Freud Analysis

Oedipus Rex – Prophecy reveals he will kill father and sleep with mother, leaves, killed the sphinx, murdered a man (his father), becomes king of foreign land, married, slept with, and had kids with mother, discovered through the prophecy teller who told his parents the same which caused them to have their child murdered, the man who was to murder the child couldn’t and delivered the baby to another kingdom to be raised, baby is Oedipus Rex, also revealed Oedipus murdered the previous king REVIEW

Psychosexual Development, ID, Ego, Superego, Dreams, Defense, Unconscious self, Neurosis, Trauma FREUDIAN REVIEW

Occurs at early ages in a child’s life, affects adult personality 5 main stages – Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, and Genital Oral and Phallic can be seen in Oedipus Rex PSYCHOSEXUAL DEVELOPMENT

At this stage a baby will find that the mouth can be a site for pleasure and will enjoy putting things in its mouth, having to little or to much in its mouth can cause adverse effects on its personality as an adult During the oral stage of development, Oedipus was denied the pleasure of putting things in his mouth which led him to being suspicious/envious in his adult life THE ORAL STAGE

Oedipus also suffers from the Oedipus complex which more then likely stems from the fact his father separated him from his mother at an early age, because of this he was stuck lusting for his mother and never went through castration anxiety which would override his desire for his mother, later on the boy would begin to want to be like the father since he cannot possess his mother, this is the resolution of the Phallic stage Fixation at the Phallic stage will cause the adult form of the person to be self- assured, vain, and reckless THE PHALLIC STAGE

ID is the basic drive, it’s selfish and will always try to get what it wants The Ego realizes reality and consequences of actions, it’s job is to satisfy the ID without being self-centered The Superego is the morals of a person, it is the conscience of the person ID, EGO, SUPEREGO REVIEW

ID – Want for power Ego- Justify how he got the power, realizes people need an answer Superego- Finds the truth, consequences result in self ID, EGO, AND SUPEREGO OF REX

If the ego cannot satisfy the ID and the Superego it will deploy defense mechanisms to dilute one or the other Denial*, Displacement (hitting an object, Intellectualization*, Projection (someone else did it)*, Rationalization*, Reaction Formation, Regression, Repression*, Sublimation (i.e. boxer), Suppression* EGO DEFENSE MECHANISMS

Rex doesn’t accept his fate Can’t accept he murdered the king Can’t accept sleeping with mother DENIAL Oh wait, it’s mother.

Puts the murder on bandits, one man could never do such a thing PROJECTION

Avoiding the truth when it’s right in front of him, he focuses solely on the investigation until there is simply no other conclusion INTELLECTUALIZATION

Oedipus comes up with rational explanations to avoid the truth (such as with the bandits killing the king) RATIONALIZATION

As proof is shown it is repressed into his unconscious, when it is completely revealed it is far to much for him to handle. REPRESSION

Forcing yourself to refuse what happens Oedipus either does this or Repression, or a combination of the two, when neither can be used anymore because of undeniable proof, it is a primal out lash that occurs and he blinds himself. SUPPRESSION

Oedipus Rex suffers from multiple afflictions of the mind, which later on cause his psychological collapse, leading to the fall of the man and the mind. OEDIPUS

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