Mother Is Incidental

Dr. Sigmund Freud studied the Oedipus myth and came to a shocking conclusion: Oedipus, like most sons, was in love with his mother, and, as many a son would like to do, killed his father to get her. The Oedipus complex, said Freud, is an all-too-common ailment of mankind--"the essential part in the content of neuroses."

This week, a modern psychoanalyst brought forth another theory: Oedipus may have been unconsciously looking for power, rather than sex. Manhattan's Erich Fromm argued the point in a new anthology (The Family: Its Function and Destiny, edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen; Harper; $6). According to Fromm, there is no real evidence in the ancient myth that Oedipus was in love with his mother. He murdered his father, King Laius of Thebes, and was later made king; then he married his mother (without knowing their relationship) merely because she went along with the throne.

That, says Fromm, is the real Oedipus complex--the rebellion of every son against patriarchal authority. It is rooted in "man's legitimate striving for freedom and independence." That striving, when thwarted, results in a "destructive passion" which must be suppressed. The suppression, in turn, often leads to neuroses in later life. Freud believed that the mother-son Oedipus complex was inevitable. Fromm thinks that there is a way to avoid the father-son Oedipus complex: let parents be less domineering, and let them have more respect for a child's rights.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.