While studying Freud, one of the things that stands out most to me (as it probably does to most) is the Oedipus complex. I'm always very thrown off and kind of weirded out by the whole idea because, personally, I don't think small children even understand the concept of sexuality. I researched the whole idea a little further, mostly to see what others think about it, and came across something a woman named Melanie Klein wrote. She went to school for psychology and has studied the Oedipus complex in great detail. She says, "when the baby begins to become aware of the father’s existence, he or she feels him to be a rival for the nourishment and comfort offered by the breast. To me, the Oedipus complex is about emotional competition, in whatever arena; I’ve most often found rivalry in the emotional area."
I agree more with what she's saying than Freud. She claims that the desire for one's father to dissapear comes from an emotion such as jealousy with regard to a sense of a sort of threat. (The baby thinks the father will steal the nourishment and protection that the mother provides). I just like her explanation a lot more than Freud's, which, to me, seems to be assigning children sexuality they are incapable of comprehending.
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Just to throw something else out there about this, Freud probably meant that children would house this sexuality in the unconscious part of the brain. I can kind of see where he's coming from on this because he is suggesting that children don't actually fully understand these thoughts. However, I still think it's weird because if some thought is in your brain, the unconscious section or not, you still would have had to encounter a scenario that had produced these thoughts in real life, right?
To me, the Oedipus complex has always seemed to be a disgusting misinterpretation that our brain makes. The idea of having feeling towards our parents of the opposite sex is frankly quite disgusting, but after looking at the similarities between spouses and in-laws Ive begun to see why the Oedipus complex would make sense. I've heard an old saying that men marry their Mothers and women marry their fathers. This saying is not literal. If you look at an average male who has had a good relationship with his mother, you will see that he actually ends up with a wife who has similar qualities of his mother( and visaversa for women and their fathers). As children, our parents model what is means to be a good man/woman and later on in life, we preconsciously seek out a spouse with these qualities.
I agree with Antonio in that it is disgusting. I would rather believe in what Melanie Klein talks about, in that it is a more emotional competition. I definitely can't wrap my head around babies having any concept of sexuality at that point. I also wonder, if they do, whether Freud accounts for both homosexual and heterosexual people/babies. Does he think everyone feels this way, despite their sexual orientation? Or would it differ if you were attracted to the same sex?
I personally like Antonio's version and it's something that I've thought of before. However, I'm still curious as to Freuds take on the child who did not have a parent of the opposite sex in their life. For me, for instance, I didn't really have my dad in my life until just recently, but I think I would like a husband who is quite different than my father. Hereford I'm quite curious about what Freud whoild have to say about that situation. I wonder if Freud ever took this into account. I also wonder if Freud ever took homosexuals into account and how this would change his philosophy. If you're thinking homosexuals, would they have attraction towards the parent of the same sex? Or would the theory no longer be valid for them? Freud you are just missing too many different types of people...
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