Through The Eyes of a Child: The Oedipal and Electral Struggle

The greatest contribution to the field of psychoanalysis comes from the pioneering works of Sigmund Freud and his indelible mark on the understanding of the unconscious mind. 

Among his many contributions, the Oedipus and Electra complexes introduced the most controversial concepts and arguments to the field.

Explored in ‘Through The Eyes of a Child: The Oedipal and Electral Struggle,’ these arguments hold that the child unconsciously harbours sexual wishes regarding the parent of the opposite sex and competes with the parent of the same sex, which contributes to the child’s early psychosexual development.

Thesis Statement

This article argues that while Freud’s Oedipus and Electra complexes provide valuable insights into early childhood development and the unconscious mind, they are limited by cultural biases, methodological shortcomings, and evolving understandings of gender and psychology. 

In this paper, I explore these intricate concepts by examining their theoretical foundations, real-life case studies like that of Little Hans—a five-year-old boy whose fear of horses unveiled deeper Oedipal anxieties—and the criticisms that have emerged over time, with the introduction of the Electra complex as a counterpart phenomenon in girls. 

How do these theories hold up in today’s context, especially as our understanding of gender and psychology evolves?

Freud and Psychoanalysis

Born in 1856 in what is now the Czech Republic, Freud’s groundbreaking work in the late 19th and early 20th centuries laid the foundation for modern psychology. He brought about a new radical perspective that proposed excavating the unconscious mind, where our thoughts and behaviours are steered from often previously unrecorded, hidden desires, fears, and memories.

Freud’s journey into the depths of the mind began with his studies in neurology. Still, it was his fascination with the unseen forces driving human behaviour that led him to develop psychoanalysis. This therapeutic approach sought to uncover the repressed emotions and thoughts that influence our actions, often without conscious awareness. Through techniques such as free association, dream analysis, and the examination of slips of the tongue, Freud aimed to bring these hidden elements to light.

This was combined with his notion of a tripartite model of the psyche: the id, ego, and superego. At the heart of Freud’s theory, exists the unconscious mind, within which experience and instinct combine to shape our personality and behaviour. He proposed a tripartite model of the psyche consisting of the id, ego, and superego; each contributes to mediating between our basic primal desires and societal expectations. The id shows our most basic urges, while the ego navigates reality; the superego is the seat of moral standards and ideals.

Of the many contributions he made to the world of psychology, the most controversial and influential ideas of Freud are his notion of psycho-sexual development, the Oedipus complex, and the Electra complex. 

The Oedipus Complex, named after the tragic Greek hero who unknowingly killed his father and married his mother, posits that young boys experience subconscious sexual desire for their mother and rivalry with their father. The Electra complex is perceived as the feminine mirror of the Oedipus complex. This showcases an unconscious sexual attachment towards the father and hostility directed towards the mother.

The Oedipus complex has been vividly drawn owing to the case of Little Hans, a five-year-old boy, in whom an irrational fear of horses unfolded deeper unconscious anxieties and desires. Freud maintained that a case such as this not only aids the adult’s understanding of a child’s unconscious mind but also shows how early experiences could become major determinants of future behaviour.

Case of Little Hans

In the phobia of horses that characterised the five-year-old boy Little Hans, Sigmund Freud demonstrated one of his significant proposals in evolving psychoanalytic theories.

Though it shared the goals of every case study – to treat the patient’s phobia, the ultimate purpose of psychoanalysis, as handed down by Freud, was greater than just the implementation of a line of therapy to cure symptoms. This purpose was embodied by investigating how and under what circumstances the fear began and how and under what it was that fear conveniently disappeared. 

By 1909, Freud’s ideas on the Oedipus complex were mostly established, and he considered the case from the standpoint of his theories. Curiously, Freud was not treating Little Hans but was in correspondence with a person who knew his theories, the father, who eventually consulted him as interest began to be garnered about his son’s condition. 

Early Observations and Symptoms

The first reports on Hans date back to when he was only three years old.

At that time, Hans became actively curious about his ‘widdler’ (penis) and those of other people. This interest was expressed by questions such as, “Mummy, have you got a widdler too?” Hans’ fantasies and dreams during that period in his life were often fully charged with these anatomical preoccupations. At about three years and six months, Hans remembers his mother scolding him not to play with his widdler and that a doctor would cut it off (castrate him) if he did. This had a lot to do with his developing anxieties of castration. 

By the time Hans neared the age of five, his father reported to Freud that he was quite alarmed by the growing phobia that his son had toward horses, fearing that one of the horses would bite him, connected to that being a fear of a big penis. The detailed reports of the father about the boy were significant, and they soon became indispensable for both Freud and the father himself in understanding the experience of the boy and working towards getting rid of the phobia. 

Freud’s Interpretation and Analysis

Freud’s analysis, published under the title “Analysis of a Phobia in a Five-year-old Boy,” saw Hans’ phobia as a result of the Oedipus complex. 

Freud proposed that horses, particularly those with black harnesses, symbolised Hans’ father. The large penises of horses made them suitable paternal symbols, amplifying the boy’s anxieties. According to Freud, Hans’ phobia originally was an Oedipal conflict that aggravated when Hans was no longer permitted to sleep in his parents’ bed.

In Freud’s viewpoint, Hans resolved the Oedipus complex by fantasising about having a large penis such as his father’s and finding himself married to his mother while the father was resigned to the role of an amiable grandfather. This fantasy, Freud argued, soothed Hans’ castration anxiety—the fear that his father, a rival for his mother’s affection, would punish him by castration. Hans recovered with the help of his father’s assurances, guided by Freud’s suggestions that he did not want to castrate his genitals. 

Long-Term Outcome and Reflections

At 19, no longer so small, Hans sought Freud’s consulting room. He had gone through his adolescence without any problems associated with the mind. He had also been living a healthy life. Curiously, there was no hint of the child at the tender age of five. He also did not recollect his conversations with his father, describing them as foreign and unfamiliar.

Criticism and Implications

The ‘Little Hans’ case study has provided interesting evidence to support Freud’s theory of the Oedipus complex. Still, it is not a perfect case.

The most important source of information was from Hans’ father, who was already aware of the Oedipus complex and because of it might have unconscious biases about his son’s responses and fantasies. This possible bias carves out an entire avenue of questioning surrounding data validity and what percentage of Hans’ experience was due to suggestion as opposed to a real psychoneurological struggle. 

Though this case gives a good example of the Oedipus complex, it is not as universal as Freud claimed. The case, therefore, remains just one story, in which the lines of early childhood development are blurred, as is the use-value of Freudian theory in psychoanalytic discourse. It displays the complicated interaction of family dynamics, childhood fears, and an ever-growing understanding of the human psyche.

The Electra Complex: A Look Through The Feminine Mirror

Established as the female child’s equivalent to an Oedipal complex, the Electra Complex explores the dynamics of early psychosexual stages of development.

In girls, this may be seen to occur between the ages of 3-6 where there is unconscious sexual attachment to the father and hostility/dislike towards the mother. Though often attributed to Sigmund Freud, this is the idea of his protégé, Carl Jung, who elaborated more on the intricacies of female psychosexual development (Jung & Kerenyi, 1963).

Unraveling the Electra Complex

According to Freud, the basis of the Electra complex in the girl is “penis envy,” i.e. recognition of one’s anatomy – the fact that there are no external male genitals. This is followed by a perception of deprivation and a firm belief that she has already been castrated, which she unconsciously attributes to the fault of her mother. Hence, all the anger, blame, and accusations are directed at the mother as responsible for the lack.

Suffering this, the girl develops wishes for her father as a substitute for what she perceives as lacking in her. The wish here is not only for physical characteristics but also for the father’s attention and love, which would, to her mind, replace her loss. This bonding with the father becomes the central aspect of her developing psyche.

Resolution and Psychological Development

Healthy psychological development calls for the girl to eventually give up her attachment to the father and develop an identification with the mother.

The key to her development of superego and female gender identity is this identification process. Girls, however, have to battle an ambiguous motivation to deal with their oedipal conflict, unlike boys, whose fear of castration enables resolution of the conflict and identification with their father. Without a clear threat or significant incentive, reversion to the mother is highly considered incomplete for a girl. 

Freud hypothesised that this weaker identification or looser bond with the mother accounts for the weaker superego or conscience in the female compared with the male. Female internalisation of the mother’s values and norms is believed to be less complete, with less well-developed moral consciousness and a lesser degree of identity as a separate, independent personality. This viewpoint has led to tremendous debate and controversy, for it implies a gender-based rift in moral and psychological development.

This distinction has important implications for understanding gender differences in psychological development. Freud’s claim that a woman has a less developed superego has generally been criticised as a notion founded more on a reflection of the patriarchy dominant in his times than on objective observation. Critics argue that Freudian theory is affirming gender stereotyping because it suggests that regardless of other qualities or achievements, women are inherently less moral or independent than men.

Cultural and Historical Context

Oedipus and Electra were constructed and proffered in a time of great change in the social and cultural practices of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and were offered as conscious theories. Freud’s argument was under the influence of the strict Victorian ideas of gender expectations as well as the behaviours of sexuality. In that manipulating venture, men had the freedom of power, whereas women’s supremacy was a forgotten ground; they were supposed to be intellectually and morally weaker than men.

The idea of “penis envy” encapsulates the cultural and historical climate of Freud’s time. In a world dominated by men, such envy could likely exist among women—envy that might covet the male gender for the social power associated with masculinity. This explanation, however, has been considered, for its reductionism, mostly flawed in capturing the complete female experience.

It also means that Freudian theories have had a variety of receptions and adaptations across cultures. For example, the Electra complex and penis envy have not been stressed this much in cultures which do not place many values on patriarchy. On the other hand, in those cultures with strong patriarchal traditions, these ideas sometimes were used as justification for traditional gender roles and the subordination of women.

The debates linked to the Oedipus and Electra complexes comment on the validity and universality of these theories – how relevant are these theories today, especially considering the cultural context in which they were developed? The subsequent section is dedicated to critically evaluating Freud’s ideas by discussing certain criticisms and implications with counterarguments on a broader level relative to psychological concerns.

Critique and Implications

There is scanty evidence for Freud’s assertion on sex differences in morality (due to a female’s weaker superego). For instance, girls, measured by children’s ability to resist temptation, are stronger than boys. (Hoffman, 1975).

According to Horney (1924) and Thompson (1943), instead of desire for a penis, girls envy that the boys have superior social status than them. Freud assumed the Oedipus complex to be a universal phenomenon, however, Malinowski’s study of the Trobriand Islanders (1929) established that where the father is the mother’s lover but not the son’s disciplinarian, i.e., an avuncular society, the father-son relationship was unstrained. It would seem that Freud made more of the role of sexual jealousy than was perhaps true. This is but one study – and more Western and avuncular societies need to be examined.

Moreover, according to the perspectives of other psychodynamic theorists, such as Erikson (1950), the view was considered to have fallen short of exaggerating the power of instincts, especially the sexual one, in his conceptualisation of personality development. Erikson attempted correction and described his psychosocial stages of development so that the social, cultural, and historical factors reflected in those stages were accounted for, with biological factors.

Another major weakness of Freud’s Oedipal theory is that it was based almost in toto on the case of Little Hans (1909). Freud’s Oedipal theory had already been proposed in 1905, and Little Hans was simply presented as a ‘little Oedipus’.

Other critics, besides those who doubt the reliability and objectivity the case study method can have for psychodynamic theory, have also proposed alternative accounts of Hans’s ‘Horse Phobia’. These include Bowlby’s (1973) re-interpretation in terms of attachment theory. Bowlby and Erikson (1963) view early relationships as prototypes of our later relations. Belief in the early experience’s influence is, for better or worse, Freud’s lasting legacy to development theory.

The Legacy and Modern Relevance

Beyond the confinements of clinical psychology, Freud’s theories infiltrated popular culture and intellectual thought: terms such as “Freudian slip,” “Oedipus complex,” or “penis envy” became part of the everyday dialogue.

His work concerning human sexuality, dreams, and the unconscious would become a premier influence on literature, art, and film, finding many interpretations and adaptations over the years—such as Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway (1925), André Breton’s Manifesto of Surrealism Painting (1924), and David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986) and Mulholland Drive (2001).

Conclusion

In short, though much debate arose from the theories of Freud, in particular from the Oedipus and Electra complexes, they continue to live through to the present day. His work has opened doors for the attempt to understand the human mind and has always inspired more work and innovation in varied areas.

The value of Freud’s ideas today lies less in their acceptance literally than in their ability to stimulate thought, challenge assumptions, and provide insights into the complexities of human experience. While psychology and related sciences continue to evolve, Freud’s contributions relate well to this ever-developing quest for a better understanding of the psyche.

References

Bjorklund, B. R., & Bee, H. L. (2000). The journey of adulthood (4th ed.). Florida: Pearson.

Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and loss: Separation: Anxiety and anger (Vol. 2) . New York: Basic Books.

Erikson, E. H. (1950). Childhood and society. New York: Norton.

Erikson, E. H. (Ed.). (1963). Youth: Change and challenge. New York: Basic books.

Freud, S. (1905). Three essays on the theory of sexuality. Se, 7.

Freud, S. (1909). Analysis of a phobia of a five-year-old boy. In The Pelican Freud Library (1977), Vol 8, Case Histories 1, pages 169-306

Hoffman, M. L. (1975). Sex differences in moral internalization and values. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32(4), 720.

Horney, K., & Horney. (1924). On the genesis of the castration complex in women (pp. 37-54) .

Jung, C., & Kerenyi, C. (1963). Science of mythology. In R. F. C. Hull (Ed. & Trans.), Essays on the myth of the divine child and the mysteries of Eleusis. New York: Harper & Row.

Malinowski, B. (1929). An ethnographic account of courtship, marriage, and family life among the natives of the Trobriand Islands, British New Guinea. New York: Eugenics Pub. Co. The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia.

Thompson, C. (1943). “Penis envy” in women. Psychiatry, 6(2), 123-125.

Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway (1925)

André Breton’s Manifesto of Surrealism Painting (1924)

David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986) 

David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive (2001).

Mehek Punjabi, 02/08/2024