[Sophocles' Oedipus. Another reading]

Freud long hesitated on how to understand Sophocle's Oedipus--whether that tragedy was caused by Fate, or whether it was all about a sexual rivalry between the father and the son about the mother, he finally chose the latter interpretation. The clinical facts and scientific observations here related undoubtedly show--not man's longing, but his violent--almost instinctive--repulsion for incest--thus explaining the dramatic intensity of the play. The Freudian explanation must therefore be abandoned and the meaning of Sophocle's drama--unquestionably of the highest importance for the understanding of the dynamic situation involving Father, Mother and Child--must be sought elsewhere. Its philosophical value is nonetheless important and a testimony since ancient times and among very different peoples, of man's anguished and tragic quest for a Moral Law.