Phaedra complex
{{Short description|Term for stepmother-stepson sexual desire}}
The Phaedra complex ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|f|iː|d|r|ə|,_|ˈ|f|ɛ|d|r|ə}}{{Cite journal|last=Venes|first=Donald|title=Phaedra complex|journal=Taber's Medical Dictionary|volume=21|pages=1765}}) is an informal, non-scientific designation to the sexual desire of a stepmother for her stepson,[http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=490046 Alfred Messer, 'The "Phaedra Complex"] though the term has been extended to cover difficult relationships between stepparents and stepchildren in general.W. Hicks, English for Journalists (2013) p. 153
Origins
File:Musée-Ingres-Bourdelle - Hippolyte, après l'aveu de Phèdre, sa belle-mère - Étienne-Barthélémy Garnier - Joconde06070000123.jpg; Musée Ingres, Montauban]]
The complex takes its name from Greek mythology.
Phaedra was the daughter of Minos and Pasiphaë, wife of Theseus, sister of Ariadne, and the mother of Demophon of Athens and Acamas. Though married to Theseus, Phaedra fell in love with Hippolytus, Theseus' son born by either Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, or Antiope, her sister.[http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=490046 Alfred Messer, 'The "Phaedra Complex"]
When Hippolytus refused Phaedra's advances, she falsely accused him of propositioning her. Phaedra eventually killed herself in remorse after his subsequent death.H. Nettleship ed, A Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1894) p. 475
Cultural analogues
- Amata in the Aeneid has been seen as cognate to Phaedra in her love for her future son-in-law Turnus and her eventual suicide at the news of his death.S. J. Harrison, Generic Enrichment in Vergil and Horace (2007) p. lxxvi-vii
- In the Hebrew Bible, Potiphar's wife Zuleikha made a pass at Joseph, but Joseph refused her. So, Zuleikha accused Joseph of rape and he was put in prison, but eventually released. According to the tradition, Zuleikha made advances at many of her foster children before Joseph.
- In the ballad Child Owlet, Lady Erskine propositions her nephew, and upon rebuttal accuses him of attempting to seduce her, leading to his murder.
Other use
- French philosopher Georges Bataille used the same term in a very different sense to describe the morbid desire for a corpse.J. M. Gilbert, "The Horror, the Horror" (2008) p. 66
See also
References
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Further reading
- Alberto Moravia, The Lie (1966)
- Mary Renault, The Bull from the Sea (1962)
{{Oedipus}}
{{Incest}}