Almost everyone has heard the story of Oedipus and knows the tragedy of his life; but do they know what made the story so impactful that it still is performed on stages today? Oedipus’s life brings to question the debate between fate, free will, and how they mix. This message of misfortune resonates across centuries…
The positive libidinal feelings of a child to the parent of the opposite sex and hostile or jealous feelings toward the parent of the same sex that may be a source of adult personality disorder when unresolved. It is a pattern of profound emotional ambivalence, a troublesome mixture of love and hate. The Oedipus Complex…
We don’t know whether there was a historical Oedipus. “Oedipus” means “swollen feet”. The Greeks pronounced it “oy-DEEP-us”. Oed- is the same root as “oedema / edema” (tissue swelling; the British preserve the initial “o”), while “-pus” is feet (hence “octopus”, the eight-footed animal.) Laius and Jocasta were king and queen of Thebes, a town…
