This can be described as the desire or longing to be involved with the parent of the opposite sex as well as a dominant rivalry with the parent of the same sex which is a crucial stage in the usual and reasonable developmental process. The term comes from a Greek legend called Oedipus who without knowing killed his father and married his mother. Freud suggests that the Oedipus complex is seen in children who are about three to five years ( Bergmann, 2018) . As the child grows and identifies with the parent of the same sex, they tend to repress those sexual instincts. Children pass this stage harmoniously of their previous relationship with the parent was unromantic and relatively loving. However, in the presence of trauma, there is usually the occurrence of infantile neurosis, which is generally a forerunner of the same actions in the child’s adult life. Something else that helps a child to overcome the Oedipus complex is superego which is the moral factor that dominates the mind of an adult.
On the other hand, Horney strongly disagrees with Freud’s theory of the Oedipus complex. According to Freud, the Oedipus complex is biological, but Horney disagrees with that sentiment. She claims that this is not a natural phenomenon but a response to the provocation of the outside world ( Chasseguet-Smirgel, 2018) . According to her, the fact that an adult will not have Oedipus complex is because they choose to repress those sexual feelings towards their parents. The ideas pointed out by Horney are not satisfactory and thus making it challenging to conclude them. Therefore, Freud’s explanation and ideas on Oedipus are more logical, and conclusions can quickly be drawn from them. One of the most significant achievements of the human mind is the ability to overcome the Oedipus complex in their adulthood.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
References
Bergmann, Martin S., and André Green. "Richard III: the Oedipus complex and the villain." In The Unconscious in Shakespeare's Plays , pp. 85-100. Routledge, 2018.
Chasseguet-Smirgel, J. (2018). Feminine guilt and the Oedipus complex. In Female sexuality (pp. 94-134). Routledge.
