What is the Oedipal Complex?

In Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis, the oedipal complex is an organizational framework for understanding moral development. According to Freud, it represents the son’s “desire for the mother [in the case of boys] founded on a very active infantile sexuality, along with fear of the father’s retribution,” viz., the father’s recognition of the son as rival and the subsequent threat of castration [2]. The complex appears during the development of the superego, the sense of morality that results from “the internalization of parental authority” [3].

Jean-Luc Donnet writes, “[from] the ontogenetic viewpoint, the superego is ‘heir to the Oedipus complex.’ This means that the advent of the superego prolongs the core affective relationships of childhood by rendering permanent the conditions that brought about its establishment” [4].

In other words, the internalization of paternal regulations (i.e., the rules of the patriarch delineating the acceptable and the taboo) occasions the conditions from which the oedipal complex emerges. The resulting conflict, Freud maintains, is suppressed when the son’s desire shifts from his mother to another woman.

The opening scene of North by Northwest leaves little doubt that the film’s spy/thriller narrative is merely a great ruse; this is a film about Roger Thornhill’s infantile sexuality. Roger is introduced as a womanizer, a liar, and a drinker. He dictates a note to his secretary, Maggie, to be sent to his girlfriend along with a box of chocolates: “Something for your sweet tooth, baby and all your other sweet parts.”

 

In his essay “Le Blocage Symbolique” Raymond Bellour writes that “this dialogue suggests a sort of sexual immaturity; the latter reduces the love relationship to the level of the advertising slogan, which Thornhill, an advertising man, represents socially. In this sense it confirms his infantile fixation on the mother” [5]. Indeed, this notion seems to be corroborated by the fact that Thornhill is particularly persistent in reminding Maggie to contact his mother about their dinner and theater plans. Furthermore, as Bellour notes, it is not insignificant that it is his need to contact his mother that results in his being mistaken as Kaplan. It is this misunderstanding that initiates Roger’s oedipal transformation.

Until this moment, not all of the elements of North by Northwest’s oedipal conflict are in place for no father figure threatens Roger with castration. Thus, it is through this literal and figurative misapprehension that Thornhill, as Kaplan, will play out the narrative’s oedipal conflict. On the run, Thornhill is forced to leave his mother behind in order to clear his name. He is thus removed from a situation where he may desire his mother uncontested, and placed in new circumstances that present him with a new object of desire (Eve), and force him to contend with two father figures, Vandamm and the Professor.