ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the problematic absence of the Oedipus complex in Three Essays and its relation to Sigmund Freud’s new theory of the drives. It considers what the Oedipus complex is about and what it is supposed to achieve. The complete Oedipus complex consists of a positive and a negative form: closer study usually discloses the more complete Oedipus complex, which is twofold, positive and negative, and is due to the bisexuality originally present in children. The problem of how self-destruction and suicide are possible seems unsolvable within the context of the theory of the drives found in the first edition of Three Essays. In the first edition of Three Essays, Freud mentioned the “need for variation” as a basic characteristic of the sexual drive. Freud writes that the formation of the superego is the most general outcome of the Oedipus complex. The Oedipus complex brings the hysterical model that governs Three Essays to its ultimate limits.
