Brothers and sisters, the beautiful siblingship

Beginning with the fraternal link, in double maybe, which united Sigmund Freud and Otto Rank, as well as fragments of our clinical practice with Ellen, our article examines the specificities of twin and fraternal stories about murderous and incestuous desires. It also looks at the influence of these desires in the construction of the love tie. Three essential theses are thus looked at: first, the younger brother proceeds from hatred and jealousy by organizing the rivalry; second, the younger brother is a heroic figure, becoming a double who is hated and envied; and third, the younger brother constructs the myth of the favorite, inscribing the origins of three struggles led by men, those for the “mother,” the “sister,” and the “wife.” It is therefore through a quartet of imagos including the younger sister and brother, the double and the hero, that the love tie is preferentially built.