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The term is named after the [[Oedipus]], a prominent figure in Greek mythology who unwittingly unknowingly killed his father and married his mother. Taking his cue from the ancient Greek tragedy by [[Sophocles]], [[Oedipus Rex]], where [[Oedipus]] unwittingly kills his [[father]] and becomes king by marrying his [[mother]], [[Freud]] suggested that our deepest [[unconscious]] [[desire]] is to murder our [[father]] and marry our [[mother]]. The [[Oedipus complex]] is rather more complicated than this, though, and represents [[Freud]]'s attempt to map the [[ambivalnce|ambivalent]], both [[love|loving]] and hostile, feelings that the [[child]] has towards its parents. In its positive form the complex manifests itself as the desire for the death of a rival, the parent of the same sex, accompanied by the sexual desire for the parent of the opposite sex. In its negative form the complex works in reverse, as the desire for the parent of the same sex and a hatred towards the parent of the opposite sex. In actual fact, a so-called 'normal' Oedipus complex consists of both positive and negative forms. What is important about the Oedipus complex is how the child learns to negotiate and resolve its ambivalent feelings towards its parents.