Focus on the Oedipus complex today with Lynda Pause, personal development coach. What is this complex? How is it expressed in the little girl and in the little boy? Answer on Radio Monaco.

The story of Oedipus in Greek mythology

Oedipus is the son of the king of Thebes, Laius and his wife, Jocasta. One day, an oracle predicts to the parents that Oedipus will kill his father before marrying his own mother. To prevent the oracle from coming true, the parents decide to kill their child. The servant, commissioned to execute Oedipus, saves him.
Oedipus is finally supported by other parents. It was not until adulthood that he discovered the oracle’s prediction. So to avoid it, he leaves his adoptive parents and the city of Corinth. He actually returns to Thebes. At the gates of the city the excitement and chaos dominate. Taken to task an old man, he kills him, without knowing that it is about his real father.

Thebes is under the threat of the Sphinx which devours the young people. A decree is then promulgated: whoever kills the watch will marry the widowed queen. Oedipus faced with the monster succeeded in answering the enigmatic question: What is man? His answer ends the decimation of the city. The sphinx dies and Oedipus marries the queen who is his natural mother Jocasta.

This story depicts, in a symbolic way, the unconscious conflicts that the young child faces to realize his own identity.

Oedipus in boys

First of all, this complex begins around three, four years. The little boy thinks of living an experience alone with his mother. He sent a very strong relationship. For him, they form a whole. However, he sees that there is a dad and perceives that the mom does not give him what she gives to the dad.
To restore the situation, the child must realize that he must share his mother.

He will then identify with the father to please his mother. It is at this moment that the child accepts the frustration and builds his own identity.

In girls

There too, the complex starts around the age of three, four years. The little girl has the feeling of living a relationship alone with her mother. But she quickly realizes that she physically resembles her mother, and that they do not form a whole. She will then try to seduce her dad, to have the same relationship as her mom with him.

Faced with the prohibition of incest, the little girl renounces this love story. Thus, she will identify with her mother to please her father. It is at this moment that she accepts the frustration and builds her own identity.