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{{Top}}complexe d'Oedipe{{Bottom}}   The "[[Oedipus complex]]" is a term used by [[==Sigmund Freud]] to describe the [[unconscious]] [[desire]] of the [[child]] -- especially a male child -- for the parent of the opposite sex, usually accompanied by hostility and rivalry with the parent of the same sex. The "[[Oedipus complex]]" is a concept used by [[Sigmund Freud]] to describe the [[unconscious]] ([[sexual difference|sexual]]) [[desire]] of the [[child]] -- especially a male child -- for the parent of the opposite sex, and a concomitant sense of rivalry with the parent of the same sex.  The "[[Oedipus complex]]" is a concept used by [[Sigmund Freud]] to refer to the [[unconscious]] ([[sexual difference|sexual]]) [[desire]] of the [[child]] -- especially a male child -- for the parent of the opposite sex, usually accompanied by hostility and rivalry with the parent of the same sex. The "[[Oedipus complex]]" is a term developed by [[Sigmund Freud]] to designate the attraction on the part of the child toward the parent of the opposite sex and rivalry and hostility toward the parent of its own.==

 =====BackgroundHistory=====<!-- References to the [[Oedipus complex]] can be foudn in some of [[Freud]]'s earliest writings./ Although the term does not appear in [[Freud]]'s writings until 1910, traces of its origins can be found much earlier in his work, and by 1910 it was already showing signs of the central importance that it was to acquire in all [[psychoanalytic theory]] thereafter. -->The "[[Oedipus complex]]" is was first introduced by [[Freud]] in 1901; it comes came to acquire central importance in [[psychoanalysis|psychoanalytic theory]] thereafter.<!-- The "[[Oedipus complex]]" was posited by [[Sigmund Freud]] as the central organizing principle of psychosexual development. crucial stage in the normal developmental process. --><!-- Although the [[Oedipus complex]] is absolutely central to Freud's theory of human development, no one paper is devoted to it. -->

The [[Oedipus complex ]] is named after the mythical [[Oedipus]], a prominent figure in Greek mythology who unwittingly killed his [[father ]] and married his [[mother]]. <!-- One of the cornerstones of the theory of [[psychoanalysis]], the idea of the [[Oedipus complex]] derives from the Greek legend that tells how [[Oedipus]] unwittingly killed his father Laius and married his mother Jocasta. When he finally learns what he has done, he blinds himself./ It comes from the Greek myth of Oedipus, a Greek hero who unknowingly killed his father and married his mother.  / The term derives from ''[[Oedipus]]'' was a prominent figure in Greek mythology who killed his father and married his mother. / [[Freud]] attributes the "gripping power" of [[Sophocles]]' play, ''[[Oedipus Rex]]'' to its depiction of what [[Freud]] considers a "universal event in early childhood."--> =====Phallic Stage=====The [[Oedipus complex]] coincides with the [[phallic stage]] of [[development|psychosexual development]], dur ing which the primary erogenous zone <!-- Followers of the body consists of the genital sex organs.when awareness of and manipulation of psychologist Sigmund Freud long believed that the genitals is supposed to be a primary source of pleasureduring which a child becomes interested in his or her own sexual organs The Oedipus conflict, or Oedipus complex, was described as a state of psychosexual development and awareness first occurring around the age of 5 and a half years (a period known as the phallic stage in Freudian theory). Freud came common to assume thatall cultures, by the time he has reached the ‘phallic’ stage of development, at around the age of four or five, the small boy is sexually interested in his mother, wishes to gain exclusive possession of her, and therefore harbours hostile impulses towards his fatheralthough many psychiatrists now refute this belief. =====Psychosexual Development=====-->

The "[[Oedipus complex]]" was posited by [[Sigmund Freud]] as the central organizing principle of psychosexual development. rucial stage in the normal developmental process.===Phallic Phase===The [[Oedipus complex]] emerges in the third year of life and then declines in the fifth year, when . The [[Oedipus complex]] coincides with the child renounces [[desirephallic stage]] of [[development|sexual desirepsychosexual development]] for its parents . The Oedipus conflict, or Oedipus complex, was described as a state of psychosexual development and awareness first occurring around the age of 5 and identifies with a half years (a period known as the rivalphallic stage in Freudian theory). <!-- It occurs during the phallic stage of the psycho-sexual development of the personality, approximately years three to five.=====Unconscious Desire===== The [[Oedipus complex]] was defined by emerges in the third year of life and then declines in the fifth year when the [[Freudchild]] as an [[unconsciousrenunciation|renounces]] set of loving and hostile [[desire|sexual desire]]s which the [[subject]] experiences in relation to for its parents; the and [[subject]identification|identifies] [[desire]]s one parent, and thus enters into rivalry with the other parentrival. --> In <!-- during which the primary erogenous zone of the "positive" form body consists of the [[Oedipus complex]], genital sex organs. when awareness of and manipulation of the [[desire]]d parent genitals is the parent supposed to be a primary source of pleasure/ during which a child becomes interested in his or her own sexual organs --<!-- Freud came to assume that, by the opposite sex to time he has reached the [[subject]]‘phallic’ stage of development, and at around the parent age of four or five, the same sex small boy is the rivalsexually interested in his mother, wishes to gain exclusive possession of her, and therefore harbours hostile impulses towards his father. --> UNIVERSALFollowers of the psychologist Sigmund Freud long believed that <!-- Freudians normally date the [[Oedipus complex was common ]] to the ages of three to five years; according to all cultures[[Klein]], although many psychiatrists now refute this beliefit occurs much earlier.-->

The hostility towards the father arouses the fear that the father will remove the offending sex organ of the boy, called [[castration anxiety]].The [[castration complex]] arises from the boy's assumption that, because girls are without a penis, they must have suffered castration. The reality of castration is borught home to the boy when he sees the sexual anatomy of the girl, which is lacking the protruding genitals of the male. The girl appears castrated to the boy. "If that could happen to her, it could also happen to me," is what he thinks. As a result of castration anxiety, the boy represses his incestuous desire for the mother an his hostility for the father, and the Oedipus complex disappears.--><!-- the fact that a girl does not hav emale genitals is therefore the result of her castration, -->

The ==Jacques Lacan==<!--In Lacanian terms, the [[castration Oedipus complex]] arises marks the transition from a dual and potentially incestuous relationship with the mother to a triadic relationship in which the role and authority of the father or the [[Name-of-the boy's assumption that-Father]] are recognized. Although Lacan follows Freud in making the [[Oedipus complex]] the crucial moment in human development, he modifies the concept in a number of ways, because girls are without both by introducing the idea of a symbolic phallic which is distinct from the biological penis, they must have suffered castrationand by mapping it onto the transition from nature to culture described by [[Levi-Strauss]].  The reality A succesful negotiation of castration the Oedipal triangle is borught home to a precondition for entry into the boy when he sees human symbolic order.--><!--===Family Complexes===[[Lacan]] first addresses the sexual anatomy of [[Oedipus complex]] in his [[{{Y}}|1938]] article on the girl[[family complexes|family]], which where he argues that it is lacking the protruding genitals last and most important of the malethree "family complexes. The girl appears castrated " At this point his account of the [[Oedipus complex]] does not differ from [[Freud]]'s, his only originality being to emphasize its historical and cultural relativity, taking his cue from the boyanthropological studies by Malinowski and others. "If <ref>{{L}} 1938: 66</ref> It is in the 1950s that could happen [[Lacan]] begins to herdevelop his own distinctive conception of the [[Oedipus complex]]. Though he always follows [[Freud]] in regarding the [[Oedipus complex]] as the central complex in the [[unconscious]], it could also happen he now begins to me," is what he thinksdiffer from [[Freud]] on a number of important points.

As a result The most important of castration anxietythese is that in [[Lacan]]'s view, the boy represses his incestuous desire for [[subject]] always desires the [[mother an his hostility for ]], and the [[father]] is always the rival, irrespective of whether the [[subject]] is [[male]] or [[female]]. Consequently, and in [[Lacan]]'s account the [[male]] [[subject]] experiences the [[Oedipus complex disappears]] in a radically asymmetrical way to the [[female]] [[subject]].-->

=====Psychopathology==Symbolic Structure=== The [[Oedipus complex]] is, for [[Lacan]], the paradigmatic triangular [[structure]], which contrasts with all [[dual relation]]s (though see the final paragraph below). The key function in the [[Oedipus complex]] is thus that of the [[father]], the third term which transforms the [[dual relation]] between [[mother]] and [[child]] into a [[triad]]ic [[structure]]. The [[Oedipus complex or conflict ]] is thus nothing less than the passage from the [[imaginary]] [[order]] to the [[symbolic order]], "the conquest of the symbolic relation as such."<ref>{{S3}} p.199</ref> The fact that the passage to the [[symbolic]] passes via a concept developed by Sigmund Freud complex sexual [[dialectic]] means that the [[subject]] cannot have access to explain the origin [[symbolic order]] without confronting the problem of certain neuroses in childhood[[sexual difference]].

===Three Times===In ''[[FreudSeminar|The Seminar, Book V]] argued that all psychopathological '', [[structureLacan]]s could be traced to a malfunction in analyzes this passage from the [[Oedipus compleximaginary]], which was thus dubbed "the nuclear complex of the neuroses".  The Oedipus complex is closely connected to the castration complex.   Resolution of the Oedipus complex is believed to occur by identification with the parent of the same sex and by the renunciation of sexual interest in the parent of the opposite sex. Freud considered this complex the cornerstone of the superego and the nucleus of all human relationships.  =====Jacques Lacan===== [[Lacansymbolic]] first addresses the by [[Oedipus complex]] in his 1938 article on the [[family complexesidentification|familyidentifying]], where he argues that it is the last and most important of the three "family complexes.times"  At this point his account of the [[Oedipus complex]] does not differ from [[Freud]]'s, his only originality the sequence being to emphasise its historical and cultural relativity, taking his cue from the anthropological studies by Malinowski and othersone of logical rather than chronological priority.<ref>{{L}} 19381957-8: 66[[seminar]] of 22 January 1958</ref>

It The first time of the [[Oedipus complex]] is in characterized by the 1950s that [[Lacanimaginary]] [[triangle]] begins to develop his own distinctive conception of the [[Oedipus complexmother]], [[child]] and [[phallus]].

Though he prior to the invention of the [[father]] there is never a purely [[dual relation]] between the [[mother]] and the [[child]] but always follows a third term, the [[phallus]], an [[imaginary]] [[object]] which the [[mother]] [[desire]]s beyond the [[child]] himself (S4, 240-1). [[Lacan]] hints that the presence of the [[imaginary]] [[Freudphallus]] as a third term in regarding the [[Oedipus compleximaginary]] [[triangle]]<!-- In the previous [[seminar]] of 1956-7, [[Lacan]] calls this the [[preoedipal]] [[triangle]]. However, whether this [[triangle]] is regarded as [[preoedipal]] or as the central complex a moment in the [[unconsciousOedipus complex]]itself, the main point is the same: namely, he now begins that prior to differ from the invention of the [[Freudfather]] on there is never a number purely [[dual relation]] between the [[mother]] and the [[child]] but always a third term, the [[phallus]], an [[imaginary]] [[object]] which the [[mother]] [[desire]]s beyond the [[child]] himself (S4, 240-1). [[Lacan]] hints that the presence of important pointsthe [[imaginary]] [[phallus]] as a third term in the [[imaginary]] [[triangle]] indicates that the [[symbolic]] [[father]] is already functioning at this time. <ref>{{L}} 1957-8: [[seminar]] of 22 January 1958</ref> -->

The most important ===First Time===In the first time of these is that in the [[LacanOedipus complex]]'s view, then, the [[subjectchild]] always desires realizes that both he and the [[mother]]are marked by a [[lack]]. The [[mother]] is marked by [[lack]], since she is seen to be [[lack|incomplete]]; otherwise, and she would not [[desire]]. The [[subject]] is also marked by a [[lack]], since he does not completely [[satisfy]] the [[fathermother]]'s [[desire]] . The [[lack]]ing element in both cases is always the rival[[imaginary]] [[phallus]]. The [[mother]] [[desire]]s the [[phallus]] she [[lack]]s, irrespective and (in conformity with [[Hegel]]'s theory of whether [[desire]]) the [[subject]] is seeks to become the [[object]] of her [[desire]]; he seeks to be the [[phallus]] for the [[malemother]] or and fill out her [[femalelack]].

Consequently<!-- At this point, the [[mother]] is omnipotent and her [[desire]] is the [[law]]. Although this omnipotence may be seen as threatening from the very beginning, the sense of threat is intensified when the [[child]]'s own sexual [[drive]]s begin to manifest themselves (for example in infantile masturba­tion). This emergence of the [[real]] of the [[drive]] introduces a discordant note of [[anxiety]] into the previously seductive [[imaginary]] [[triangle]].<ref>{{S4}} p. 225-6</ref> The [[child]] is now confronted with the realization that he cannot simply fool the [[Lacanmother]]'s account [[desire]] with the [[maleimaginary]] [[semblance]] of a [[phallus]] - he must present something in the [[subjectreal]] experiences . Yet the [[Oedipus complexchild]] 's real organ (whether boy or girl) is hopelessly inadequate. This sense of inadequacy and impotence in a radically asymmetrical way the face of an omnipotent [[mother|maternal]] [[desire]] that cannot be placated gives rise to [[anxiety]]. Only the intervention of the [[father]] in the subsequent times of the [[femaleOedipus complex]] can provide a real solution to this [[subjectanxiety]]. -->

------------ The key function in the [[Oedipus complex]] is thus that of the [[father]], the third term which transforms the [[dual relation]] between [[mother]] and [[child]] into a [[triad]]ic [[structure]]. The fact that the passage to the [[symbolic]] passes via a complex sexual [[dialectic]] means that the [[subject]] cannot have access to the [[symbolic order]] without confronting the problem of [[sexual difference]].  ---------------- In ''[[Seminar|The Seminar, Book V]]'', [[Lacan]] analyses this passage from the [[imaginary]] to the [[symbolic]] by [[identification|identifying]] three "times" of the [[Oedipus complex]], the sequence being one of logical rather than chronological priority.<ref>{{L}} 1957-8: [[seminar]] of 22 January 1958</ref> ------------ The first time of the [[Oedipus complex]] is characterised by the [[imaginary]] [[triangle]] of [[mother]], [[child]] and [[phallus]].  In the previous [[seminar]] of 1956-7, [[Lacan]] calls this the [[preoedipal]] [[triangle]].  However, whether this [[triangle]] is regarded as [[preoedipal]] or as a moment in the [[Oedipus complex]] itself, the main point is the same: namely, that prior to the invention of the [[father]] there is never a purely [[dual relation]] between the [[mother]] and the [[child]] but always a third term, the [[phallus]], an [[imaginary]] [[object]] which the [[mother]] [[desire]]s beyond the [[child]] himself (S4, 240-1).  [[Lacan]] hints that the presence of the [[imaginary]] [[phallus]] as a third term in the [[imaginary]] [[triangle]] indicates that the [[symbolic]] [[father]] is already functioning at this time.<ref>{{L}} 1957-8: [[seminar]] of 22 January 1958</ref> ------------ In the first time of the [[Oedipus complex]], then, the [[child]] realises that both he and the [[mother]] are marked by a [[lack]].  The [[mother]] is marked by [[lack]], since she is seen to be incomplete; otherwise, she would not [[desire]].  The [[subject]] is also marked by a [[lack]], since he does not completely [[satisfy]] the [[mother]]'s [[desire]].  The [[lack]]ing element in both cases is the [[imaginary]] [[phallus]].  The [[mother]] [[desire]]s the [[phallus]] she [[lack]]s, and (in conformity with [[Hegel]]'s theory of [[desire]]) the [[subject]] seeks to become the [[object]] of her [[desire]]; he seeks to be the [[phallus]] for the [[mother]] and fill out her [[lack]].  At this point, the [[mother]] is omnipotent and her [[desire]] is the [[law]].  Although this omnipotence may be seen as threatening from the very beginning, the sense of threat is intensified when the [[child]]'s own sexual [[drive]]s begin to manifest themselves (for example in infantile masturba­tion).  This emergence of the [[real]] of the [[drive]] introduces a discordant note of [[anxiety]] into the previously seductive [[imaginary]] [[triangle]].<ref>{{S4}} p.225-6</ref>  The [[child]] is now confronted with the realisation that he cannot simply fool the [[mother]]'s [[desire]] with the [[imaginary]] [[semblance]] of a [[phallus]] -- he must present something in the [[real]].  Yet the [[child]]'s real organ (whether boy or girl) is hopelessly inadequate.  This sense of inadequacy and impotence in the face of an omnipotent maternal [[desire]] that cannot be placated gives rise to [[anxiety]].  Only the intervention of the [[father]] in the subsequent times of the [[Oedipus complex]] can provide a real solution to this [[anxiety]].  ------------===Second Time===The second 'time' of the [[Oedipus complex]] is characterised characterized by the interven­tion of the [[imaginary]] [[father]].  The [[father]] imposes the [[law]] on the [[mother]]'s [[desire]] by denying her access to the [[phallic]] [[object]] and [[prohibition|forbidding ]] the [[subject]] access to the [[mother]].   [[Lacan]] often refers to this intervention as the "[[castration]]" of the [[mother]], even though he states that, properly speaking, the operation is not one of [[castration]] but of [[privation]].  <!-- This intervention is mediated by the [[discourse]] of the [[mother]]; in other words, what is important is not that the [[real]] [[father]] step in and impose the [[law]], but that this [[law]] be respected by the [[mother]] herself in both her words and her actions.   The [[subject]] now sees the [[father]] as a rival for the [[mother]]'s [[desire]].  ------------->

By showing that he has the [[phallus]], and neither exchanges it nor gives it (S3, 319), the [[real]] [[father]] [[castration|castrates]] the [[child]], in the sense of making it impossible for the [[child]] to persist in trying to be the [[phallus]] for the [[mother]]; it is no use competing with the [[real]] [[father]], because he always wins.<ref>{{S4}} p.208-9, 227</ref> The [[subject]] is freed from the impossible and [[anxiety]]-­provoking task of having to be the phallus by realising that the [[father]] has it.  This allows the [[subject]] to [[identify]] with the [[father]].  In this secondary ([[symbolic]]) [[identification]] the [[subject]] transcends the [[aggressivity]] inherent in primary ([[imaginary]]) [[identification]].  [[Lacan]] follows [[Freud]] in arguing that the [[superego]] is formed out of this [[Oedipal]] [[identification]] with the [[father]].<ref>{{S4}} p.415</ref>  -------------==Structure==Since the [[symbolic]] is the realm of the [[law]], and since the [[Oedipus complex]] is the conquest of the [[symbolic order]], it has a normative and normalising normalizing function. <blockquote> "The Oedipus complex is essential for the human being to be able to accede to a humanized structure of the real."<ref>{{S3}} p.198</ref></blockquote>  This normative function is to be understood in reference to both [[clinic]]al [[structure]]s and the question of [[sexuality]].

In accordance with [[Freud]]'s view of the [[Oedipus complex]] as the root of all psychopathology, [[Lacan]] relates all the [[clinic]]al [[structure]]s to difficulties in this [[complex]].   Since it is impossible to resolve the [[complex]] completely, a completely non-pathological position does not [[exist]].   The closest thing is a [[neurotic]] [[structure]]; the [[neurotic]] has come through all three times of the [[Oedipus complex]], and there is no such thing as a [[neurosis without [[Oedipus]].  On the other hand, [[psychosis]], [[perversion]] and [[phobia]] result when "something is essentially incomplete in the Oedipus complex."<ref>{{S2}} p.201</ref>  In [[psychosis]], there is a fundamental blockage even before the first time of the [[Oedipus complex]].  In [[perversion]], the [[complex]] is carried through to the third time, but instead of [[identifying ]] with the [[father]], the [[subject ]] [[identifies ]] with the [[mother ]] and/or the [[imaginary ]] [[phallus]], thus harking back to the [[imaginary ]] [[preoedipal ]] [[triangle]].  A [[phobia ]] arises when the [[subject ]] cannot make the transition from the second time of the [[Oedipus complex]] to the third time because the [[real]] [[father]] does not intervene; the [[phobia]] then functions as a substitute for the intervention of the [[real]] [[father]], thus permitting the [[subject]] to make the passage to the third time of the [[Oedipus complex]] (though often in an atypical way). <!-- =====Psychopathology===== Failure to negotiate this transition is held by all schools of psychoanalysis to be the primary cause of [neurosis]].

-----------<!-- In his [[seminar]] of 1969-70, [[Lacan]] re-examines the [[Oedipus complex]], and analyses analyzes the [[myth]] of [[Oedipus]] as one of [[Freud]]'s [[dream]]s.<ref>{{S17}} Ch. 8</ref>  In this [[seminar]] (though not for the first time<ref>{{S7}}</ref>) [[Lacan]] compares the [[myth]] of [[Oedipus]] with the other [[Freud]]ian [[myth]]s (the [[myth]] of the [[father]] of the horde in ''[[Totem and Taboo]]'', and the [[myth]] of the murder of Moses<ref>{{F}} 1912-13; 1939a</ref>) and argues that the [[myth]] of ''[[Totem and Taboo]]'' is structurally opposite to the [[myth]] of [[Oedipus]].   In the [[myth]] of [[Oedipus]], the murder of the [[father]] allows [[Oedipus]] to enjoy sexual relations with his [[mother]], whereas in the [[myth]] of ''[[Totem and Taboo]]'' the murder of the [[father]], far from allowing access to the [[father]]'s [[women]], only reinforces the [[Law]] which forbids [[incest]].<ref>{{S7}} p.176</ref>   [[Lacan]] argues that in this respect the [[myth]] of ''[[Totem and Taboo]]'' is more accurate than the [[myth]] of [[Oedipus]]; the former shows that [[enjoyment]] of the [[mother ]]is impossible, whereas the latter presents [[enjoyment]] of the [[mother]] as forbidden but not impossible.   In the [[Oedipus complex]] a [[prohibition ]] of ''[[jouissance]]'' thus serves to hide the impossibility of this ''[[jouissance]]''; the [[subject]] can thus persist in the [[neurotic]] [[illusion]] that, were it not for the [[Law]] which forbids it, ''[[jouissance]]'' would be possible.  -----------><!-- In his reference to fourfold models, [[Lacan]] makes an implicit criticism of all triangular models of the [[Oedipus complex]].  (** Thus, though the [[Oedipus complex]] can be seen as the transition from a [[dual relation]]ship to a [[triangular]] [[structure]], [[Lacan]] argues that it is more accurately represented as the transition from a [[preoedipal]] [[triangle]] ([[mother]]-[[child]]-[[phallus]]) to an [[Oedipal]] [[quaternary]] ([[mother]]-[[child]]-[[father]]-[[phallus]]).  **) Another possibility is to see the [[Oedipus complex]] as a transition from the [[preoedipal]] [[triangle]] ([[mother]]-[[child]]-[[phallus]]) to the [[Oedipal]] [[triangle]] ([[mother]]-[[child]]-[[father]]).-->