The Play And Theory In Sophocles's Oedipus The King

One of the greatest playwrights in Greek history was Sophocles with his renowned play Oedipus Rex, which has been the central topic of innumerous psychological debates. Sigmund Freud, also called the father of psychology and the founder of psychoanalysis constructed a theory called the Oedipus complex, eponymous of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex. These aforementioned debates largely surround whether or not the play and theory are directly related. It is fair to state that the basis of Freud’s complex can be detected in the story. However, to say that the play was deluged with the idea that the Oedipus complex represent is more than an overstatement. Within the tragedy, readers can see the narcissistic ways of Oedipus being manifested as well as his honest neglect and ignorance to the truth. Although some may argue that Oedipus’s ignorance can be equated to Freud’s ideal structure of the mind which speaks of the unconscious and conscious; it still appears to be an overstatement and more an attempt to read too deeply into the writer’s intent when fashioning

According to this definition of the Oedipus complex it is impossible for Oedipus to have been suffering from the Oedipus complex since he was accordingly to have been an infant which is defined as the human young from birth to the age one. (Medical Dictionary) Therefore, if Oedipus was Oedipal, he would have killed not abandon his “father”, instead of a stranger he met while traveling. He in his conscious state was trying to change his destiny and in his blinded attempt to change his destiny he walks into it. While some individuals use this aspect of the play to debate that the unconscious in this scenario was Divine intervention, (Miller, 2006) it could also represent as Rubin describes our humanity.(Rubin,