Freud’s Oedipal complex, inspired by Sophocles’ tragedy Oedipus Rex, attempts to account for infantile anxieties by claiming that children, especially boys, have an inner sexual desire toward their opposite sex parent and secretly want to murder their parent of the same sex. Freud proclaims that, like Oedipus who could not escape his destiny, “the oracle laid the same curse upon us before our birth as upon him.” (NTC 816) Oedipus’s actions, according to Freud, merely fulfill our childhood wishes. He claims that even today many men have a desire to be with their mothers and kill their fathers. These unconscious feelings are suppressed by the father figure and society in general, yet those primitive feelings are sometimes divulged in dreams and literature.
In this sense, to what extent does Frankenstein ratify the Oedipal complex? Since Victor is both the mother and the father of the monster, can the Oedipal complex here be deemed completely useless, or merely more complicated? Also, do you think that the monster paradoxically has an unconscious sexual desire for Victor, as well as a ruthless desire to kill him, which he eventually does? And how does that all play in the final scene when Victor dies?
The fear of castration is what stifles the Oedipal complex from ever occurring in real life. Freud claims that when the young male realizes the inherent biological sexual differences between male and female, assumes that the female figure is lacking in some way, arriving at the conclusion that she has been punished and castrated. Thus the young male becomes anxious that his organ will be cut off by his nemesis, the father figure, in reprimand for desiring the mother. However, I believe that this castration anxiety in actuality is only rendered metaphorically. The fear of castration is the fear of being beaten down by the father figure, as well as being stripped of masculinity and reduced to impotence.
Thus, how is the castration complex in Frankenstein taken to the extreme, by both Victor and the Monster? Does Victor metaphorically castrate the Creature by destroying his bride and depriving him of female companionship? Is this role reversed when the Creature retaliates and murders Elizabeth on her and Victor’s wedding night, even before they had a chance to consummate the marriage?
A weekly conversation between 12 graduate students using Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" and its model of monstrous hybridity to explore the equally monstrous, equally hybrid field of literary theory. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
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ReplyDeleteHi dear mates :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful web i just discovered this morning !! I'm so fond of literary theory and this fairy land is just what i was looking for. Thank you so much for this nice article on Oedipus complex, it helped me understand many points about Freud's theory. Though i'm working on the uncanny and its application to Charlotte Bronte's Jane eyre, i could draw some annalogies between the novel and this complex. Its application seems more obvious in the case of Frankenstein. Bravo for these nice efforts .
Warm regards,
Sassy
The back ground is very distracting. I could barely read it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I actually was able to read through the whole thing it was a good article.
Thank you. :)
Also, Frankenstein's dream may also have an Oedipus tendency. Do you think? He kisses Elizabeth, who then turns into his mother. Along with other meanings, may this also be a part of Freud's complex?
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