Oedipus at the Therapist

Oedipus Rex has to have one of the greatest traumatic experiences discovered by a chaaracter ever, in a work of literature. Here is a happy king, proud and successful, and in less than two hours, he has discovered he had killed his mather, married and had children with his mother, and then saw her kill herself, as one of final viual capabilities, before he poked out his eyes. He obviously needs some help, or at least somebody to talk to. He might even need professional help. But what exactly would he say? We_ll bring him to the first famous psychoanalysts and see the conversation.

"Come in, Mr. Oedipus." He entered, aided by his walking stick.

"I shouldn't be here. I don't need help." Dr. Freud often heard this. Few people believed they had a serious problem, or, if they did, preferred not to divulge it.

"Then let's just talk. How are you feeling?"

"A little depressed."

"If you look backwards, can you pinpoint the beginning of your depression?" At the word "look," Oedipus showed signs of anger. "I'm sorry," Freud responded, "that was a slip, but you do exhibit hostility regarding your blindness. Shall we talk about that?"

"No."

"Your childhood?"

"No."

Freud refused to become frustrated. "Are you married?"

"Widower."

"Kids?"

"Daughters."

"Are they married?"

"No, but one is engaged to Haman."

"The prince?"

"She already is royalty."

"Are you royalty also?"

"Several times over."

"What do you mean?" At that, Oedipus took his right hand and pinched the bridge of his nose, concealing his useless eye sockets. Knowing body language, Freud picked up his pen. He sensed the truth was about to be spoken.

"My mother and father were really...." Oedipus shook his head sadly.

"No one can be overly happy, assuming they were once royalty."

"It's very painful."

"If it hurts to talk, we could try other methods." The doctor took out his pocket watch. "This is called hypno...." He stopped when he realized the obvious problem. "Never mind. We'll try something else--Rorschach tests."

"Brilliant, Sigmund," the doctor mumbled, acknowledging the necessity for a nonvisual approach. "I'll try hypnotizing you, but you'll have to concentrate." Oedipus nodded.

The analyst's voice deepened. "You are in a desert, exhausted and overheated. Hopelessness overwhelms you." Oedipus's eyelids cringed, which the doctor duly noted. "You fall, prepared to surrender to your fate." Oedipus shrunk in his seat.

"You feel a gentle touch. You look up to see a beautiful woman." Oedipus showed no reaction. Freud was amazed. Usually the patients' heads lifted at this point. Possible homosexual tendencies? "Focusing, you realize it is actually an attractive man," Freud said hopefully. Still no reaction. Astounding, thought Freud. A man with no sexual preference!

Freud nevertheless needed to enter the subconscious. Trying a longshot, Freud continued, "You hear your mother's voice." Oedipus' head shot up. "Family love?" Freud wrote.

"She shows me a giant castle," began Oedipus in a slow voice. "Castle = lost wealth and dreams," wrote Freud.

"Go inside. You are an infant. Describe the scene."

"My mother is nursing me. Her warm breasts tickle my mouth like it is a game. I lick them before beginning to nurse."

This was confusing. Here was a man not attracted to women, describing his own mother as a toy. "Why is love only towards mother?" Freud noted.

"Are you attracted to her?" Freud asked.

"Yes, but she doesn't care. It is a chore to her. She does not love me as I love her."

"And then?"

"I'm twenty. I'm lost in the desert. A lion flies toward me. I will die unless I answer his question. 'What has four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon and three at night?'" This was the key the doctor needed. He interrupted Oedipus and brought him out from the trance. Freud asked him to explain the riddle.

Oedipus grimaced. "You did some good reaching. The answer is people. But Doc, it was a long time ago. I don't want to talk about it."

"Why?"

"I caused others serious pain. Oh, all right. This animal was destroying the city until someone could answer that stupid riddle. I did. The sphinx left, and I became king."

"King?" Freud queried.

"The king gave me land. And his sister." Ah, thought Freud. His wife was forced on him. "She was beautiful." Oedipus continued.

Freud began to notice patterns and checked his notes. Sure enough, the descriptions paralleled those of his mother. "Did she remind you of your mother?"

"How could I have known?" screamed Oedipus. "I hadn't seen her in years." Freud pieced the story together. He felt relief that the look of horror on his face could not be seen by Oedipus.

"You wed your own mother? What happened to your father?"

"I don't know," Oedipus answered quickly, biting his nails. "Okay, there is a rumor I killed him."

"Quite a rumor."

"I did kill a man who attacked me. I don't know if it was him."

"Patricide?" Freud wrote.

A sob escaped from Oedipus's throat. "I didn't want to. I don't think I killed him on purpose. The one fight I'm in where I kill someone and it's my own father." Oedipus grew silent.

"How did you figure all this out?"

"It's a long story. A prophecy was made when I was little.... Imagine, in one hour, I not only discovered my patricide, but also my incestuous marriage."

"What did you do?" Freud was fascinated.

"I poked out my eyes."

"Why?"

"I don't know. I was morbid. I didn't want to see what I had done." Oedipus appeared agitated.

"Calm down. I believe that everything we do, consciously or not, has a reason. Why did you harm yourself?"

"Do you think I knew it was my father?"

"Answer my question."

"You first."

"Okay. Yes, you probably recognized your father, but only on a subconscious level. I also think you overreacted."

"She committed suicide!"

"It may have disgusted you, but you had no reason to hurt yourself. Again, why?"

"I don't know! To prevent me from seeing more women? I DON'T KNOW. LEAVE ME ALONE."

"Fine. Schedule an appointment with my secretary for next week." Oedipus left. Freud let out a deep sigh as he began reviewing his notes. Here was a male abused by, but later attracted to, his mother. Following a subconscious urge to possess her, he committed patricide.

The riddle. That explained it. Oedipus had gone from a boy to a king to a man dependent on a cane. Freud knew what Oedipus did not. He knew the stabbing was sexual. It would be his final sex act, since his only love was dead and he was now disgusted with her.

Ruminating on the incest, the murder and the subsequent overreaction, Freud was perplexed. He wrote Oedipus's name at the top of the notes. Generally, Freud put a one-word adjective after the name to help associate conditions with the patient. Unable to describe this patient in one word, he merely scribbled "complex."

Freud, Sigmund. The Interpretation of Dreams. Cutchogue, NY: Buccaneer Books, 1985.

Sophocles Oedipus the King: Translated by Francis Store. New York: Heritage Press, 1961.