Freud, incest, murder and Oedipus Rex (the King)A Freudian analysis of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex (the King) would demonstrate that Oedipus truly contained an incestuous nature. This was revealed not only by Oedipus' marriage to his own mother, with whom he had children, but also by his irrational preference for his daughters, Antigone and Ismene. Although his attention to his daughters was deep and sexually tinged, he considered his children to be creatures capable of taking care of themselves. Although he was unconsciously attracted to his daughters, he also feared that they would become social outcasts and unable to marry. When Freud in his The Interpretation of Dreams made his now famous observations about Oedipus the King, he naturally focused on the main issue: that Oedipus killed his father and married his mother.(1) Further Freudian analysis of the work reveals another issue that came to dominate psychoanalysis: Oedipus' preference for his daughters. Oedipus' preference for Antigone and Ismene appears only at the end of the play, but completes the picture of incest and murder in the family. Although mentioned at intervals in the play, Oedipus' sons do not appear until the final pages. After discovering his true parents and blinding himself, Oedipus turns his attention to his children, innocent victims of events beyond their control. But his reaction is incredibly unbalanced in favor of his daughters: Oedipus. Now, for my children, do not worry about them: they can, being men, look after themselves, wherever they may be: but my unhappy daughters, my two girls, whose chairs were always placed next to mine at the table - they which they shared on each plate T...... in the center of the paper....... DF Kitto (Oxford; Oxford UP, 1962) 95.3 Sophocles, Three Tragedies, 96. Works consulted Abrams, MH A Glossary of Literary Terms, 7th ed. New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1999. Ehrenberg, Victor. "Sophocles Rulers: Oedipus." In Twentieth-Century Interpretations of Oedipus Rex, edited by Michael J. O'Brien. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968. Fagles, Robert. "Introduction to Oedipus Rex." In Sophocles' three Theban plays: Antigone, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus. Trans. Robert Fagles. NY: Penguin, 1984. 131-53.Sophocles. The three Theban comedies: Antigone, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus. Trans. Robert Fagles. NY:Penguin, 1984. 157-25Van Nortwick, Thomas. Oedipus: the meaning of a male life. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998.