Freud and Oedipus: A New Look at the Oedipus Complex in the Light of Freud's Life*

There are unmistakable evidences of personal confession in Freud's interpretation of the Oedipus story. Freud identifies himself with Oedipus and concludes that everybody does. Without challenging the validity of the Oedipus complex, what strikes us is that his observations about Oedipus Rex appear to be fatally and unmistakably flawed. Neither the myth nor the play by Sophocles shows incest or parricide as “wishes” of Oedipus. A fair and objective reading of the myth reveals unequivocally that it is the fears of King Laius, his father, not the lust of the son, Oedipus, that sets into motion the tragic chain of events upon which the myth rests!

Freud derived his interpretation from the play by Sophocles rather than the myth proper. The play and the myth differ in an essential way. The myth begins before the birth of Oedipus whereas the play begins after the death of Laius, his father. The play begins, as it were, where the myth leaves off. Freud likens the action of the play to the work of a psychoanalysis. Since Freud identifies with Oedipus it was natural that he should reconstruct the story in terms of his own life history, rather than from the more objective point of view in the Greek myth itself.