Oedipus Complex in Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence

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1. A general review of Oedipus complex We speak of “love” when we lay the accent upon the mental side of the sexual impulses and disregard, or wish to forget for a moment, the demands of the fundamental physical or “sensual” side of the impulses. At about the time when the mother becomes the love - object, the mental operation of repression has already began in the child and has withdrawn from him the knowledge of some part of his sexual aims. This is known under the name of “the Oedipus complex,” has become of such great importance in the psychoanalytic explanation of the neuroses, and which has had a perhaps equally important share in causing the opposition against psychoanalysis... There is no possible doubt that one of the most important sources of the sense of guilt which so often torments neurotic people is to be found in the Oedipus complex. Now what does direct observation of children, at the period of object - choice before the latency period, show us in regard to the Oedipus complex? Well, it is easy to see that the little man wants his mother all to himself, finds his father in the way, becomes restive when the latter takes upon himself to caress her, and shows his satisfaction when the father goes away or is absent. He often expresses his feelings directly in words and promises his mother to marry her; this may not seem much in comparison with the deeds of Oedipus, but it is enough in fact; the kernel of each is the same. Observation is often rendered puzzling by the circumstances that the same child on other occasions at this period will display great affection for the father; but such contrasting - or, better, ambivalent - states of feeling, which in adults would lead to conflicts, can be tolerated alongside one another in the child for a long time, just as later on, they dwell together permanently in the unconscious. One might try to object that the
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