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Discussion of the Oedipus myth as a part of the content of the mind meets with inherent difficulties at the outset. The first is typified by the employment in this context of a locution that implies the model of a container. The second is the peculiar feature of the myth in that the following elements seem to correspond to the numbered axis of the Grid.
The pronouncement of the oracle defines the theme of the story and can be regarded as a definition, or definitory hypothesis. It resembles a preconception, or an algebraic calculus, in that it is an ‘unsaturated statement’ that is ‘saturated’ by the unfolding of the story; or an ‘unknown’, in the mathematical sense, that is ‘satisfied’ by the story. It is the statement of the theme of the story that is to unfold; the description of the criminal who is wanted.
Tiresias may be regarded as representing the hypothesis, known to be false, that is maintained to act as a barrier against the anxiety anticipated as a concomitant of any hypothesis or theory that might take its place.
The myth as a whole may be taken as the record of a realization and therefore to fulfil the function Freud attributed to notation.
The Sphinx stimulates curiosity and threatens death as the penalty for failure to satisfy it. It can represent the function Freud attributed to attention, but it implies a threat against the curiosity it stimulates.
Oedipus represents the triumph of determined curiosity over intimidation and may thus be used as a symbol for scientific integrity – the investigatory tool.
It may seem that I am forcing the myth to fall in with preconceptions of my own, but little ingenuity is required to see these facets
of meaning. The classical psychoanalytic employment of the myth sheds light on the nature of L and H links; it is equally illuminating for the K link. Features that can serve as symbols for the mechanics of thinking contribute to my suspicion that it is inadequate to regard the Oedipus situation as a part of the content of th