The Oedipus Complex - Sigmund Freud vs. Jacques Lacan
The story of Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus has been interpreted by innumerable writers, philosophers, and critics in countless ways; the methods of interpreting Oedipus vary from mad rages and blind accusations to ignorantly perverse acts ranging from basic sexual desire to pre-destined fate ordained by the gods. Perhaps the most famous psychoanalyst in history Sigmund Freud theorized that Oedipus' story was applicable to all. French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan translated Freud into French and, though Lacan claimed to agree completely with Freud's ideas, he substantially changed Freud's theories. As Jurgen Braungardt says, "Lacan performs a renovation: he replaces the foundation of the theory, but retains the surface." The irony of this is that Lacan's interpretations solve the main problems of Freud's theories.
According to Freud, sexual desire is the center of everything. Every action we take and every word we speak has an underlying, perhaps subconscious, sexual theme as its driving force. The first stage in Freud's Oedipus Complex is the oral stage. In the example given by Tom Davis, an English professor at Birmingham University, "the child is in a state of sexual bliss: at the mother's breast, receiving nourishment, in a sexual relationship not only with his mother, but, he thinks, the whole world." After the oral stage comes the anal stage: in this stage the child learns that he cannot always do what he wants when he wants to. Eventually the child reaches the genital stage, that is, he becomes aware of his own penis. About this time, he also realizes that girls don't have penises and irrationally concludes that they have been castrated by Daddy to prevent...
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...smaller but clearly important role. Of equal importance, Lacan's theory is easily applicable to either gender. Mirrors work for male or female and a child of either sex can surely feel a desire to return to the safety and comfort of the mother's breast. In conclusion, I believe that Freud's Oedipus Complex was incomplete due to limited scope and sexism. Lacan's interpretation addresses these issues, creating a more versatile and acceptable Oedipus Complex.
Works Cited
Braungardt, Jurgen. Theology After Lacan: A Psychoanalytic Approach. 1999. U of Pennsylvania. 9 Nov. 2000
http://dept.english.upenn.edu/.../theology.html.
Davis, Tom. The Theories of the Mind Lectures. Ed. G. Baston. Birmingham University. 9 Nov. 2000
http://www.bham.ac.uk/english/bibliography/CurrentCourses/Freud/.
Lee, Jonathan Scott. Jacques Lacan. Boston: Twayne Publishers,1990.
The article “Some Psychological Consequences of the Anatomical Distinction between the Sexes” by Sigmund Freud focus on the difference between boys and girls and the consequences and impact the Oedipus complex and Penis envy. Freud studies the consequences and how boy and girls develop and move forward from this phase. It is to say that Freud has a strong point of view about this, and somehow this theory can come as masochism and has been criticizes by many feminist; but I cannot ignore the complexity and how his ideas are proper. But can we used this theories to understand the modernity if the society we live in.
Passer, M., Smith, R., Holt, N., Bremner, A., Sutherland, E., & Vliek, M. (2009). Psychology; Science of Mind and Behaviour. (European Edition). New York.
Jacques Lacan deals with the perception of individuals as well. However Lacan's perceptions are those dealt with in the mind of his subjects. Let us introduce Oedipus, as the subject, to Lacan the psychoanalyst. Now that the two have met in our minds' we can continue with the forum of one man's perception, Lacan's, of another man's life, Oedipus's.
... avoid unjustified beliefs. Second, like the equal weight view claims, a first person perspective does not give an argument asymmetry. Finally, the first person perspective as a role in disagreement is more inspective than detective. It can be used to show aspects such as peer hood and reliability, but it cannot deduce from these “inspections” that one’s view has more weight than their opponents because those deductions are unjustified.
During the early 1850s to late 1990s, the United States experienced an enormous rush of Asian immigration from various countries such as China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. For most of these immigrants, they traveled far and wide on dangerous journeys out at sea and away from their homeland of origin in order to escape the horrors of tyranny, discover wealth during the California gold rush, and create new opportunities of a better life for their families and future descendants. Countless bodies were lost at sea and many more of these immigrants died from starvation and disease. Although these Asian immigrants were overjoyed when they reached the main lands of the United States, their struggles were only beginning as many of them were not met with open arms of acceptance. Instead, most of these Asian immigrants were met with harsh racism, various amounts of mistreatment, and unpleasant living conditions from many Americans. In spite of all these hindrances, most Asian immigrants were able to adapt to their new environment, find occupations despite the undercut wages, and build homes for their families. (something here) . After a while, these Asian immigrants were able to learn English and understand the protocols of the United States judicial system in order to change certain laws which discriminated them. Even though some may group Asians into one large category, the fact of the matter is that there are many distinct ethnic backgrounds with different histories and methodology of persevering through hardships in order to reach the blissful freedom of the United States.
The habitat of the South Pole is far too harsh for most organisms to survive. Only in some of the milder areas are some plant life present such as lichen and moss. Penguins are mostly found in the southern hemisphere of the earth, mostly in
Bates, Claire. "Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream speech: What does it tell us about him?." BBC. BBC History, 23 Aug. 2013. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. .
African penguins (Spheniscus demersus) have been on a downward decline. In 2010, African penguins were placed on the Red List by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) signifying that they are endangered (Weller et al., 2014). African penguins are endemic to Southern Africa ranging from Namibia to South Africa (Weller et al., 2014). At the start of the twentieth century, African penguins constituted 570,000 breeding pairs, but at the end of the century the population decreased to 26,000 pairs, and finally, in the 1990s, there was a total of 18,000 adult penguins (Weller et al., 2014). Robben Island has the most inhabitants of African Penguins, starting with the initiation of nine breeding pairs in 1983, growing to 8,500 pairs
The other penguins live on small sandy islands, but all penguins must live near a body of water to hunt for food. Their food consist of fish krill squid and crustaceans. Penguins mainly live along the coastal regions of South America, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. People still don’t know everything about penguins but we start to learn more about them as we study them. There is some spots we don’t know if its 100% true or fake. This is way people argue so much about them because we still don’t know everything about them. In the mid 1800s people found fossils that looked like penguins. These fossils were studied by the top scientist around the world. The scientist are coming to a conclusion that penguins have been on earth for more than 60 million years.Scientist believe that penguins evolved from earlier birds in order to survive. They
Freud's methods of psychoanalysis were based on his theory that people have repressed, hidden feelings. The psychoanalyst's goal is to make the patient aware of these subconscious feelings. Childhood conflicts that are hidden away by the patient, become revealed to both the analyst and the patient, allowing the patient to live a less anxious, more healthy life.
Emperor Penguins have short stiff tails which helps with balance, a highly specialized bird skeleton and powerful claws. There chicks have soft down for added insulation. Behavioural adaptations involve huddling together in winter to conserve heat, and unlike other species they are not aggressively territorial. They breed during the depths of the Antarctic winter, but no nest in made, the eggs sit on the parents’ feet. When a female Emperor Penguin lays her egg, the male carries it on his feet. Physiological adaptations a complex heat exchange system allows heat to be recaptured from breath. They dive to about 1,800 feet and can hold their breath for up to 22 minutes. The male Emperor Penguins can fast for up to 100
Now you know a thing or two about Emperor penguins. You know about the land they called home, their lives and how they lived, and the disorders they suffered.
Penis envy usually occurs in the phallic phase of the psycho-sexual development of a child. A girl sees her father’s authoritarian figure in the family and she can connect this totalitarian image with the
Shawn T. Smith, P. (2011). The User's Guide to the Human Mind. Oakland CA: New Harbinger Publications, Inc.
“The origin of the word “penguin” has been the subject of debate for a long period of time. Researchers and historians’ theories range from reference to the amount of fat (penguigo in Spanish and pinguis in Latin) penguins possess to the claim that the word was derived from two Welsh words meaning ‘white head’.” (Sparks and Soper, 1987) Penguins are comical and funny birds. Blue/black on the upper half of their body and white on the lower half, they look as though they are all dressed up for a formal dinner or show but have no place to go! Penguins are flightless birds, which have adapted to living in the cooler waters of the Southern Hemisphere. They generally live on islands and remote continental regions that are free of land predators. Their inability to fly has been detrimental to their survival on land. Some species of penguins spend as much as 75% of their lives in the ocean, yet they all breed on land or sea ice attached to land. The seventeen species found today are thought to have evolved from flying birds more than forty million years ago. To date, the discovery of all penguin fossil fragments has been limited to the Southern Hemisphere. “Records show that prehistoric penguins were found within the range of present-day penguins.” (Sparks and Soper, 1987)