But a Jape

“I solved the impossible Riddle of the Sphinx, but do they name riddle solvers after me? No.
“I slew the Sphinx and liberated the city of Thebes, but do they name beast slayers after me? No.
“But you father four children with your own mother…”

– Oedipus Rex

You know, for all the criticisms Sigmund Freud has received over the years for his half-baked theories of the mind, I feel like not enough attention has been paid to the utter character assassination he’s done to Oedipus. Like, Oedipus had no idea Laius and Jocasta were his biological parents – he tried hard as hell to avoid the prophecy of murdering his father and marrying his mother, but the Fates conspired to completely screw him over in this regard! And on that note, what the hell is even the moral of Oedipus’ story? Because a lot of these “you can’t fight fate” stories are about man’s hubris or something, but was Oedipus just supposed to accept murdering his father and marrying his mother? Should he have embraced the prophecy? Is that what the Fates wanted? The fuckin’ weirdos.

And then Dr. Freud comes along and says, “Finally, a classic example of how sons are inherently thirsty for their own mothers! See, I told you guys I wasn’t weird!” So now Oedipus is forever known as that pervert who creeped on his mom, like he knew that was the case and he liked it. Damn Freud, really gotta drag a man’s name like that, couldn’t have the decency to name his messed up idea the “Freud Complex” and let Oedipus’ worst mistake die in obscurity like he would’ve wanted.

– James