ABSTRACT
The Oedipus complex was in many ways for Sigmund Freud the centerpiece of psychoanalytic theory. He saw in it the convergence of universell psychological structure, unconscious personal meaning, and the influence of the power of desire emanating from the body. Despite the fact that Freud understood the importance of the psychological movement into the Oedipus complex, he did not seem to recognize the nature of the unconscious conflict inherent in the transition for the boy. The little boy’s relationship with the pre-Oedipal mother constitutes a critical and problematic precondition of the Oedipus complex. The entry into an erotic and romantic relationship with the Oedipal mother is fraught with anxiety in part because she bears an uncanny resemblance to the omnipotent pre-Oedipal mother. The male Oedipus complex is built upon a foundation that is vulnerable to erosion. For the little boy, the external object mother bears an uncanny resemblance to the pre-Oedipal internal object mother.
