Mária Tornyossy: Oedipus in the mirror of psychological theories of the 21st century

The present paper examines the Oedipus-complex, based on the studies, which are available in Hungarian language including Lívia Nemes´s last writing on the subject, takes the Greek myth itself as a starting point, and the interpretations offered by the psychoanalysis. I will present the theoretical clashes between the psychoanalytic interpretations of the myth and the results of the evolutionary psychology, which refutes the existence of the incestual urges in normal development, and confirms the existence of the incest-taboo which has phylogenetic origins. Then I will draw some conclusions regarding psycho development, by which I will reframe the origin of the abovementioned complex. According to my arguments, the myth itself does not show the existence of genuine incestual urges, on the contrary, it shows rather the incest repulsion. With the larger contextual analysis of the Oedipus myth I will present the Jungian myth explanation. At the end of my paper I will present an important aspect of the masculine psyche, through the analysis of an element of the myth, the encounter between Oedipus and the Sphinx.

Key-words: Oedipus – Sphinx-myth – evolutionary psychology – Jungian interpretation

Vissza az előzőre