Concerning the Biological Aspects of the Oedipus Complex

Freud introduced the concept of the Oedipus Complex to denote the sexual attraction of the child to the parent of the opposite sex with concomitant jealousy and hostility to the other parent. The complex is portrayed at its height of expression by Sophocles in his drama Oedipus Tyrannus, in which according to prophecy (which the parents of Oedipus tried to avert) the son kills his father, unknown to him, in battle and marries the widow who is his mother. The situation reaches its climax in the suicide of the wife-mother and the tearing out of his eyes by Oedipus (symbolizing castration as punishment for guilt). Freud considered the Oedipus Complex biologically determined and engendered in the individual case by parental care of the child. He further considered the phenomenon universal, but in the majority of people successfully repressed. This original interpretation of the foregoing clinical manifestation in the course of child-parent relationship in time is shared by a number of psychoanalysts and psychiatrists, but is disputed by others. Notably among the dissenters is Horney, who, while acknowledging the observation of Freud, disputes its biological basis. She be lieves that the mentioned clinical observation is due to: 1) sexual stimulation of the child by the parent, and 2) anxiety which makes the child cling to the parent. While the observation of Horney has validity, it does not give a satisfactory explanation of all the issues of the situation, which fact Horney admits. Of other students of the problem, Kardiner (quoted by Roheim) asserts that if children are allowed complete sexual freedom they will not develop an Oedipus Complex. Roheim shows that this is not the case, as demonstrated by studies in mythology, folkways and dreams of primitive people. He quotes Elwyn, who investigated the mythology of the Baiga tribe in India, and who found striking similarity between certain tribal folklore and dreams with Freud's theory of the Oedipal situatio