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=====Definition=====The "[[Oedipus complex]] was defined " is a concept used by [[Sigmund Freud]] as an to refer to the [[unconscious]] set of loving and hostile [[desiresexual difference|sexual]]s which the [[subjectdesire]] experiences in relation to its parents; of the [[subjectchild]] - especially a [[desiremale]]s one parent, and thus enters into rivalry with the other parent.  In the "positive" form of the [[Oedipus complexchild]], the [[desire]]d parent is - for the parent of the opposite sex to the [[subject]], usually accompanied by hostility and rivalry with the parent of the same sex is the rival.  <!-- The [[Oedipus complex]] emerges in the third year of life and then declines in the fifth year, when the child renounces [[desire|sexual desire]] for its parents and identifies with the rival.  [[Freud]] argued that all psychopathological [[structure]]s could be traced to a malfunction in the [[Oedipus complex]], which was thus dubbed "the nuclear complex of the neuroses".  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 defined by 1910 it was already showing signs of the central importance that it was to acquire in all [[psychoanalytic theory]] thereafter.  ------------ [[Lacan]] first addresses the [[Oedipus complex]] in his 1938 article on the [[family complexes|family]], where he argues that it is the last and most important of the three "family complexes."  At this point his account of the [[Oedipus complex]] does not differ from [[Freud]]'s, his only originality being to emphasise its historical and cultural relativity, taking his cue from the anthropological studies by Malinowski and others.<ref>{{L}} 1938: 66</ref> ------------ It is in the 1950s that [[Lacan]] begins to develop his own distinctive conception of the [[Oedipus complex]].  Though he always follows [[Freud]] in regarding the [[Oedipus complex]] as the central complex in the an [[unconscious]], he now begins to differ from [[Freud]] on a number set of important points.  The most important of these is that in [[Lacan]]'s view, the [[subject]] always desires the [[mother]], loving and the hostile [[father]] is always the rival, irrespective of whether the [[subjectdesire]] is [[male]] or [[female]].  Consequently, in [[Lacan]]'s account which the [[male]] [[subject]] experiences the [[Oedipus complex]] in a radically asymmetrical way relation to its parents; the [[female]] [[subject]].  ------------ The [[Oedipus complex]] is, for [[Lacan]], the paradigmatic triangular [[structure]], which contrasts with all [[dual relationdesire]]s (though see the final paragraph below).  The key function in the [[Oedipus complex]] is thus that of the [[father]]one parent, the third term which transforms the [[dual relation]] between [[mother]] and [[child]] thus enters into a [[triad]]ic [[structure]].  The [[Oedipus complex]] is thus nothing less than rivalry with 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 complex sexual [[dialectic]] means that the [[subject]] cannot have access to the [[symbolic order]] without confronting the problem of [[sexual difference]]other parent.  ---------------- In ''[[Seminar|The Seminar, Book V]]'', [[Lacan]] analyses this passage from the [[imaginary]] to the [[symbolic]] by [[identification|identifying]] three "timespositive" form of the [[Oedipus complex]], the sequence being one of logical rather than chronological priority.<ref>{{L}} 1957-8: [[seminardesire]] of 22 January 1958</ref> ------------ The first time d parent is the parent of the [[Oedipus complex]] is characterised by opposite sex to the [[imaginary]] [[triangle]] of [[mothersubject]], [[child]] and [[phallus]].  In the previous [[seminar]] parent 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 sex 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)rival.  [[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 The "[[Oedipus complex]], then, the [[child]] realises that both he and the [[mother]] are marked by " is a [[lack]].  The [[mother]] is marked term developed by [[lackSigmund Freud]], 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]] designate the [[mother]]'s [[desire]].  The [[lack]]ing element in both cases is attraction on the [[imaginary]] [[phallus]].  The [[mother]] [[desire]]s the [[phallus]] she [[lack]]s, and (in conformity with [[Hegel]]'s theory part of [[desire]]) the [[subject]] seeks to become child toward the [[object]] parent of her [[desire]]; he seeks to be the [[phallus]] for the [[mother]] opposite sex and fill out her [[lack]].  At this point, the [[mother]] is omnipotent rivalry and her [[desire]] is hostility toward the [[law]].  Although this omnipotence may be seen as threatening from the very beginning, the sense parent of threat is intensified when the [[child]]'s its 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]].  ---------<!--- The second 'time' existence of the [[Oedipus complex]] is characterised by the interven­tion of explains the [[imaginarychild]] [[father]].  The [[father]] imposes the [[law]] on the [[mother]]'s [[desire]] by denying her access to sexual attaction towards the [[phallic]] [[object]] and forbidding the [[subject]] access to the [[mother]].  [[Lacan]] often refers to this intervention as the "[[castration]]" parent of the [[mother]], even though he states that, properly speaking, the operation is not one opposite sex and jealously of [[castration]] but of [[privation]].  This intervention is mediated by the [[discourse]] parent 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]]same sex.  ------------- The third 'time' of the [[Oedipus complex]] is marked by the intervention of the [[real]] [[father]].  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>  !------------- 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 function. <blockquote>"The Oedipus complex is essential for the human being to be able to accede It initially refers 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]].   =====The Oedipus complex and clinical structures=====In accordance with [[Freud]]boy's view perception of the [[Oedipus complex]] his mother 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]], sexual object 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 his 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]]rival, thus permitting the [[subject]] to make the passage to the third time of the [[Oedipus complex]] (though often in an atypical way).  =====The Oedipus complex and sexuality=====It is the particular way the [[subject]] navigates his passage through the [[Oedipus complex]] that determines both his assumption of a sexual position and his choice of a sexual object (on the question of object choice<ref>{{S4}} p.201</ref>).  ------------- In his [[seminar]] of 1969-70, [[Lacan]] re-examines the [[Oedipus complex]], and analyses the [[myth]] of [[Oedipus]] as one of [[but 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]] description 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]]'universal phenomenon' is becomes 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]] complicated as forbidden but not impossible.  In the [[Oedipus complex]] a prohibition of ''[[jouissance]]'' thus serves to hide he integrates the impossibility findings 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 studies 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]]).    ======={{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 theories of the opposite sex, and a concomitant sense of rivalry with the parent of the same sexchildren.  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.   =====Background=====The "[[Oedipus complex]]" is first introduced by [[Freud]] in 1901; it comes to acquire central importance in [[psychoanalysis|psychoanalytic theory]] thereafter.>

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]] <!-- Followers of [[development|psychosexual development]], dur ing which the primary erogenous zone of the body consists of the genital sex organs.when awareness of and manipulation of 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). psychologist Sigmund Freud came to assume long believed that, 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 father. =====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. The [[Oedipus complex]] emerges in the third year of life and then declines in the fifth yearcommon to all cultures, when the child renounces [[desire|sexual desire]] for its parents and identifies with the rivalalthough many psychiatrists now refute this belief. 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 [[Freud]] as an [[unconscious]] set of loving and hostile [[desire]]s which the [[subject]] experiences in relation to its parents; the [[subject]] [[desire]]s one parent, and thus enters into rivalry with the other parent.  In the "positive" form of the [[Oedipus complex]], the [[desire]]d parent is the parent of the opposite sex to the [[subject]], and the parent of the same sex is the rival. ->

UNIVERSAL===Phallic Phase===Followers The [[Oedipus complex]] emerges in the third year of life and then declines in the fifth year. The [[Oedipus complex]] coincides with the [[phallic stage]] of [[development|psychosexual development]]. 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).<!-- It occurs during the phallic stage of the psycho-sexual development of the personality, approximately years three to five. The [[Oedipus complex]] emerges in the third year of life and then declines in the fifth year when the psychologist Sigmund [[child]] [[renunciation|renounces]] [[desire|sexual desire]] for its parents and [[identification|identifies]] with the rival. --><!-- during which the primary erogenous zone of the body consists of the genital sex organs. when awareness of and manipulation of the genitals is supposed to be a primary source of pleasure/ during which a child becomes interested in his or her own sexual organs --<!-- Freud long believed came to assume that , 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 father. --><!-- 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 boy's assumption that, because girls are without mother to 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, triadic relationship in which is lacking the protruding genitals role and authority 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. =====Psychopathology===== The Oedipus complex or conflict is a concept developed by Sigmund Freud to explain the origin of certain neuroses in childhood  [[FreudName-of-the-Father]] argued that all psychopathological [[structure]]s could be traced to a malfunction are recognized. Although Lacan follows Freud in making the [[Oedipus complex]]the crucial moment in human development, which was thus dubbed "he modifies the nuclear complex concept in a number of ways, both by introducing the neuroses".  The Oedipus complex is closely connected to the castration complex.   Resolution idea of the Oedipus complex a symbolic phallic which is believed to occur by identification with distinct from the parent of the same sex biological penis, and by mapping it onto the renunciation of sexual interest in the parent of the opposite sextransition from nature to culture described by [[Levi-Strauss]]. Freud considered this complex the cornerstone A succesful negotiation of the superego and Oedipal triangle is a precondition for entry into the nucleus of all human relationshipssymbolic order. --><!--=====Jacques Lacan==Family Complexes=== [[Lacan]] first addresses the [[Oedipus complex]] in his [[{{Y}}|1938 ]] article on the [[family complexes|family]], where he argues that it is the last and most important of the three "family complexes."  At this point his account of the [[Oedipus complex]] does not differ from [[Freud]]'s, his only originality being to emphasise emphasize its historical and cultural relativity, taking his cue from the anthropological studies by Malinowski and others.<ref>{{L}} 1938: 66</ref> ------------  It is in the 1950s that [[Lacan]] begins to develop 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]], he now begins to differ from [[Freud]] on a number of important points.  The most important of these is that in [[Lacan]]'s view, the [[subject]] always desires the [[mother]], and the [[father]] is always the rival, irrespective of whether the [[subject]] is [[male]] or [[female]].  Consequently, in [[Lacan]]'s account the [[male]] [[subject]] experiences the [[Oedipus complex]] in a radically asymmetrical way to the [[female]] [[subject]].  ------------

The key function most important of these is that in [[Lacan]]'s view, the [[Oedipus complexsubject]] is thus that of always desires the [[fathermother]], the third term which transforms and the [[dual relationfather]] between is always the rival, irrespective of whether the [[mothersubject]] and is [[childmale]] into a or [[triadfemale]]ic . Consequently, in [[structureLacan]]. The fact that the passage to 's account the [[symbolicmale]] passes via a complex sexual [[dialecticsubject]] means that experiences the [[subjectOedipus complex]] cannot have access in a radically asymmetrical way to the [[symbolic orderfemale]] without confronting the problem of [[sexual differencesubject]]. -->

===Three Times===In ''[[Seminar|The Seminar, Book V]]'', [[Lacan]] analyses analyzes 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 characterized 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).

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]]<!-- 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 <!-- 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 first time [[child]]'s own sexual [[drive]]s begin to manifest themselves (for example in infantile masturba­tion). This emergence of the [[Oedipus complexreal]] of the [[drive]] introduces a discordant note of [[anxiety]], then, into the previously seductive [[imaginary]] [[triangle]].<ref>{{S4}} p. 225-6</ref> The [[child]] realises is now confronted with the realization that both 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 [[mother|maternal]] [[desire]] that cannot be placated gives rise to [[anxiety]]. Only the intervention of the [[father]] in the subsequent times of the [[Oedipus complex]] are marked by can provide a real solution to this [[lackanxiety]]. -->

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]]).-->