Oedipus

Oedipus or oedipal complex.
King Laius of Thebes was given a prophecy that his wife, Jocasta, would bear a son who would kill his father and marry his mother. They did have a son whose name was Oedipus and when he grew up he killed his father and married his mother, despite all that was done to avert the prophecy and destiny. Sophocles' masterpiece, Oedipus the King, inspired Sigmund Freud to crystallize one of his major, defining ideas on the nature of the human psyche (q.v.) and infantile sexual development; the Oedipus Complex is the term he used to describe the natural progression of psycho-sexual development in which the child has libidinal feelings for a parent of the opposite sex and hostility for the parent of the same sex. The term oedipus complex refers to the male child. See Electra complex.