The Oedipus Complex

Sigmund Freud developed the idea of the Oedipus Complex.


Oedipus was a mythical king of Thebes who led an odd life.  He was adopted as a young boy and unknowingly murdered his father, Laius.  He also unknowingly married his mother, Jocasta.  When he realized these things, he became so upset that he gauged out his eyes.  For your convenience, I have included a more detailed summary of Oedipus.

Freud fittingly referred to Oedipus in the name of this complex because the complex deals with children having unusual fixations upon their parents.  Freud believed that when a child was between the ages of 3-5 that the child developed an oral fixation upon the parent of the opposite sex.  The child then shows hostility toward the other parent.  The tension, then, creates a sort of love triangle between the two parents and the child.

The figure below from Psychoanalytic Electric Publishing illustrates this love triangle.  The large "O" represents the father, the small "o" represents the mother, and the "S" represents the child.

The child wishes to master the mother.  In this case, Freud uses the term "master" to mean master the mother's affections and attention.  The child feels jealousy toward the father, who sometimes has the mother's attention.  The father then tries to warm up to the child and has mixed feelings about his role as a parent because punishment is made difficult.  The two parents, then, may begin competing with one another for the child's attention.

The Oedipus Complex plays a role in one episode of "Frasier" in particular.  In season seven, episode one, entitled, "Momma Mia", Frasier falls in love with a woman named Mia.  He does not realize that Mia is the spitting image of his late mother, although both his brother and his father notice it.  In the episode, Mia shows Frasier a maternal kind of love.  She takes him shopping, takes care of his "boo-boos", and play mediator between Frasier's and Nile's arguments.

When Frasier realizes that Mia is the spitting image of his mother, he becomes unsettled and eventually asks her to leave.  Niles then discusses the possibility that Frasier may have an Oedipus Complex resulting from Hester's death.

The episode dealt exclusively with the Oedipus Complex when presenting in adulthood.  Freud, Lacan, and Klein all focused on the Oedipus Complex as presenting in children.  I found it interesting to watch a representation of an adult dealing with these unresolved issues.

The episode is a fun watch if you're interested.  It was not on YouTube in English and I had problems finding another site that had decent video/audio.  However, the episode is on Netflix if you're interested.