Oedipus and Narcissus: mythology meets psychology

Wherever you look inside modern formulations of the inner world of humankind, strong roots and patterns of mythology can be noticed. The tales of Oedipus and Narcissus are among the best known classical allegories related to psychology, but they are not the only ones. Freud's and Jung's theories have almost monopolized the study of myths, especially of the ones shaped in ancient greco-roman times.

Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, is best known for having contributed to psychology with his interpretation of dreams, the theory of the unconscious and with the discovery of the preponderance role of sexuality in humankind (infantile in particular).

Dreams: according to his words "dreams are the fulfillment of wishes that have been repressed and disguised". Having discovered the significance of symbols in the sleeping state, Freud believed that through the creation and retelling of myths, men could achieve the purification of emotional tensions, gaining relief of experiences not able to put in practise in the real world ("catharsis").

(...) every dream will reveal itself as a psychological structure, full of significance, and one which may be assigned to a specific place in the psychic activities of the waking state (...) 

Unconscious & sexuality: in Freudian theory, between the age of 4 and 5, the so called "Phallic / Oedipal phase", the infant experiences sexual attraction for the opposite sex parent, particularly the son’s love for the mother and hostility towards the father.  Pleasure is focused on the genitals and both males and females experience the “Oedipus / Electra complex". He also held that the unsuccessful resolution of this sexual complex could result in personality disorders, such as neurosis, paedophilia, homosexuality ... or Narcissism.

Jung, a contemporary of Freud, is credited with the theory of the "collective unconscious": human beings by nature and by instinct are born with predictable and identifiable characteristics. He studied myths and the profound symbolic significance they have, upon which the society as a whole has come to depend. Myths contain "archetypes" which we inherited from our parents, and reside somewhere deep in our minds. 

Just as a dog is instinctively driven to dig a hole in the ground to hide his favourite bone, human kind find satisfaction in trying to copy heroic deeds, such as those performed by Herakles or Theseus.

The true stories behind Narcissism (1) and the Oedipus Complex (2)

(1) Narcissus and Echo

Found in Ovid's Metamorphoses, it is a tragic story of self-love and self-destruction.

Narcissus was one of the most handsome mortals, object of passion of girls, boys and perpetual beings, to whom he was totally indifferent. Echo, one of the beautiful Nymphs that lived in the forests, felt desperately in love with him, but got no more from him than the others. This rejection brought her a profound sadness and anguish, which later resulted in her death: her body could never be found, but her voice can still be heard.

Echo once shielded Zeus in one of his infidelities with a sister of hers, stopping Hera from discovering them: Echo saw Zeus' wife  about to uncover the sinners when she approached Hera and engaged her in a long conversation, a crafty delay which let Zeus and the nymph scurry to safety. Hera punished Echo: "From now on, your words will be short and sweet; you will answer a call, but never be able to speak first".

Echo's death enraged the gods, and a reprisal soon came over Narcissus: "you will fall in love, but never obtain your desire". And so it was done, Narcissus fell in love with his reflection on a spring of shimmering water:

(...) When I stretch forth my arms to you, you do the same in return; when I laugh, you laugh back, and I have often noted your tears in response to my weeping. (... ) I burn with love for myself, I am the one who fans the flame and bears the torture (...) What I desire is with me; all that I have makes me poor. (...)

Unable to consummate his love, Narcissus faded away and melted, slowly consumed by the fire inside him. His body was never found, however, in his place grew a flower with a trumpet of gold and pale white petals, the narcissus.

(2) Oedipus The King / Rex

The tale of Oedipus is a story of oral tradition. Before being written down, the story of this character was heard from several sources and places, and it seems that the final publications gathered pieces of different birthplaces. Homer, Hesiod, Pindar, Aeschylus, Euripides ... all wrote down stories of Oedipus. Nevertheless, the best known to us is Oedipus King (Rex) by Sophocles.

Laius and Jocasta, king and queen of Thebes respectively, bore prince Oedipus. After having learnt from the Oracle that his own son would kill them, Oedipus is handed to a shepherd who receives orders to finish the newborn's life. Instead of doing so, the shepherd leaves the infant alone in the fields to the fate of gods, before reporting him dead. Oedipus is found by another shepherd who carries the baby to Corinth and hands him to Polybus and Merope, king and queen of the city, who raise him as his own biological son.

Having become a young man, Oedipus learns from the Oracle that he is to kill his father and marry his mother. To escape fate, Oedipus leaves Corinth and reaches Thebes, where he meets his true father on the road (unaware of it) and kills him in an insignificant quarrel, fulfilling part of the prophecy.

After solving the Sphinx's riddle ...

"What is the creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three in the evening?"

Answer: MAN (who crawls on all fours as an infant, walks upright later, and needs a walking stick in old age)

.. Oedipus is awarded the hand of queen Jocasta, his biological mother.

At the end of the tragedy, after having put up together unwinding tales of different characters, Oedipus and Jocasta discover the real truth. The prophecy was finally fulfilled.

Jocasta ends her life.

You can look at Oedipus' story from two different ways or perspectives: 

- Oedipus as a VICTIM: his failure to elude destiny; subject to fate.

- Oedipus as VICTIMIZER: his success in fulfilling his fondest desires of killing his father and thus gaining sexual access to his mother.

It is more than clear that Freud and Jung where deeply concerned with the victimizer Oedipus (incest). Nonetheless, I suggest you keep on reading "Are we puppets of the gods, or real puppeteers of our own lives ?" and let you draw your conclusions of which of the two perspectives is dominant behind the Oedipus allegory.