Why is Oedipus the King considered psychogically complex?

Why is Oedipus the King considered psychogically complex?

Oedipus the king, also known as Oedipus Rex”, is an Athenian tragedy created by Sophocles and was first performed in c. 429 BC. It was the second installment out of three Theban plays that Sophocles had produced, but came first in chronology followed by Oedipus at Colonus” and Antigone” consecutively.

The famous synopsis of the play revolves around Oedipus and his unfortunate fate which was told by an oracle that he would kill his own father and marry his own mother. Oedipus was also known for the riddle of the Sphinx” which kept many diviners before him bewildered. In the course of the story, his attempt to change his fate actually drives him closer to fulfilling it. He unknowingly killed his father King Laius in a confrontation over whose chariot has the right-of-way when he was travelling along the road to Thebes. Afterwards he solved the riddle of the sphinx which brought about freedom for the kingdom of Thebes, he then acquires kingship over the land and unsuspectingly married the widowed queen Jacosta, who was his mother. It was this very concept which brought about the principles of Oedipus Complex” which is known in classical Freudian psychoanalytic theory.

In psychology, Oedipus Complex” refers to the condition when a boy is said to have a fixation” on his mother and develops a desire to compete with his father for maternal attention. Its counterpart is called the Electra Complex” which involves little girls having a father-fixation” of some kind.

What make Oedipus the king a psychologically complex persona are due to the life tragedies that he had to go through trying to prevent the ill-fated destiny which befalls him. Anybody who knows the story wouldn’t want to be on his shoes. Oedipus may have the glory and power of a King but in the end he was left a broken person.