represses his sexual feelings for his mother, gives up his rivalry with his father, and begins to identify with him (Rathus 284). In the case of young girls , Freud believed they desire their father and unconsciously want to replace their mother. Unlike the young boy who develops castration anxiety, however, the young girl discovers that she lacks a penis which causes her to develop penis envy. The Electra conflict is resolved when the girl suppresses her desire for her father, gives up her rivalry with her mother, and identifies with her (Rathus 285). Freud based his name for these complexes on characters in Greek mythology. King Oedipus was destined, by the oracle of Delphi, to “kill his father, marry his mother, and have children men would shudder to look upon” (Hamilton 381). And Electra, daughter of Agamemnon, was said to have induced her brother to kill their mother.Many people consider the psychosexual stages of development the weakest part of the Freudian Theory. Nevertheless, these concepts appear in ancient myths and classic fairy tales, as well as the most contemporary art, film, and literature. There seems to be a connection between Freud’s theories and the artistic imagination. For example, Freud suggested that Shakespeare’s Hamlet appeals to audiences because it reflects our own latent Oedipal conflict (or Electra complex for women). Hamlet supposedly delays avenging his father’s death because he must kill a man who did exactly he himself unconsciously wanted to do- kill his father and marry his mother. Another example is the Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho. The psychiatrist at the end of the movie explained the murder scene in the shower as a result of “having an Oedipal problem with his mother”.As for the Electra Complex, have you noticed how often the main female character in fairy tales is a young princess living alone with a doting father ( and sometimes even a wicke...
