The Alchemical Oedipus

The Oedipus myth is foundational to depth psychology due to Freud's use of Sophocles' play Oedipus Rex in the creation of psychoanalysis. But analytical psychology's engagement with the myth has been limited despite the importance Jung also places upon it. The absence of a developed Jungian response to Oedipus means the myth's psychologically constructive elements have been overlooked in favour of reductive Freudian interpretations. I examine whether analytical psychology can fruitfully re-engage with Oedipus by reinterpreting his story as a paternal rebirth. This is achieved by reincorporating those parts of the myth that occur before and after the period portrayed in Oedipus Rex. Such a move reintegrates Oedipus' father, King Laius, into the story and unveils important parallels with the alchemical trope of the king's renewal by his son. Using Jung's method of amplification, Oedipus is recast as Laius' redeemer and identified with the archetype of psychological wholeness, the Self. The contention is that such an understanding of Oedipus supports a clearer recognition of the potentially generative quality of human suffering, restoring to the myth the quality of moral instruction it possessed in antiquity

Alchemy · Art · Literature · Mythology · Oedipus complex · Psychoanalysis · Psychoanalytic theory · Jungian Analytical Psychology · Philosophy · Psychology · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices · Social and Cultural Studies

• Structural anthropology

  Claude Levi-Strauss•Structural anthropology•1963

  Incluir item

• Revisiting Oedipus

  Frances Hatfield•Jung Journal•2020

  Incluir item

• Follow the Ghosts

  C Vezzoli•Jung Journal•2021

  Incluir item

• Recognition, Suffering, and Transcendence

  Richard Trousdell•Jung Journal•2016

  Incluir item

• The Laius Syndrome, or the Ends of Political Fatherhood

  Silke‐Maria Weineck•Cultural Critique•2010

  Incluir item

• Ambiguity and Reversal

  Jean-Pierre Vernant, Page Dubois•New Literary History•1978

  Incluir item