Freud, Incest, Murder, and Oedipus Rex (the King)
A Freudian analysis of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex (the King) would show that Oedipus truly contained an incestuous nature. This was revealed not only by Oedipus' marriage to his own mother, by whom he had children, but also by his irrational preference for his daughters, Antigone and Ismene. While the attention he showered to his daughters was profound and sexually tinged, he dismissed his sons as creatures able to take care of themselves. Although he was unconsciously attracted to his daughters, he also feared that his daughters will become social outcasts and will be unable to marry.
When Freud in his Interpretation of Dreams made his now famous observations about Oedipus the King, he naturally focused on the main issue: that Oedipus killed his father and married his mother.(1) A further Freudian analysis of the play reveals another issue that came to dominate psychoanalysis: the preference of Oedipus for his daughters. Oedipus's preference for Antigone and Ismene appears only at the very end of the play, but it completes the picture of incest and murder in the family.
Although mentioned at intervals in the play, the children of Oedipus do not appear until the last few pages. After he discovers his real parents and blinds himself, Oedipus turns his attention to his children, who are innocent victims of events beyond their control. But his reaction is incredibly biased in favor of the daughters:
Oedipus. Now, for my sons, Be not concerned for them: they can, being men, Fend for themselves, wherever they may be: But my unhappy daughters, my two girls, whose chairs were always set beside my own At table - they who shared in every dish T...
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.... D. F. Kitto (Oxford; Oxford UP, 1962) 95.
3 Sophocles, Three Tragedies, 96.
Works Consulted
Abrams, M. H. A Glossary of Literary Terms, 7th ed. New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1999.
Ehrenberg, Victor. “Sophoclean Rulers: Oedipus.” In Twentieth Century Interpretations of Oedipus Rex, edited by Michael J. O’Brien. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968.
Fagles, Robert. "Introduction to Oedipus the King." In Sophocles' The Three Theban Plays: Antigone, Oedipus the King,
Oedipus at Colonus. Trans. Robert Fagles. NY: Penguin, 1984. 131-53.
Sophocles. The Three Theban Plays: Antigone, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus. Trans. Robert Fagles. NY:
Penguin, 1984. 157-25
Van Nortwick, Thomas. Oedipus: The Meaning of a Masculine Life. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998.
When one throws a baseball properly they are using there entire body to generate a large force to propel the baseball. A general throwing position starts with a person rotated 90 degrees from there target with there throwing arm 180 degrees from the target and parallel to the ground. The person then starts rotating their body back towards their target while there throwing arm starts bending until it is almost 90 degrees to their elbow, while the arm is bending at the elbow the throwing arm is rotating such that the arm rotates back almost 180 degrees from the target. Meanwhile the person is leaping forward with the leg that was initially pointed at the target while there other leg is planted into the ground. The person is bending at their waist and the other arm is rotating into their body. Around the point where the driving leg strikes the ground the throwing arm is rotating foreword at a tremendous angular speed and the person lets go of the ball. At the point where the ball is let go the persons body pulls the planted leg forward and the throwing arm finishes its motion towards the driving leg.
(http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/airplane/ballforce.html Horney, A., Lowry, T., Schwenker, E., & wray, E. (2008). A New spin on baseball. Electronic Proceedings of Undergraduate Mathematics, 3(4)).
Hitting a baseball is a task that is learned through trial and error, which makes changing a batter’s swing extremely difficult. Once that batter finds their comfort zone and makes contact they will do the same thing until it fails them once again. Perfecting the mechanics of that swing won’t create an exceptional hitter, but it will create a swing that consistently incr...
Sophocles: A collection of critical essays edited by Thomas Woodward: Oedipus at Colonus. Whitman, Cedric H. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. 1966.
Benardete, Seth. "Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus." In Sophocles: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Thomas Woodard. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.
Ehrenberg, Victor. “Sophoclean Rulers: Oedipus.” In Twentieth Century Interpretations of Oedipus Rex, edited by Michael J.
PTs have many different treatments that they use on their patients. Massaging and whirlpool baths to loosen and relax muscles are just two of the many treatments PTs perform daily. They also use ice or cold water baths to reduce swelling and heat to relieve pain. One form of strength training that is common for PTs to use is water therapy in exercise pools if the patient cannot walk yet. After a patient’s surgery, their PT will massage the scar tissue to keep it from hardening and making the scar bigger. A PT will work with athletes after an injury so they can regain coordination, strength, endurance, range of motion, and flexibility.
At the outset of Oedipus Rex no female characters are present; the reader sees a king who comes to the door full of curiosity: “Explain your mood and purport. Is it dread /Of ill that moves you or a boon ye crave?” When the priest has responded that the people are despairing from the effects of the plague, the king shows sympathy for his subjects: “Ye sicken all, well wot I, yet my pain, /How great soever yours, outtops it all.” Thomas Van Nortwick in Oedipus: The Meaning of a Masculine Life : “We see already the supreme self-confidence and ease of command in Oedipus. . . . exudes a godlike mastery in the eyes of his subjects. . . .”(21-22); such “godlike mastery” will be his undoing. The critic Ehrenberg warns that it “may lead to ‘hubris’” (74-75). Throughout the drama Sophocles draws out an ongoing contrast between the “godlike mastery” of the king and the softer, more balanced and selfless characteristics of Jocasta, his wife. She is a foil to Oedipus. Shortly thereafter Creon, Jocasta’s brother, is returning from the Delphic oracle with the fateful words of the god’s command: “...
Sophocles. "Oedipus Rex." An Introduction to Literature, 11th ed.Eds. Sylvan Barnet, et al. New York: Longman, 1997. 800-836.
Sophocles. Oedipus the King. Trans. Robert Bagg. The Norton Anthology of Western Literature. Ed Peter Simon. 9th ed. New York: Norton, 2014. 666-706
Oedipus is a story about a few basic human emotions. Among them are rage, passion, humility, and guilt. The Ancient Greeks understood these emotions well; their society was based upon the logical emotions, but always threatened by the violent ones. Oedipus was at first told that he was destined to kill his father and marry his mother. Fearful of himself, he fled showing a lack of humility away from his home, thinking that his problems would be solved. Later on, he gets into a tumultuous fight with a passerby on the road to Thebes. Enraged, he kills the man and his servants; this turned out to be a big mistake. After saving the city of Thebes from the Sphinx, he marries and then passionately sleeps with the queen. Towards the end of the play, he realizes that he has indeed killed his father and married his mother, thus echoing the lack of humility that first drove him away from his adopted parents.
Oedipus Rex (the King), written by Sophocles, is the tragic play depicting the disastrous existence to which Oedipus, an Athenian, is 'fated' to endure. With a little help from the gods and the 'fated' actions and decisions of Oedipus, an almost unthinkable misfortune unfolds. Athenian perfection can consist of intelligence, self-confidence, and a strong will. Oedipus, the embodiment of such perfection, and his tragedy are common place to Athenians. Ironically, the very same exact characteristics that bring about the ominous discovery of Oedipus' fate: to kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus' 'fated' decisions entangle everyone whom is of any significance to him within a quagmire of spiraling tragedy. Sophocles uses the riddle of the Sphinx as a metaphor for the three phases of Oedipus' entangled life, the three phases of human life, and to describe how every life-changing action or decision can influence other lives.
Sophocles. “Oedipus the King.” The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 6th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002.
Nelson Mandela was born 1918 into a Royal family in a South African village, after the death of his father he was groomed into the role within the tribal leadership. He was the first in his family to receive formal education, he excelled in boxing, track and as well as academics. He attended the elite University of fort Hare, the only western style higher learning institute in South Africa at the time.
Ehrenberg, Victor. "Fate and Sophoclean Rulers." In Twentieth Century Interpretations of Oedipus Rex, edited by Michael J. O'Brien. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968.