In this paper I put forward the view that in every psychoanalytical relationship there is a guilt-laden area of incest and murder which is bound to frighten both analyst and patient: the closer the relationship the stronger the feelings of love and hostility become. These feelings can't be easily dismissed and interpreted as troublesome attacks on psychoanalysis, but have to be experienced and, as far as possible, worked through.

Sophocles' tragedy should teach us that the refusal to meet these vital issues of life and death, common to all human beings, oblige Oedipus to act, as an adult and against his will, what he could not live through with his parents when he was an infant.