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‘I venture to say that if psycho-analysis could boast of no other achievement than the discovery of the repressed Oedipus complex,’ Freud writes in his last book, ‘that alone would give it a claim to be included among the precious new acquisitions of mankind’ (Freud, S. 1940, SE 23, pp. 192-3). Philosopher Patricia Kitcher says: ‘Nothing was more central or more original in psychoanalysis than the postulation of the Oedipus complex and its “heir”, the superego’ (Kitcher 1992, p. 107).
Freud proclaims that ‘the Oedipus complex … has become the shibboleth that distinguishes the adherents of psycho-analysis from its opponents’ (Freud, S. 1905, SE 7, p. 226). He believes that ‘the beginnings of religion, morals, society and art converge in the Oedipus complex’ (Freud, S. 1913, SE 13, p. 156). Not only did civilization originate with the Oedipus complex; it was also a universal phenomenon. ‘Every new arrival on this planet’, Freud declares, ‘is faced by the task of mastering the Oedipus complex’ (Freud, S. 1905, SE 7, p. 226). It is not surprising then that Freud considers the Oedipus complex to be a cornerstone of psychoanalytic theory, along with the unconscious, repression, resistance and sexuality (Freud, S. 1923, SE 18, p. 247).
The path by which Freud comes to the Oedipus complex is circuitous. It is a tale by itself, with its own internal drama and subtexts. This story reveals the inner tensions and denials at the very heart of this cornerstone of psychoanalytic theory. Freud's journey to the Oedipus complex combines a search for the causes of hysteria with his self-analysis. This paper will show how Freud's discovery of the nuclear complex is connected with the dynamics of his early family life. This is an oft-traveled highway. Building upon the work of others, I will demonstrate how, in Freud's initial conception of the Oedipus complex, there are ambiguities and confusions. These uncertainties concern the relation of fathers, brothers and sons, and the place of th