The Oedipus complex

This was written more than a decade Before

Mn Klein was to describe
what she cdled the 'depiessive position'
period oiir,[J"tior,
recognition which entailed a rJalization -of
that
the;;;; il"aa "rra
side the self and of the narure of the intemar "i,r* ""r_
ambivalent feclinpp towards
3 it, in other words, the beginnings of a,.*. ;i;;;;J;#ila
,.aity
and the relationship between tf,em. Since
the delineation of this central
concepr of Kleinian thinking, it has become
increasingry ."td;; that the
The missing link: parental sexuality in capaciry to comprehend and relare to reality
ir..";;il;;ilr,
*ort i.rg
tlro.ysh the depressive position. Klein repeatedly
the Oedipus iomplex or:dipus complex dever,ops hand-in-hani *r,n
emihasi".i tt rt th.
make up
ii. al"J"p-ents rhar
.the depressive position, and I h"r. ,ogg.rted elsewhere that
*..*orllq:through oftne entails the workinfrlrr"rgl^ .iifre other
RONALD BRITTON (Britton 1985).
This initial-recognition of the parentar sexuar
relationship involves relin_
quishing the idea of sole and permanent possession
of mother and leads
For Freud the Oedipus complex was the nuclear complex from is to a profound sense of loss *hi.h, if not iolera,.a,
,rrfl".J*i , r.rr.
discovery in 1897 to the end ofhis life (Freud 7897,7924d). It remeined of pe rsecution. Later, the o-edipal encounter also' involve,
central in the development of the individual for Melanie Klein. She of the difference berween the relationrtip u.n".* p;;; ...Lgri,i""
from the.relationship berween parent and ihitd: disrinct
adopted the term'Oedipal situation' and included in it what Freud had
reGrred to as the primal scene, i.e. the sexud relations of the parents is genitd and procreative; thi-parent-child ..r"ti;;rii;+. ;;;;;;Jtionship
both as perceived and as imagincd (Klein 1928). recognition produces a sense of loss and envy, t riot. rhis
which, if not iolerrte d,
From the outset of herwork with children Melanie Klein was impressed may become a sense of grievance or self_denig.r,i"i.
at the ubiquiry of the Oedipal situation and its uniquc importance; she The oedipus siruadon dawns with the child's rl"g"iio'of
the parenrs,
also thought that it began much earlier than did Freud and that it began relationship in wharever primitive or partiar form.
II ir .."ri"r.i by rhe
in relation to part objects before evolving into the familiar Oedipus com- child's rivalry with onc p"..rrt for the oih".,
and it is resolveJ by the
plex, which related to the two parents perceived as whole objects - that child relinquishing his sexual claim on his parents
by his
is, as persons. So for her it began in infanry with phantxies of a relation the_ realiry of their sexual relationship. "...ptrrr.. or
to breast and penis and phantasies of the relationship between thcsc two In.this chapter I want ro suggest that if the encounter
. wirh the paren-
part objeca, which would be succeeded by ideas about the parents undcr tal relationshiP starts to take p1".. a time
when the individual has not
the influence of these earlier phantasies. She felt that the child's anirude established a securely based rnatemar"tobject,
the oedipus ri;;;;; appears
and relationship to this unfolding situation was of profound significance in analysis.ofy- i" primitive fo.m a.rdis not imm.ii"t.ifr..-.gir"ul.
for the urge to learn, which she called the epistemophilic impulse, and as the classical oedipus complex.
for the individual's relationship to realiry.
In the first part of the .t
a patient who illustrates this situation. "pr.,
ii.r*b.
ln 7926 she wrote, In less severe disorders it is the final relinquishment
of the oedipal
objects that is evaded. An ilrusionar oedipal
at a very early age children become acquainted v.rith realiry through con6guratio., ;r-ro.*.a ,,
a defensive organization in order to
the deprivations it imposes on them. They defend themselves against deny trri psychic"r"Jt;,,il;arenral
emphasize that it is a de*nce ,^s;,rrt p.y.r,iJ
realiry by repudiating it. The fundamcntal thing, however, and the ::lr:"tllt.-I
rnese cretensrve ohantasies. are organized to prevent
..",fi t..rrr.
criterion of all later capaciry for adaptation to redity is the degree in the emergence of
which they are able to tolerate the deprivations that result from the
racts alreadv kno*n and phanti'i;-;.;;i;';;#: ?ill'*i,..","r
relationship has been registeied but is now denied
Oedipal situation. and defendeiagainst
by what I call an oedipar inusion. These illusionar
(Klein 1926) systems pro.ria. *n",
Freud called a

A)
 The Gcnder Conunilrum The Oedipus complex

domain . . . separated from the rcd externd world at the time of the berween them which excludes him. Initialry this
parentar link is con_
introduction of the redity principle . . . free from the demand of the ceived in primitive part-object rerms and in
ihe -od., oit i, o*r, ora,
exigcncies of life, like a kind of reservation. anal and genital desires, and in terms of his
hatred .Tp;;r;;J;;-oral, anar
(Freud l924el and genital terns. If the link between the
parents perceived in rove and
hate can be tolerated.in the- child's mind,
In the same passage, he describes the person who creates such a domain ii proviies hir" ;; a proro-
rype for an object relationship of a third t ina
in his mind as ir, *hi.hi;l;. *i,rr.r,
lending a special importance and secret meaning to a piece of reality which
:"r a -participant. A third- position then comes into exisrence
"1q object
relationshipr .r. b. observed. Given tt ir, *.-
from
can arso
which is different from the rediry which is defended ageinst. envisage 6eing observed. This orovides us
with , .rf".iry io. ,.eirg
(ibid) ourselves in interaction with oth.., and for
entertaining another point
of view whilst retaining our own, for reflecting
In the second part of ttris chaptcr I discuss patiens who exemplify such o, o,r.r"li., *r,irrt u.i.rg
ounelves' This is a capacity we hope to 6nd in o*urserves
Oedipal illusions. rrra i, o*patien*
in analysir Anyone, howcver, who has treated
ln contrast to the fixiry of these Oedipd illusions, the Oedipd rivdry pry.hori. paii.* o, U...,
involved in-a psychotic transference will know "
both in the positive (heterosexual) form and in the negative (homosexud) what I mean when I refer
to times when this seems impossibre, and it ir
form provides a means of working through the depressive position. In tt or" ii-", ,rr", or.
each venion one parent is the object of desire, and the other is the hated
realizes what it means to lack that third "t
position.
rival. This configuration is retained, but the feeling changes in relation
to each parent. Thus good becomes bad and vice versa as positive changcs
to negative. My contention is that the evasive usc of this switch is halted
A patient who exemplifies ditrculties in ttre first
by the full recognition of the parenB' scxud relationship, their different
encounterc with the Oedipat situation
anatomy, and the child's own nature. This involves the realization that
In my early work with this patient, Miss A, I was
the same parent who is the object of Oedipal desire in one version is hardry aware that my
difficulties in understandi"g her had anything to
the hated rival in the other. do #,rr ,t.-oedipus
complex..what gradually became evident was
The acknowledgement by the child of the parents' relationship with that she lacked the .third
position' described above. She courd not conceive
each other unites his prychic world,limitingit to one world shared with ip, Lenve"n
others, and it was intolerable for her to feer that I"rr.urio*t
his two parents in which different object rclationships can exist. The was .o^-1l.,i.rg *itt,
myself about her.
closure of the Oedipal trianglc by thc recognition of the linkjoining the
Miss A came into ffeatment after a psychotic
parents provides a limiting boundary for the internal world. Ir creares breakdown in midrife"
relatively soon afterwards able^to carry on an ostensibly
what I cdl a 'triangular space' - i.e., a space bounded by the three persons ll..*r.r
life in the outside worrd, but she remained f";;;il;;i"
normal
of the Ocdipd situation and all their potential relarionships. It includes,
state of mind in her sessions and in relation
ilry.r,orr.
therefore, the possibility of being a participanr in a relarionship and to me.
I came to learn that she could not alrow the notion
observed by a third person as well as being an observer of a relationship of parentar inter-
course to exist because she could only anticipate
it
"'a*i".. rn"
between two peoplc. as
posibility ofmy commtmicatingwith a third obj..t
To clarify this point it is helpful to remember that obsen ed and her, and so the third position i..f", to was untcnable.
** ,orrr-i.rt"bre for
imagined events takc place in a world conceived of as continuous in space
As a consequence it imposible to disentangre mlnerfsufficiently
and time (Rey 1979) and given srnrcturc by the Oedipd configurarion.
from the to-and-fro ofleqmedthe interaction to know *fr'", *", g"i.rg orr. t,
The capacity to envisage a benign parental relationship influences the
the early years of her analysis I found that any
dcvelopment of a space outside the self capable of being observcd and move of mine towards
that which by another person wourd have
thought about, which provides the basis for a belicf in a secure and sable been caned objectiviry could
not be tolerated. 'we were ro move along a singre "arrJ
world.
single point. There was to be no lateral iror...r.rr,.
rine
-i", ,, ,
Thc primal family triangle provides the child with two linlcs connect- A sense of space
could be achieved only by increasing the distance
ing him separately with each parent and confrons him with the link be'ween us, proc.r.
she found hard to bear unress she-initiated
it. 'what I felt I" ffi;;
85
 The Gender Conunilrum The Oedipus complex

step into sidewap from with the Oedipal father, and the link between the parents is felt to
desperately was a place in my nqld"ttr.at I could
rf r tried to force mpelf into st1c.! a posi- reconstitute her as the non-receptive deadly mother. The child's original
which I could loot aithit gs. link with the good maternal object is felt to be the source of life,
terrns' shervould become and
i""iv ,*."irrg " a.t.tiPtiJn ofhcr in analytic by screaming:vlen it became so, when it is threatened, life is felt to be threatened.
rri-oi#,1"*.,iit., ptpi.Aty, sometimcs
In some personalities, therefore, the 6:ll recognition of parental sexudity
a little more contairr.i'sh. could expres
ii in wor&: she shouted: 'Stop
rtalize that thesc effors of mine to consult isfelt as a danger to life. The emergence in the transference of the full
that fucking tlrirrkirrgt'i.*t
'o asa form ofintemal emotional significance for them of an idea of the primal scene is followed
my analytic self were aer""t.a by her and experienced by panic attacks and fear of imminent death. Greater knowledge of the
parentd intercoune' This
intercourse of mir,e, *ii.t' to'""tponded to
she felt threetened fr.. .*i.tt'^tt' if I to""d
to something in-my mind Oedipal situation is also felt to initiate a mental catastrophe.
Faced with this - as Klein (1946) and Bion (1956) have pointed out
i*. o.r, when thinp were not so primitive' she fclt I was eliminating
."v .-pi,a."ce of hI in mv mi1d"rh3 on! wav'3*1 :|,*ding - the psychotic mutilates his mind in order not to perceive it. In
a
evolu- schizophrenic patients the mentd apparatus is splintered, and thinking
olace to think that ** fr.fpd'f and not disruptive
-"'d was 1o$oydreto myse{'
t*pt'it"tt becomes impossible. The patient I am describing, Miss A, appeared to
il;l}il'il".ir"?-vt*,' to artkulate this
point of view' This, have preserved a great deal by a violent severancc of her mind so that
whilst communicatiog ti her myinilerstaniling of her
p"tiit't could begin to think' some parts were protected from knowledge and only emerged in a
Ifound, did cnlarge tli" p""ibiliit' ""d "ty interco,rse could psychotic breakdown or in analysis.
It seemed to me rt rrlii* " t"oatt in whici parlnq There was in her an 'infantile' self that appeared ignorant of anything
;;k; pil* if the knowledge -of it did not forie itself in some intrusive
felt to be other than an ideal breast and a state of persecution. th. persecutor was
*rV it. ,fre child's mirrdlshould it do so' it appeared-to be intemally' a hovering male presence, which she feared *ight oust the good mother,
,*rilru,i"g the child's link with her mother both-extemdly and and she was terrified she might be left alone with this 6gure. Intermp-
Inanattempttounderstandthisclinicalsituation,Ihavecalledon
.conteiner and contained" in addition to Melanie tions in analysis and any intemrptions in the flow of good experience
niorr,, lorr.ept^ of the were felt to be the result of violent attacks from this hostile object. At
(1959) hasdescribed
Xt.irr;, ,fr.o.i.s of tfr. ."tty O.aipus situation' Bion times I was taken to be this hostile object; at other times I was felt to
il;;;;;q";."", fo, t"*L it'ai"iduals of a failure of matemd contain-
superego be the victim of it. I was also familiar with it in the form of my patient
*.rr, ,, the development within them of a destnrctive envious relations with attacking me. As progress was made and communications between us
,il", p..r."ts th.m from learning or punuing profitable
to take became more possible, her internal situation became clearer. She con-
iij."r. He makcs it clear tti"t thi inability of the-destmctivemother
tained a hostile object, or part of henelf in fusion with a hostile object,
""v her child's p-j..tiorN is experiencedby ke chilit as a
attack
';;;;,
in
that interfered in her atrempts to communicate with me. At times this
f,it^ri"i a,d communication with her,x h': ry*il]ll1-^
", ""
i;.;.;;;;; marernal object can-onl-y be.re*ained bysptitting had the power to control her speech, and she could not articulate. At
.ft- h;; i-p"r."."UiU.y r" it r, ,roi holtile force is felt
to exist' which othen she whispered words, and broken phrases were managed. If I could
" demonstrate that I really wished to know her, which I could only do
;;.k. htt ;"od link #,r, nit mother'
and depen& on him.;;;''g tmitF;Fl4tr*ementof
tt* - by demonstrating some minimd understanding, her capacity to com-
municate would be recovered. The way I came to understand that often-
ffisequence ofdevelopment-and his cunosrty are
repeated sequence was that she needed some experience of my taking
;il;&.; ;htr .-arr..htio,ship. Curiosity also discloses the existence
of the Oedipal situation. This in ihe det'elopment of "",tty tl'ilg i
it her in before I could return in her mind as the good maternal object she
and a rcluctance could talk to. Otherwise I might be what she called the 'wrong person'.
.tdt.rg. to^his belieiin the goodnes of his mother, In the child dready The 'wrong person' Iooked like the right person but had connections
i. "a*i, it into tri, pictore of"his mother is normal.
with father. For many yean she was threatened by the Gar of these crucially
i*r..a by any .ril"rg.-.rrt of his knowledge of hisfurther mother.because
threat of distinguished figures becoming confused. The thought of her idealized
of her existing pr.."io,r, status in his mind, the
t., Jdonship with father is felt to spell,disaster- The mother becoming united with father was her greatest fear. In the
".tio*t.dglr,f threaten transference it took the form of a fear that the different aspects of my
.rg. -a fr"It fi"ty that would be'aroused by this discovery is felt to- relationship with her would not be distinct from each other. Some of
that
ti?U.U.f i' a world where good objects can exist' The hostile force my functions were regarded as good; others as bad, such as my going
*i, ,t t to attack his #ginal ti"tt *itt' his mother is now equated
""gt
86 87
 The Oedipus complex
The C'ender Conundrum

if they were different intercourse was constructed from a combination of projections of henelf
away. She kept them distinct in her mind as say at times' and perceptions of her parcnts.
i*rk ..".. figures. 'boJ, become one thing" .sfe.u'ou! to distinguish
it was My wish is to draw attention to the rediry ofherbelief that catastrophe
in terror. From this p",i.", I learnt how esJntial
of working througlr was associated with the emergence of the Oedipal situation and that con-
between the integrati;,il;t;;8h' f"i I " means sequendy she resorted to violent splitting to prevent it occurring. The
that are not stabilized
the depressir. poritiJr, il ;2i3" of elemens result was an intemal division within her mind organized around separate
and whose union
and distinguirh"d in tir.it q"Aititt and attributes' parentd objects whose conjunction she believed must be prevented.
produces a sensc of chaos' External reality may providc an opportunity for benign modification
to come from
If any pressu..,o*"rJprecocious.integration was felt of such phantasies, or may lend substance to fears. It may dso provide
refusal or abject
me, it provoked g*r-,I*itty *d eitf,er violent to bc based on material for the formation of psychic stnrctures that are meant to prevent
masochistic submisiorr. it'it i"Ltt reaction
tumed out
and was rcgardcd by my the recognition of the Oedipus situation. The situation in the family of
;';il;t"r i"
*ur"irri"" "-*a"tic father
my patient enabled her to consuuct an internal organization of henelf
alwavs Pmpting' 11aryneled to scrve
;J;;;;'profot'dly *itktd bot tu..{"ther;'sucf, and her objects which had three main parts with no integration of them.
I#;;iJ ;i Jil;;...tf substitution providecl
Her everyday relationship with the ouside world, which was super-
;;,f il;... grrti6."tioti""d avoidance of the phantasy of the parents
" ficial, undemanding and reasonable, was based on her relationship with

I
uniting. her sibling. Internally she had one self in loving union with an idealized
i.e., a monstrous amalgama- I
She felt I must not become 'one thing' - mother and another selfin dliance with a father seen as epitomizing anti-
tionoftheseparatc-"t"-rteldpaternalidcntitiesshehadattributed mother love. The link benveen these two sclvcs was missing, as was the
to me. The amalgarn-liiii*"Ja froln this union was an ostensibly
"ngrr"
;h" "'lrL her own
had inside her a contredicrion of
link between the internd parents.
ili;; *"t"*"1 'What these two 'selvcs' did have in common, when it eventually
;";;.:, ;;t ..rr..ih". madc all her appar-ent goog qudities treacherous'
in which emerged, was hatred of the parents as a loving couple. Initially the trvo
I was alwaln r.-i"iJi'"T[;il"#of derionic possgs;ion, person with parents could only be perceived as being linked in hate and mutual
of the
the devil was felt ,";;;;"furJa[ the characteristics incompatibility, which meant that their coming together was a disaster.
hiddenevil.Thefr"o"ttfttfeltaboutthisfigurewastodowithitscon- The gradual reclaiming by the petient of projected parts of herself in thc
and rcgarded the.emergence
;J;;;ty rr",,rr.. She called it'unnatural'disast ori because it destroyed course of a long and very difficult treatrnent led to the emergence of
of this idea of me in the trensference as the idea of a couple who could unite willingly and pleasurably. New
all good but also all meaning previously established' difficulties then arose with the eruption of envy and jealousy; these
description of
This fearful o,rr.J-. *i"rpondr ti Melar.ie ii(lein's
""i"rrfy
combi,ed object as a Persecutory phantesy of
emotions were felt to be unbearable and seemed to become dmost pure
the child's terror
it. prr.rr* "i,h;
fuscd in Perrnancnt intercolrse'
t would dcscribe my patient psychic pain.
I would like to distinguish the problems of this parient from the others
as having i"r*rir'e-pi**y that her father was of such a narure and
a way as referred to in this chapter whose difiiculties with the Ocdipus situation
;;.. ttrt".,h. .ooti p.t.traie her mother's identity in such were not so early, total or primitive. The difference clinically could be
to corrtpt t., good;Jo,-*J "'"tt*al goodness' dt"1&
precariously
tt dways impressed summarized by saying that in this patient they were in the manner and
idealized, was my patient's only concept of goodnets mode of the paranoid-schizoid position. I think aetiologicdy the difference
me that for such pi i.t, the very to""tpiof
goodnes was at stake and
" lay in the failure to establish a securely based, good matemd object before
not simply is availability or Presence' . encountering the vicissitudes of the Oedipus complex.
disposi-
It is not rrry irrr.t,io" fit. ti' go lnto the factors in the
patienCs
to surmount
tion and life circumstences that contributed to this inability
I would simply
the earliest *"g., oi,t. Oedipus situagron in any detail' Oedipal illusions
of meternd contain-
iil;i;;y thaiir, -V--.* i, ivasthc i4tial failure The
ment that rrrua. th.-Le";";;; of tftt Oedipus complex.impossible' As described briefly above, Oedipd illusions are a devclopmcntally
mind were
f.rrorr*ry *a i"t^Jieness of her father into
her mother's
with thc patient's own con- later phenomenon than the primitive wiping out of the parental rela-
;;;;;th.ant, but these were combined
phantasy of parentd tionship with delusional developments that I have described in the previous
siderable aifficutty ir, tolerating frustration' The
89
 The C'ender Conundrum The Oedipus complex

section. V/hen these illusions are paramount, the parental relationship involving each parent separately, phantasies that
were never integrated,
is known but its full significance is evaded and its nature, which and, though mutudly contradictory, they remained
adjacent to .u.t, ott .r,
demonstrates the differences between the parentd relationship and the as it were in pardlel.
parent-child relationship, is not acknowledged. He rransferred his picture.to the anaryric contcxt in
The illusion is felt to protect the individual from the psychic realiry a rigidry lircrar
way. He had a slight acquaintance with my wife in
his irofesionar
of their phantasies of the Oedipal situation. These I have found, in such conrext bur never broughg any thoughts from th"t
cases, to be expectations of an endlessly humiliating exposure to Parental
.oit.*t'ro-rri, ia..,
of analyst. He deveioped
triumphalism or a disastrous venion of parental intercourse. This latter rr^T.his fictures in his mind of rris anayst
and of his analyst's yft * entirely separated conrexrs.
is perceived either as horri6c, sado-masochisticor murderous intercoune, outcomes of his analysis.llv. side by siae. One was
i*o *irfrf.rf
or as depressive images of a ruined couple in a ruined world. However, partnership with me in which he and I were a"". "f i f.r**rr,,
tog.it..ilh. oth..
whilst such illusions are perpetuated as evasions of the underlying situa- was my death coinciding with the end of analysis,
tion, the Oedipus complex cannot be resolved through the normal my widow.
*h#h;;;Ja *".ry
processes of rivalry and relinquishment. This formed thc basis-of a complex psychic organization
I think that in normd development such illusions are frequent and in which the
patient was able to oscillate benveen *.h .ont
r--di.to.y u.ri"r, without
transitory, producing cycles of illusionment and disillusionment thet are ever giving them much .!diry, or ever gving
them up. wrrilriirri, ,,oa.
the familar features of an and)nis. In some people, however, the persistence was operating in the analysis, things *"." i*ry,
about to happen but
of an organized Oedipal illusion prevents the resolution of the complex never did; emotional e4periencei *..e ,"
"..* UI,
abo..t ,r.r..
and in analysis the full development of its transference counterpart. materialized. The consequence for the patienr's
These illusions are often conscious - or almost conscious - venions ";;;;; Ii.otior,,
yT qroql"d. Despite his considerable intelecru"t
dftr, h;;rs"rot
of actual liG situations. For example, I heard about a young woman in to bnngttungs togerher in his mind, which resulted in leamirg rtifFculties "bl.
supervision: she was a musician who ga.ve to her proGssional relation- as a child and a lack of clariry in his thinking:rs
an adult, whichiad rimited
ship with her music teacher the secret significance of preparation for a his origi-naliry. The consequences for his inotional
life were p.*.riu.
love affair. Once she was in analysis, her ideas about her analyst were sense of unreality and a consrant feeling of unfirlfilm.ir.-iiJr. "
suffused with the same erotic significance and the belief that it would q"4ity of nonconsummarion in all his r-elationshipr *a proi".o in*r, .
end in marriage. rife.
change did begin to occur in his analpir,iil;;k;
These wish-firlfilling ideas are often undisclosed in andysis, where they IftT
tasies of grear violence- Initialry they were
phan-
take the form of the patient's belief in a secret undentanding between They took the form of murderous inrercouneberween "o#rr.d ,"irt. Jgrrt-ti*".
th. p;;i coupre,
patient and analyst that transcends that formdly acknowledged, as Freud which filled his dreams in many forms, and when ,t
.""iJ be con-
points out in his paper'Observations on Transference-love' (Freud 1915a). tained within his dreams, they erupted as transitory "y "*h"[ucina-
The illusory special relationship may take much less conspicuously sexual tions of a couple who were killi"g each other. "ight-ti*.
forms than the example I'have quoted, whilst still having an erotized basis.
The transference illusion is felt to protect the patient from what is ^ In contrast to this, the analysis *L fo. a long time an ocean of calm.
Calmness was his aim, not fuifilment, and catri a.tr"h_.r,i-*r,
imagined to be a calamitous transference situation. As such, it poses ized..For a long time this was thought by him to ue
ia"rL
considerable technical problems. Whilst it penists, dl the analyst's
ttr. aim oianarpis
d lhg aspiration ofhis analyst. Thus he ihought rrir rrr[*rrio f".irior"
communications are interpreted by the patient in the light of the illu- this in both of us by foreverfinding agreement.
His dreams were enor-
sional context. mously informative but were r ,"hiJ. for getting rid
I would like to illustrate the fean defended ageinst by such an illusiond of his iho,rght
into me, so that he could relate to my interpretations instead
construction from the andysis of a male patient. He had originally of to them,
and therefore to himserf second-hand. what his dreams
been a refugee from a foreign country but now worked as a govemment me was his belief that bringing his parental objects rG;h;;l;
or"d.-.I"., ,o
his mind
scientist. He regarded his parents as having lived separate lives, dthough .*,orion
they shared the same house. It became clear that the realiry of their f:11^:..':,1,rr,
berween
and
-diiintegratio". wn.I tne i"irtion tip
us did begin to feel rather different in the sessions, so that we
relationship had given some substance to this idea but also that his fixed Dorn made more contact and yet were at greater variance,
mental picture was a caricature. It served as the structure for phantasies
it led to Gars
of imminent catastrophe.

90 91
 The Gender Conundrum
The Oedipus complex
One form this took was a fear of sudden death. In particular, he had provoking a violent emotional reaction
attacks of panic when he thought his heart was about to stop beating. inside him. I intelpreted mpelf
as represenred by the Negotiator as well as by the p*;;;i;;;le.
His fearful expectation of violent collision took a concrete fonn in the law that wourd further iiflame the wird-man The
emergence of a new fear of driving. Prior to this I had been heering a was, I think, the law of
lot about 'contra-flow systems' in his sessions - both in dreams ahd in 1lc_ledinus ;gmplex -
trons' provoking *..r, *;-di;srirh* tr," L*., *j,ir. g.."o_
not onry jealoury but ar"so envy- of the parentar
reports of daily life. (At that time, some years ago, contra-flow traflic for their sexud and proiriative capacities. coupre
systems were a novelty on our motorways and in the news.) [ took them My'intertio'r, irr-d.scribing
briefly some aspects of the
pacient is to ,lustrarc some
to be a representation of the way my patient had segregated so carefully of the fean and ionflics from ""apir'oirti,
*hich o. ci.aiia ilrri;";;;iirl
rwo different and contradictory streams of thought. I had wondered if the patient. p.or..,
their appearance in the analysis indicated that things were coming closer
together in his mind. My patient then developed a panicky conviction
when driving that unless there was a central barier on the road, the strearrrs
of trafiic would crash into each other. It reached such proportions that
Summary
for a time it stopped him driving. This heralded changes in the transference The Oedipal situation begins with the
relationship, which now did develop within it some conflict and child,s
recognition of the parents,
relationship.Inseveredislrdena.".t"p*.-."r;;;xil;;ilji""il;:.i
opposition. The fear of finding within himself the violence that previously the,oedipus complex does not
had only appeared in projected forms as violent parental intercourse ."cognizabre classicar form in
analysis. The failure to intemaliz."pp.r.'ir,
became prominent for the first time. It is best conveyed by a dream he "'*."g"irurz o.aipj'il;;
in a failure ro intearate observation resurts
brought after a weekend break, at a time when weekends were very -11-*p.ri.nce.
in the tint patient I?escribed. I;G;;;;it This was the case
difficult and full of anxiety: is a consequence of a prior
failure of matemal containment.
He is about to be lef alone in a rooffi with a dangerous, wild man by a couple In the second part of the chapter I described
what I call oedipar illu-
who are going to the theatre. This man has always been locked up and restrained
:l:": * defensive phantasies tt.-pry.t i. realiry of the Oedipus
- he should be in a straitjacleet. The patient k teffijed that the man will destroy "g3i.r*
suuation, and sugested that if rhey penist,',t.y p..r.*A;;;; ,work-
euerything in the room. On his own he uill not be able to rcason with him. ing through' of the oedipus .o-pi.*,
of rivalry and relinquishment.
;hi.d ir a"".1r,t",r'lt rro,r.rr..,
The man begins to speah. Preuiously , it seemed , he had been a mute . Help comes
in theform of a Senior Negotiatorfrom the Ministry (where the patient worked Finally, I would like to my view of the normal development
in reality). The Negotiator can speak to the Man, but f the Man realizes that of the oedipus complex. _clin8, U9r*,Jrh;..hilda;;;;i.,
1,
nature of the parentd.relatiqrytip of tr,.
the Negotiator has connections with the law, this will prouoke him to even gleater and the child's pt*rrrir,,l"ut it. In
.oedipus myth this wou,d. bJ..p;;;,.d by
the
fury. (In reaiity, the Negotiator was concerned with tenorists in pison.)
Oedipus abandoned on thc hillside b,
fu;-rdli-ri. irAr,
The patient had many associations to this dream, and they made it fril .rroth.. _ , oigi. ,..rion in
the child's phantasv of being l.ft t-JJ
clear that there was a situation in the patient's life involving a sense of *t itr, tt . p"r.rrt, ffi tiogether.
The complex unfords furth-er i" th;;.;;ropmert
betrayal by a woman and sexual jedoury that was connected to the dream. with on^e parent for absolute p"o""i"" of of thc .h,d,, rivalry
They also made clear that the couple went to the 'Theatre of the Absurd'. the other. This we see
exemplified in the myth by the meeting
This, in tum, was associated with a debate he had participated in once ar the crosroads where Laius
bars the way, as. if represelting the
as to whether a theatrical performance in a church could include the word
atn".i, lbrt ,r.tio., of the child,s wish
to re-enter mother through her genital.
'fuck'. It was clear, I thought, that the man who represented that aspect Thir what I regard as the prychic
rcalitv of the oedipus .ompl.i', ,,
of himself that had been mute and locked up was wild with jedousy. death- as imagined consequences. "..
,-t.
T
f;;iffi;iJJ.
HLrJvrrd ur fp*.",a
That was the new element, in my patient, in his andysis. The debate -lvhat I have caned oedipal illusions are defensive phantasies
as to whether the idea of a 'fucking couple' could be allowed in the meant
'church' of the transference was still taking place in his analysis. My patient's
to occlude these psvchi.
'"iiti.r. t" th.
as the state in which Oedious is on rh. .i.
;rh i;;;,h.'Gifrii il,rrio,
dream suggested that he thought it an'absurdly' dangerous venture to -^ ,,,irr. Lr^ --:r^,--- ^1
admit into his mind phantasies of his analyst, as one of a sexual couple, it, as to what
1e8s).
 The Gender Conundrum

In this situation, where reme, is felt to

,Pus com-
rth of
nuning couple or the
PART TWO
I think this idea is entertained by all of us at some time; for some it
appears to remain a conviction, and when it does it leads to serious
ttrat it is through The phallic quesrion

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