and "negative Oedipus complex" (Carl Jung in 1913, proposed the Electra complex to describe a girl's daughter-mother competition for psychosexual possession  of the father).

In the phallic stage, a girl's Electra complex is her decisive psychodynamic experience in forming a discrete sexual identity (ego). Whereas a boy develops castration anxiety, a girl develops penis envy rooted in anatomic fact: without  a penis, she cannot sexually possess mother, as the infantile id demands. Resultantly, the girl redirects her desire for sexual union upon father, thus progressing to heterosexual femininity, which culminates in bearing a child, who replaces the absent penis.

Freud thus considers a girl's negative Oedipus complex to be more emotionally intense that that of a boy, resulting, potentially, in a woman of submissive, insecure personality; thus might an unresolved Electra complex, daughter-mother competition for psychosexual possession of father, lead to a phallic-stage fixation conducive to a girl becoming a woman who continually strives to dominate men, either as an unusually seductive woman (high self-esteem) or as an unusually submissive woman (low self-esteem).

The Oedipus Complex according to Lacan

The Oedipus complex is, for Lacan, the paradigmatic triangular structure, which constrasts with all dua; relations. The key function in the Oedipus complex is thus that of the father, the third term which transforms the dual relation between mother and child into a triadic structure. The Oedipus complex is thus nothing less than the passage from the imaginary order to the symbolic order, ‘the conquest of the symbolic relation as such’. The fact that the passage to the symbolic passes via a complex sexual dialectic means that the subject cannot have access to the symbolic order without confronting the problem of the sexual difference.

Lacan analyses this passage from the imaginary to the symbolic by identifying three ‘times’ of the Oedipus complex, the sequence being one of logical rather than chronological priority.

The first time of the Oedipus complex is characterized by the imaginary triangle of mother, child and phallus. Lacan calls this the pre-oedipal triangle. Prior to the invention of the father there is never a purely dual relation between the mother and the child but always a third term, the phallus, an imaginary object which the mother desires beyond the child himself.

In the first time of the Oedipus complex, then, the child realizes that both he and the mother are marked by a lack. The mother is marked by lack, since she is seen to be incomplete; otherwise she would not desire. The subject is also marked by a lack, since he does not completely satisfy the mother’s desire. The lacking element I both cases is the imaginary phallus. The mother desires the phallus she lacks, and the subject seeks to become the object of her desire; he seeks to be the phallus for the mother and fill out her lack. At this point, the mother is omnipotent and her desire is the law. Although this omnipotent may be seen as threatening from the very beginning, the sense of threat is intensified when the child’s own sexual drives begin to manifest themselves. This emergence of the real of the drive introduces a discordant mote of anxiety onto the previously seductive imaginary triangle. The child is now confronted with the realization that he cannot simply fool the mother’s desire with the imaginary semblance of a phallus – he must present something in the real. Yet the child’s real organ is hopelessly inadequate. This sense of inadequacy and impotence in the face of an omnipotent maternal desire that cannot be placated gives rise to anxiety. Only the intervention of the father in the subsequent times of the Oedipus complex can provide a real solution to this anxiety.

The second ‘time’ of the Oedipus complex is characterized by the intervention of the imaginary father. The father imposes the law on the mother’s desire by denying her access to the phallic object and forbidding the subject access to the mother. Lacan often refers to this intervention as the ‘castration’ of the mother, even though he states that, properly speaking, the operation is not one of castration but of privation. This intervention is mediated by the discourse of the mother; in other words, what is important is not that the real father step in and impose the law, but that this law be respected by the mother herself in both her words and her actions. The subject now sees the father as a rival for the mother’s desire.

The third ‘time’ of the Oedipus complex is marked by the intervention of the real father. By showing that he has the phallus, and neither exchanges nor gives it, the real father castrates the child, n the sense of making it impossible for the child to persist in trying to be the phallus for the mother; it is no use competing with the real father, because he always wins. The subject is freed from the impossible and anxiety-provoking task of having to be the phallus by realizing that the father has it. This allows the subject to identify with the father. In this secondary (symbolic) identification the subject transcends the aggressively inherent in primary (imaginary) Oedipal identification with the father.  

Since the symbolic is the realm of the law, and since the Oedipus complex is the conquest of the symbolic order, it has a normative and normalizing function: ‘ the Oedipus complex is essential for the human being to be able to accede to a humanized structure of the real’. This normative function is to be understood in reference to both clinical structures and the question of sexuality.

In perversion, the complex is carried through to the third time, but instead of identifying with the father, the subject identifies with the mother and/or the imaginary phallus, ths harking back to the imaginary pre-oedipal triangle. A probia arises when  they cannot make the transition from the second time of the Oedipus complex to the third time because the real father does not iintervene; the phobia then functions aas a substitute for the intervention of the real father, thus permitting the subject to make the passage to the third time of the Oedipus complex (though often in an atypical way).

Freud - Id, Ego and Super-ego

According to Freud's psychoanalytic theory of personality, personality is composed of three elements. These three elements of personality -the id, the ego and the superego- work together to create complex human behaviour. According to Freud, the key to a healthy personality is a balance between the id, the ego, and the superego.

The Id
it is said that the id is the only component of the personality that's present from birth. this part of  the personality is completely unconscious and possesses the instinctive and primitive behaviours, concerned only with fulfilling pleasure.

The id is driven by the pleasure principle, which strives for immediate gratification of all desires, wants and needs. the result of these needs not being met is tension. An example of this is if we are hungry an immediate reaction is to eat. The id is an important aspect of an infants life, because it ensures that their needs are met. if the child is hungry, thirsty or uncomfortable the infant will cry until these needs are met.

Key word: want

Pleasure Principle 
The pleasure principle strives to fulfil our most basic and primitive urges, including hunger, thirst, anger and sex. When these needs are not met, the result is a state of anxiety or tension. However, immediately stratifying these need is not always realistic. If we were completely ruled by the pleasure principle  we might find ourselves grabbing things we want out of other people's hands to satisfy our own cravings. As this sort of behaviour would be seen and socially unacceptable this is where the superego is introduced.

The Ego
The ego is the component of personality that is responsible for dealing with reality and is based on the reality principle. According to Freud, the ego develops from the id and ensures that the impulses of the id can be expressed in a manner acceptable in the real world. The ego functions in both the conscious,preconscious, and unconscious mind. The ego is capable of understanding that desires may vary from person to person, and is willing to make the consideration that ones own desire and actions have effects, whether positive or negative, and tries to balance out thinking before carrying out decisions/actions. 

Key word: balance

Reality Principle
The ego operates based on the reality principle, which strives to satisfy the id's desires in realistic and socially appropriate ways. The reality principle weighs the costs and benefits of an action before deciding to act upon or abandon impulses. In many cases, the id's impulses can be satisfied through a process of delayed gratification--the ego will eventually allow the behaviour, but only in the appropriate time and place.


The Superego
The last component of personality to develop is the superego. The superego is the aspect of personality based on moral principle, that holds all of our internalised moral standards and ideals that we acquire from both parents and society; a sense of right and wrong. The superego is concerned with what other will think, and stands in opposition to the id,  providing guidelines for making judgements. According to Freud, the superego begins to emerge at around age five and acts to perfect and civilise our behaviour.  It works to suppress all unacceptable urges of the id and struggles to make the ego act upon idealistic standards rather that upon realistic principles. The superego is present in the conscious, preconscious and unconscious.

Key words: morals, compromise

Moral Principle
The moral principle strives to accomplish the rule and standards approved by parental and society authority figures. When these rules are obeyed it leads to feelings of pride, value and accomplishment. however the conscience includes information about things that are viewed as bad by parents and society. these behaviours are often forbidden and lead to bad consequences, punishments or feelings of guilt and remorse.


The Id, Ego and Superego Working Together
According to Freud, a healthy individual will have developed a strongest ego to keep the id and superego in check. If the id becomes too strong, impulses and desires may become overwhelming - resulting in a selfish, inconsiderate individual. However if the superego is too strong, an individual may feel excessive rigid moral constraints that result in judgemental individuals. Both extremes strain the interpersonal relationship.

Introduction to Psychoanalytical Studies

Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis is the method of psychological and personality therapy in which free association, dream interpretation, and analysis of resistance and transference are used to explore repressed or unconscious impulses, anxieties, and internal conflicts, in order to free psychic energy for mature love and work.

The basic principles of psychoanalysis include the following:

1. beside the inherited constitution of personality, a person's development is determined by events in early childhood;
2. human behavior, experience, and cognition are largely determined by irrational drives;
3. those drives are largely unconscious;
4. attempts to bring those drives into awareness meet psychological resistance in the form of defence mechanisms;
5. conflicts between conscious and unconscious (repressed) material can result in mental disturbances such as neurosis, neurotic traits, anxiety, depression etc.;
6. the liberation from the effects of the unconscious material is achieved through bringing this material into the conscious mind (via e.g. skilled guidance).

  
Sigmund Freud
The idea of psychoanalysis came into full prominence under Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud, where he formulated his own theory of psychoanalysis. Freud had become aware of the existence of mental processes that were not conscious as a result of his neurological consulting job. 









Jacques Lacan
Jacques Lacan's work featured the unconscious, the castration complex, the ego, identification, and language as subjective perception. His ideas have had a significant impact on critical theory, literal theory, 20th century French philosophy, sociology, feminist theory, film theory and clinical psychoanalysis.




Laura Mulvey
Laura Mulvey is a British feminist film theorist. Mulvey is best known for her essay, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema", written in 1973 and published in 1975 in the influential British film theory journal Screen. Her article is one of the first major essays that helped shift the orientation of film theory towards a psychoanalytic framework, influenced by the theories of Freud and Lacan.







Slavoj Žižek
Slavoj Žižek  is a Slovene philosopher and cultural critic who has made major contributions to political theory, film theory, and theoretical psychoanalysis, among other disciplines.