With his text "The Oedipus Complex and the Oedipus Myth," Erich Fromm decides to confront what is still considered, even today, in many respects, the "cornerstone" of Freudian psychoanalysis, the Oedipus complex and the "incestuous" relationship between son and mother.
Examining the relationship of the Freudian complex with the ancient Greek myth of Oedipus, specifically with Sophocles' "trilogy" - Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone - Fromm asks directly: "Was Freud justified in concluding that this myth confirms his view that unconscious incestuous impulses and the resulting hatred towards the father-rival can be detected in every male child?" 

Instead of providing a definitive answer, he puts forth a theoretical hypothesis with psychoanalytic as well as political implications, as through the examination of social change from the model of matriarchy to that of patriarchy, he focuses not on the mother-son relationship, but on the son's relationship with the father. "[…] the myth can be understood as a symbol not of incestuous love between mother and son, but of the son's rebellion against the father's authority within the framework of the patriarchal family. The marriage of Oedipus and Jocasta is only a secondary element, just one of the symbols of the son's victory as he takes the place of his father and, along with it, all its privileges."