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Oedipus complex in literature
Oedipus complex in literature
Oedipus complex in literature
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According to Merriam-Webster online dictionary, the Oedipus Complex is a child’s positive libidinal feelings toward the parent of the opposite sex and hostile or jealous feelings toward the parent of the same sex that develop usually between the ages of three and six and that may be a source of adult personality disorder when unresolved (Merriam-Webster). In Sons and Lovers, Paul Morel demonstrates the classic symptoms of the Oedipus complex. Paul and his father’s relationship is destroyed early in his life. His father was not around to be a role model; and, as a result, Paul developed a strong love for his mother. Once he was old enough to develop true feelings for other women, his mother’s opinion often got in the way. She did not approve of any of his significant others, and Paul had to turn them away. This display of the Oedipus complex is easily recognizable throughout the novel. Sons that have sexual thoughts towards their mother and show hatred toward their father demonstrate characteristics of suffering from the unresolved suppression of the Oedipus complex.
The Oedipus complex is not only displayed by D.H. Lawrence but in other forms of literature as well. In “My Oedipus Complex” and “The Judgment” two boys are confronted with issues dealing with their fathers. To Women, As Far As I’m Concerned and Piano, both written by D.H. Lawrence, are poems that also deal with the Oedipus complex. The poem, To Women, As Far As I’m Concerned, deals with feelings towards women as a whole and intrigues the reader by providing a new approach to feelings. Piano, on the other hand, demonstrates how a child can reminisce on his childhood and wish for the childish and personal relationship he had with his mother back. The ...
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...overs: A Psychoanalytic Criticism.” Literary Articles n. pag. Web 6 Apr 2011.
“D.H. Lawrence And The Relationships In ‘Sons and Lovers’.” Essortment n. pag. Web. 6 Apr 2011.
Junjie, Hu. “Analysis of Paul’s Oedipus complex in Sons and Lovers.” (2007): n. pag. Web. 6 Apr 2011.
Kafka, Franz. "The Judgement." N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr 2011.
Lawrence, D.H. Piano. 1918. Print.
Lawrence, D.H. Sons and Lovers. New York, New York: New American Library, 1953. Print.
Lawrence, D.H. To Women, As Far As I'm Concerned . 1909. Print.
O'Connor, Frank. "My Oedipus Complex." Short Story Classics. N.p., 11 FEB 2009. Web. 18 Apr 2011.
"Oedipus complex." Merriam-Webster n. pag. Web. 18 May 2011. http://www.merriam-webster.com/
"Sons and Lovers." Novel Guide (2003): n. pag. Web. 18 May 2011.
Worthen , John. "Biography." University of Nottingham(2005): n. pag. Web. 16 Mar 2011.
Kazdin, Alan E. "Oedipus Complex." Encyclopedia of Psychology. Vol. 5. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, 2000. 494-96. Print.
The choir represents the voice of the people, the voice of the masses. People often conform to this uniform truth, they want to be like other people. This conformation leads to a uniform voice from the public. This voice is often ignorant to the truth, seemingly to the point that it creates its own truth.
The Oedipus complex was developed by the famous psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. The complex describes Freud’s theory of psychosexual stages of development in children, particularly boys. It denotes a boy’s feelings of lust and desire for the mother, and jealousy and envy for the father. The boy views the father as a rival for possession of his mother’s love and affection (Cherry).
The term “Oedipus complex” (or, less commonly, Oedipal complex), explains the strong emotions and ideas that the mind keeps deep within the unconscious of where a child, most notably male, is attracted to his own mother in a sexual nature. In society, incest is looked down upon because it crosses the forbidden zone, the desire for sexual relations, which deviates from the traditional parent-to-child relationship. This term was coined after the ancient Greek tragedy, Oedipus the King. The original script was first written around 429 B.C, by Sophocles. He was most famously known to be one of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived to this day. Knowing that he is a playwright who specializes in writing about the human condition
Fitts, Dudley, and Robert Fitzerald. Sophocles: The Oedipus Cycle. New York, NY: Harcourt Brace & Com, 1977. Print.
Oedipus the King. Tranlsted by Stephen Berg and Diskin Clay. In Literature of the Western World, edited by Brian Wilkie and James Hurt. NewYork: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1984.
The issues of destiny, predetermination, and foreknowledge are raised as problems, not as dogma. How much control do we have over the shape of our lives? How much of what happens to us is due to heredity, to accidents, to sheer luck. . . . These are the questions that the play raises, and it raises them as questions. It shows us men and women who are both powerful and helpless, often at the same moment. Oedipus embodies the human condition. . . . (75-76).
Worthen, W. B. (2000). Oedipus the King. The Harcourt Brace anthology of drama (3rd ed., pp.
Gioia, Dana, and X.J. Kennedy. "Oedipus the King." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing, Compact Edition, Interactive Edition. 5th ed. New York: Pearson; Longman Publishing, 2007. 887-924. Print.
Upon reading the play, there is an apparent class structure found throughout. In Oedipus Tyrannus, two mai...
Dodds, E. R., (1966). On misunderstanding Oedipus. In Kennedy, X. J., & Gioia, D., Literature an introduction to fiction, poetry, drama and writing (6th ed.). (pp. 900-901). Boston: Pearson
...are evoked but against the divinely spun destiny and pity is felt for Oedipus, their play-thing, with no more power to change his life than to change his past.
Here is a story where Oedipus the King, who has accomplished great things in his life, discovers that the gods were only playing with him. He has everything a man of that time could want; he is king of Thebes, he has a wonderful wife and children, and great fame through out the lands. He has lived a good life, but in the end everything is taken from him.
Oedipus Rex, an ancient Greek tragedy authored by the playwright Sophocles, includes many types of psychological phenomena. Most prominently, the myth is the source of the well-known term Oedipal complex, coined by psychologist Sigmund Freud in the late 1800s. In psychology, “complex” refers to a developmental stage. In this case the stage involves the desire of males, usually ages three to five, to sexually or romantically posses their mother, and the consequential resentment of their fathers. In the play, a prince named Oedipus tries to escape a prophecy that says he will kill his father and marry his mother, and coincidentally saves the Thebes from a monster known as the Sphinx. Having unknowingly killed his true father Laius during his escape, he marries the widowed queen of Thebes, his mother Jocasta. Many events in the story should lead to suspicion of their marriage, but out of pride and ignorance Oedipus stubbornly refuses to accept his fate. Together, these sins represent the highest taboos of Greek society, revealed by Socphocles’s depiction of the already pervasive story. Before the Thebian plays, the myth centered more around Oedipus’s journey of self-awareness; meanwhile, Sophocles shows Oedipus’s struggles with his inevitable desire toward his mother throughout these stages of psychological development.
Segal, Charles. Oedipus Tyrannus: Tragic Heroism and the Limits of Knowledge. New York: Twayne, 1993. Print.