The "King Oedipus" of Sophocles1

In this paper I should like to give a summary and the main conclusions of a study I have dedicated to the three dramas of Sophocles: King Oedipus, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone. I have published this study in more detail as a Dutch book: De lotgevallen van Koning Oedipus ('The Fate of King Oedipus'), an English translation of which will, I hope, shortly appear. It is unfortunate that in this summary I must omit many details, since it is really these details which give life to the work as a whole.

It occurred to me to ask why these plays of Sophocles, from which Freud derived the name 'Oedipus complex', have not thus far been studied in detail, whereas many other literary works have been thoroughly analysed. There is a great difference between most other literary works and King Oedipus, for in the latter the oedipal emotions are openly discussed, while in the case of other works it is usually necessary to show that these emotions are expressed indirectly. This was my reason for writing about King Oedipus, for I intended to write also for non-psycho-analysts, and it therefore seemed to me of great importance that it was not necessary to deduce the very worst and most strongly repressed emotions, since these were clearly and precisely stated.

Apart from this I had a special question to put forward; since it was not necessary to demonstrate that the oedipal emotions are dealt with in King Oedipus, I could confine myself to a point of more interest to us, namely, the manner in which this theme is treated by Sophocles; what part of these emotions is expressed, how they are expressed, and how the defence mechanism functions. I therefore asked myself the same question which in my opinion must be asked in practical analysis, namely, What is the nature and form of the expressions and what is the defence? Of these it is, perhaps, the defence which is of greater interest and importance for us. How has this man assimilated the oedipal emotions, and what is the dynamic