ABSTRACT
Here our attention is turned to Kierkegaard’s oedipal complex and his relationship with his father. In place of the well-established view that it is the father that constitutes so much of Kierkegaard’s inner being, I have argued that Ane Kierkegaard occupies this central position – since it is my belief (fully argued for in the previous chapter) that the tensions around his relationship to his father and Regine can be traced back to her. Yet, the importance of the figure of his father cannot and should not be underestimated, for Kierkegaard himself attributes a powerful significance to him. This section deals primarily with Kierkegaard’s unconscious desire for castration expressed consciously through his desire for spiritual celibacy. It is also contains an analysis of Kierkegaard’s psychological life, specifically the formation of his relationship to his father and how this profoundly affected his Christianity.
