  The whole subject of the manifestations of these complexes in legend and literature and in the mind of the poet and the artist is treated at length in Otto Rank's comprehensive and most valuable work "Das Inzestmotiv in Dichtung und Sage". A very illuminating consideration of the problem with which we are immediately concerned at this point—the early development of object love in the child and the relations of this object love to the activities of the auto-erotic stage—will be found in a paper on the "Psychology of the New Born Infant" by David Forsyth. (To be published in the British Journal of Psychology). If this distinction be generally true, it would seem that there are two main stages of displacement of the parent regarding feelings:—(1) in which the more erotic elements are displaced, the more tender aspects of affection being still directed to the parents; (2) in which these latter are in their turn transferred, in whole or in part, to new love objects. Freud, "BeitrÄge zur Psychologie des Liebeslebens." Jahrbuch fÜr psychoanalytische und psychopathologische Forschungen, 1912, IV, 40. Ferenczi, "Contributions to Psycho-Analysis," 9. The following incident in connection with a young boy personally known to me amusingly illustrates the tendency to substitute an ideal parent for a (disappointing) real one, together with the religious and Narcissistic implications of this tendency. S. F., aged 7, insisted on being called Jesus Christ, in spite of the remonstrations of his father who pointed out to him among other things that Jesus Christ was the Son of God; to which S. F. replied "So am I." On receiving the reply: "You cannot be, for I am your father," he retorted, "God is my real father, you are only my professional father" (referring to the fact that his father was a "professional" musician). The identification of the processes of birth and coitus is well shown in the following dream of a patient. "I was with difficulty crawling through a very narrow tunnel under a mountain which, I thought, was called the Aalberg. I was a good deal frightened but saw the end of the tunnel a long way off. In trying to get out, I seemed to force my way forward by continually butting with my head against some kind of soft wall". The movement here described is a clear coitus symbol (head = penis), while the mountain would appear to have derived its name from the phallic significance of the eel. In a certain number of cases the idea of returning to the mother's womb or of being born is coloured by the infantile "cloacal theory" of birth, according to which the child imagines birth to take place through the rectum. This is shown with exceptional clearness in the following dream. "I was walking down a long and narrow flight of stairs. They seemed to be the back stairs of a large house or hotel and were very dirty and ill-lit, and every now and then I would tread in a pool of dirty water. The stairs suddenly (note the words in italics) opened out towards the bottom and I emerged into a back yard. I found I was covered with soot and dust and my boots were filthy." (Cp. the well known passage from St. Augustine, "Inter urinas et faeces nascimur"). It is perhaps possible that more exact information on this important subject might be forthcoming as the result of careful investigations into such questions as the following: (1) To what extent (if at all) do children display—in dreams, phantasies or otherwise—knowledge as to the circumstances of their birth and pre-natal life which they could not possibly have obtained except from memory of their own past experience? (2) Do the phantasies of prematurely born children differ in any way from those of children born at the end of the normal term? If, for instance, there really exist any memory traces of the later period of gestation or of the process of birth, it might be expected that they would be less vivid than usual in prematurely born children, owing to the less developed condition of their brain at the time of birth. (3) Are the phantasies concerning birth in any way more vivid or frequent or of greater emotional intensity in those whose birth has been a process of difficulty and long duration than in those who have enjoyed an easy delivery? (4) Do the womb phantasies of twins indicate any knowledge of the unusual conditions of their pre-natal life? (5) Do the phantasies of children who have been removed from the womb by Caesarian section reveal any peculiarities corresponding to the absence of the usual birth process? (1) "I was trying to catch a train, but a gate leading to the platform was closed and I could not succeed in opening it. Then my father suddenly appeared, shook the gate violently, opened it and hurried me across the platform. He opened the door of a compartment and pushed me in. I found a lady sitting there." The lady here was associated with the mother and the opening of the gate and door symbolised the sexual act. (2) "An elderly man" (father symbol) "led me upstairs" (coitus symbol. Cp. Freud, "Interpretation of Dreams," p. 252) "to the interior of a church or chapel" (mother symbol). "Here hymns were being sung" (initiation ceremony) "I thought I ought to sing too, but had some bother to find the right place in the hymn book. Then one of the people said to me 'You are one of us.'" (3) "I wanted to get into a house, but could not find the way in. Suddenly our doctor" (in this case, as so often, a father substitute) "came along and said: 'A doctor always goes in by the window'. From a bag he brought out a long elastic instrument" (phallic symbol). "with which he opened a window on the first floor" (symbol of sex intercourse). "We entered and I found it was my mother's bedroom. The doctor said 'You should now go to sleep' and I prepared to go to bed." As will be seen from these examples, the initiation idea may be easily combined with the idea of returning to the mother's womb discussed in the last chapter. This combination is perhaps still more clearly shown in the following dream of the patient, who provided Example 2. "I was on a boat sailing on a river or canal which gradually became narrower and shallower. Finally the boat grounded on a sandy bottom. I got out and walked up a staircase into a cathedral where some ceremony was going on, in which I took part." The sexual aspects of initiation are apt to be particularly prominent in the case of boys entering a criminal or anti-social "gang". Thus an acute student of this subject writes to me: "I have often found that a delinquent boy was initiated into sexual knowledge and practices on the first evening that he joined his "gang"; e.g. in one such gang every new member had to exhibit himself. He was asked if he knew "what it (the penis) was for"; this was explained; and after certain criticisms were passed, the leader, after a thorough inspection, declared "you will do". There was also a catechism: "Do you know what your mother and father do..." etc; the result being to discredit them in the eyes of the boy and to lead him to emulate them or at least to defy and despise them." Both the importance and the incestuous origin of this desire for chastity are clearly demonstrated by the infrequently recurring theme of the Virgin Mother in religion and mythology. Cp. below Ch. XIV. (1) The very person who performs the deed of murder is frequently the one who succeeds to the throne; taking this in combination with the fact that it is usually the son or some other near relative who is the recognised successor, it is evident that there exists a natural tendency for the murderer to belong to the murdered king's own family. (2) The birth of a son is very frequently associated with the idea of danger to the father. This danger would appear to be the principal motive for the widespread custom of killing the king's son, which seems to be regarded as, in many respects, an alternative to the killing of the king himself (see Frazer, "The Dying God," Ch. VI, 160 ff.) Cp. the very frequent legends (of which the story of Œdipus is one) in which a kingly father, to avoid threatened danger to himself, exposes or otherwise attempts to murder his young son. See Rank, "The Myth of the Birth of the Hero." (3) There exist many cases in legend, and some in actual fact, in which the son fights with his father for the privileges of chieftainship; while in at least one case (Frazer, "The Dying God," 190) the king is made to abdicate as soon as his son is born. (4) In the many quaint practices of the Carnival type, which, as Frazer has shown ("The Dying God," 205 ff.), usually represent, in one at least of their aspects, the murder of the king in the shape of the spirit of vegetation, the death of the old monarch is usually followed, immediately or after an interval, by general rejoicing at the coming to power of his successor (cp. the well known phrase, "Le roi est mort, vive le roi") showing that the idea of the superseding of an outworn potentate is a prominent underlying feature of the whole type of ceremony. (5) Festivals of this kind, and indeed those connected with the succession of kings generally, are usually associated with some kind of sexual orgy, in which the relaxation of the usual prohibitions, especially those which relate to incest, is often a prominent feature; this fact seems to point to the existence of some connection between incest and succession to the kingship, such as that which is manifested in the myth of Œdipus. (6) This connection is indicated even more clearly by the widespread custom of the new king taking over the wife of the king whom he has succeeded, even if she should be his own step-mother, or in some cases perhaps his real mother (See Frazer, "The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings," II, 283 ff., "The Dying God," 193 ff.). Where (as seems to have happened not infrequently) this is combined with the murder, deposition or defeat of the old king, we get both elements of the Œdipus complex in intimate association, and openly expressed. (7) Among the prohibitions and conditions to which a king is subject during his tenure of office, not the least burdensome are those connected with his sexual life. On the one hand his sexual activities are often restricted, permitted only under certain circumstances and conditions or even forbidden altogether; while on the other hand any failure or weakness of sexual power may be made the reason for his deposition or execution. If the sexual jealousy, which is such an important constituent of the Œdipus complex, plays an active part in the attitude habitually adopted towards kings (especially by those who are likely to become their successors), such restrictions on the king's sexual activity or such a utilisation of any sexual failing on his part as an excuse for his deposition or execution are only what we might expect to find. In bringing forward these arguments in favour of the operation of the Œdipus complex in the treatment accorded to kings, we must not of course shut our eyes to the co-operation of other important motives belonging to the later and more conscious levels of the mind, such as that emphasised by Frazer, according to whom the king is regarded as the embodiment of natural fertility, so that, if he were to become old or enfeebled, Nature (in virtue of the principles of homoeopathic magic) would suffer from a corresponding weakness and produce less abundantly; this belief naturally leading to the desire to kill the king while he is still in his prime, lest in age or disease he should endanger the sustenance of the community. Such a motive as this (and perhaps still others) may very well co-exist with the motives connected with the Œdipus complex, in virtue of the psychological mechanism of over-determination, just as—as Silberer, Rank, and others have shown—many myths, legends and neurotic symptoms may give direct or symbolic expression at the same time to two or more distinct sets of tendencies. In the Christian Church, owing, we may suppose, to the increasing repression of the more directly sexual aspects of the father-regarding feelings, the sexual elements in the religious attitude of women is more frequently directed to Christ than to God the Father (corresponding to a brother-sister rather than to the older father-daughter type of affection). Nevertheless, the persistence of incestuous tendencies towards the father, can often be observed in individual cases. In religion too however there exist, beside the object-regarding elements, certain elements which are derived from, and give expression to, the Narcissistic impulses. God is to some extent a projection of the primitive mental egocentricity and self-sufficingness which the infant enjoys before it becomes clearly conscious of the distinction between its own organism and the external world—a distinction which necessarily brings with it a gradually increasing realisation of the individual's limitations and dependence. Unwilling to give up the primitive sense of power and importance which a growing insight into reality shows to be unfounded, Man displaces on to his God the desired qualities which he can no longer attribute to himself and deludes himself into believing that he can still attain his wishes, through prayer and similar rites, by merely wishing them aloud to God. This mechanism is clearly seen at work in those persons who (like the late Kaiser Wilhelm II) treat their God as a being whose principal function it is to approve and carry to fulfilment their own ambitions, schemes and undertakings. The conception of the Devil also is to a very considerable extent derived from the Narcissistic impulses—the individual projecting on to "the author of evil" those aspects of himself of which he disapproves (more particularly perhaps the sexual aspects). In this way he, in a sense, frees his own personality from tabooed wishes of whose operation in himself he would otherwise become unpleasantly aware, and in this way absolves himself from the responsibility for actions committed at the instigation of these wishes. These self-regarding aspects constitute without doubt a most important factor in the psychology of Religion and serve to remind us once again of the limitation of our psychological treatment. They fall outside our present theme, inasmuch as they take their origin from a mental level phylogenetically and ontogenetically prior to that at which are developed the psychic relations of the individual to his family which constitute our subject in this volume. As a milder method of disposing of an unwanted child, a mother will often attempt to leave it in some institution for the care of children. So much is this the case that almost the first question the authorities of such institutions have to ask themselves, when the mother brings a child, is whether she is trying to get rid of it. Often however, the cruelty inflicted from this motive is rationalised as a desire to avoid spoiling the child and to prepare him for the rough time that he will have in later life. (Cp. this with the motives underlying the infliction of punishment at initiation ceremonies among primitive peoples, p. 83.). What seems to be to some extent the American ideal of each generation "making good" in their own persons, is of course based mainly on perfectly sound ethical and psychological considerations. There is nothing in these considerations however which is incompatible with the hereditary transmission of wealth or rank. On the contrary, it would seem to be an ennobling and inspiring ideal for each generation to start life at a somewhat higher all-round level—material and moral—than the one before it, each one adding a little to the well-being of the family in body and mind and handing on the improvement to its successor. In spite of the great advantages that may thus follow from the identification of the parent with his children, it behoves us not to overlook one possible danger that may ensue from it, if carried to excess. An individual's actions affect posterity, not only in the persons of his own offspring, but also by their influence on the history of humanity at large; and it would be highly undesirable if, while contemplating the benefit of his own family, an individual ceased to bear in mind his duties to the wider circles of his social environment. The deeds of great men obviously determine to a considerable extent the future of the race. It is however the privilege of all of us to contribute to this history to some degree; hence an enlightened morality must needs emphasise the responsibility that is incurred in this respect even by the humblest, since, by his actions during life, he has to some extent made himself immortal, and influenced the world through all time for good or ill. "I have taken the widow as an extreme and obvious case; but there are many husbands and wives who are tired of their consorts, or disappointed in them, or estranged from them by infidelities; and these parents, in losing a son or a daughter through marriage, may be losing everything they care for. No parent's love is as innocent as the love of a child; the exclusion of all conscious sexual feeling from it does not exclude the bitterness, jealousy, and despair at loss which characterize sexual passion; in fact, what is called a pure love may easily be more selfish and jealous than a carnal one. Anyhow, it is plain matter of fact that naively selfish people sometimes try with fierce jealousy to prevent their children marrying." p. XXXVIII. In South America too the practice of incest of this kind would appear to have been fairly frequently observed. Thus in Brazil the Indians of the Isanna river "marry one, two or three wives and prefer relations, marrying with cousins, uncles with nieces, nephews with aunts, so that in a village all are connected" (A. R. Wallace, "Travels in the Amazon and Rio Negro," 1889, 352). Commenting on this report, Frazer adds that "in this preference for marriage with blood relations the Indians of the Isanna agree with other Indian tribes of South America, especially of Brazil" ("Totemism and Exogamy," III, 575). Concerning this same part of the world, another traveller says that "in general it may be asserted that incest in all degrees is of frequent occurrence among the numerous tribes and hordes on the Amazon and the Rio Negro" (See Martius, "Zur Ethnographie Amerikas, zumal Brasiliens," 1867, 116). Of the Peruvian aborigines we are told by an earlier authority that they "follow their own desires without excepting sister, daughter or mother. Others excepted their mother but none else" (Garcilasso de la Vega, First part of the "Royal Commentaries of the Yncas," trans. by C. R. Markham, 1869-71, I, 58). Similar observations have been made by travellers among primitive peoples in many other parts of the world. Thus with the Karens of Tenasserim "matrimonial alliances between brother and sister or father and daughter are not uncommon" (Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, VII, 856). In Africa "the kings of Gonzalves and Gaboon are accustomed to marry their grown-up daughters and the queens marry their eldest sons" (A. Bastian, "Der Mensch in der Geschichte," 1860, III, 293). In a district of Celebes "father and daughter, mother and son, brother and sister frequently lived together in bonds of matrimony" (S. J. Hickson, "A Naturalist in North Celebes," 1889, 277). With the Kalangs (probably the aborigines of Java) "mother and son often live together as man and wife, and it is a belief that prosperity and riches flow from such a union" (E. Ketjen, De Kalangers, Tijdschrift von Indische Taal-Land en Volkenkunde, 1877, XXIV, 427). Very similar practices have been reported from New Guinea (Rev. J. Chalmers, "Notes on the Natives of Kiwai," Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, XXXI, II, 1903, 124), the Indian Archipelago (Wilken, Over de Verwantschap en het huwelijks en enfrechts bij de volken van het maleische ras, 1883, 277), and Melanesia (Frazer, "Totemism and Exogamy," II, 118). But it must not be supposed that the frequent practice of incest is confined to primitive races. Although in civilised communities regarded with almost universal condemnation, incest has probably always existed to some extent among certain sections of the population and the practice of incest among modern white races is undoubtedly much more prevalent than is commonly supposed. A well known British psycho-analyst assures me that in the exercise of their profession he and his colleagues hear with astonishing frequency of cases of incest, the report of which is otherwise suppressed. Particularly is this so as regards children. At the present day however, incest undoubtedly occurs most frequently among the poorer classes, where want of adequate housing accommodation renders the temptation greater. It is startling to note in this connection that, according to the Chicago Vice Commission, out of a group of 103 girls examined, no less than 51 reported that they had received their first sexual experience at the hands of their father ("The Social Evil in Chicago," 1911, quoted by W. A. White, "Mechanisms of Character Formation," 1916, 163). Even if we allow a liberal margin for incorrect or exaggerated statements (in this case of course, instances of wish-fulfilment), these figures would seem to afford astonishing evidence as to the prevalence of incest of the father-daughter type in the towns of America. In this country there is reason to believe that similar occurrences are far from being uncommon (cp. "Downward Paths", 20) As regards the motive forces engaged in this conflict, there is again at present much uncertainty, but they probably to some extent differ from one case to another. The conflict would seem to be waged, sometimes between two aspects of the sexual impulse, e. g. between Narcissism and object-love or between physical desire and tender affection (when these elements have been dissociated in the ways we have already studied). In other cases the gregarious instincts are probably engaged in the manner suggested by Trotter and others; while, in still other instances, there may be an antagonism between the sexual impulses and the tendencies of self-assertion, self-respect or self-preservation, as emphasised especially by Freud. For a more general discussion of the factors concerned in sexual inhibition, see E. Bleuler, "Der Sexualwiderstand", Jahrbuch fÜr psychoanalytische und psychopathologische Forschungen, 1913, V, 442, and J. C. FlÜgel, "On the Biological Basis of Sexual Repression and its Sociological Significance", British Journal of Psychology (Medical Section), 1921, I, 225. On the other hand, the desirability of a limitation of the size of the family must not of course blind us to the fact that a very small family, especially one where there is an only child, will often have certain difficulties of its own, from which larger families may be relatively free. There can be very little doubt that, in the case of the only child, the emancipation of the individual from the family influences may frequently present more than the usual amount of difficulty: where this is so, the tendencies towards emancipation will need a correspondingly greater amount of assistance and encouragement. On the other hand, it is perhaps necessary to emphasise the advantages to be derived from the formation, by each individual member of the family, of his own friendships and companionships as distinct from those which are, so to speak, found for him by his family. Thus, it is far from desirable that members of the same family should always accompany one another to social gatherings, places of entertainment or instruction, or on visits to friends. On the contrary, they will often benefit by being freed from each other's society on these occasions, and no restraints should, as a rule, be placed upon habits of independent occupation or enjoyment or upon choice of associates. Nor should the individual members of the family be expected on every occasion to render a detailed account of all their activities outside the family circle, nor to confine these activities rigorously to certain days or hours. Much family friction can often be avoided by the simple process of bestowing a latchkey! As regards extreme cases, moreover, it should be realised that wherever there is unusual difficulty in the relations between an individual and the other members of his family, a removal from the family environment is the surest, perhaps the only, method of avoiding disaster. Above all it is necessary, throughout the process of development and education, to aim at the attainment of a due measure of self-respect and self-reliance, avoiding the pitfalls of too great self-satisfaction on the one hand and an unreasonable sense of inferiority on the other. It is here, more than elsewhere, that considerable differentiation in the treatment of individuals is required. Those who are inclined to be too well pleased with themselves will usually benefit by a somewhat rougher treatment, and will need to have their deficiencies brought home to them. Those who lack self-confidence, or who have an unduly low estimate of their attainments or capacities, will need encouragement and reassurance. In the former case some very appreciable degree of parental authority may be called for, in the latter any treatment savouring of harshness is for the most part tragically out of place. Transcriber Notes: P. 7. 'aquired' changed to 'acquired'. P. 53. Footnote #36 'expecially' changed to 'especially'. P. 63. Sidenote: 'indentify' changed to 'identify'. P. 94. 'marrage' changed to 'marriage'. P. 102. 'successfuly' changed to 'successfully'. P. 107. 'persan' changed to 'person'. P. 110. 'as a a', taken out extra 'a'. P. 116. Footnote #138: 'irequently' changed to 'infrequently'. P. 147. 'indentified' changed to 'identified'. P. 155. 'virture' changed to 'virtue'. P. 158. 'addititon' changed to 'addition'. P. 172. 'acqaintance' changed to 'acquaintance'. P. 190. 'individiual' changed to 'individual'. P. 237. 'at it' changed to 'as it'. P. 240. 'certains' changed to 'certain'. P. 250. 'disires' changed to 'desires'. P. 255. 'Reincaration' changed to 'Reincarnation'. P. 256. 'S noi' changed to 'Senoi'. P. 256. 'Slberer' changed to 'Silberer'. Corrected various punctuation. |
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