HUMA 1100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Psychosexual Development, Oedipus Complex, Laius
Document Summary
The ancient theban myth of the son who unknowingly kills his father and marries his mother. The riddle and the slaying of the sphinx. Psychoanalytic theory: interpretation based on the work of austrian doctor sigmund. Fate (moira) as a personification of character-structure. Exposure of a child to avoid the prophecy"s fulfillment. Because the narrative can be a little confusing, it may be worthwhile to tell the story in chronological order, just to get it all straight. Stage one: laius and jocasta, the king and queen of thebes, are told by the oracle at delphi that their child will kill his father and marry his mother. Stage two: they decide to kill the child by exposing it, that is, by leaving it outside to die. The exposure of children was actually practice in the ancient world, so this element of the story is not fantastic in terms of the history and culture of the time.
