Exploring Freud's Theory of Religion

Before explaining what, exactly, Freud meant by the Oedipus complex, one must first become familiar with the myth on which his now famous complex is based. Oedipus, who was the son of Laius and Jocasta, was a member of a family who had been cursed. Because of the curses of Pelops, Oedipus was destined to kill his father. Laius, the King of Thebes, went to the Oracle, and was told, "I will give you a son, but you are destined to die at his hands." Once his son was born, he put a spike through his ankles and ordered him to be exposed. The servant was unable to kill the child; consequently, he brought him to a Corinthian shepherd. This shepherd in turn gave the child to the King and Queen of Corinth.

They named this child Oedipus, which means swellfoot, because of the injury to his ankles. Years later, at a party, Oedipus was jeered about not being the real son of his parents. He left the party and went to the Oracle. At the Oracle, he learned that he was destined to kill his father and marry his mother. Leaving the Oracle, he took the road to Thebes instead of the road back to Corinth. On the way to Thebes, he unknowingly kills his father. When he arrives at the gate to Thebes, he solves the riddle of the sphinx, and ends up marrying his mother. Once Oedipus comes to find he has killed his father and married his mother, he blinds himself.

Freud's Oedipus complex is named after the Oedipus character in this ancient myth. Freud believed that the male child experiences the Oedipus complex because of strong, positive feelings developed for the mother. The child develops these strong feelings because the mother satisfies his needs. The father becomes a rival for the mother's attention; subsequently, the father becomes a rival and the child resents him.

Freud developed this theory after having recurring dreams during his childhood. In these dreams, Freud's mother was in a sleeping, peaceful posture, and two or more people with bird's beaks on their faces were carrying her into the room. After carrying her into the room, the birdlike people placed her n a bed.