NCHS AP English Language

The Sphinx" Corinne McConnell, Rebecca Hall, Alex Wikoff

The name "sphinx" means "strangler." There was a single sphinx in Greek mythology, a demon of destruction and bad luck. The Greek sphinx was a creature representing incredible power and authority. She resided in Thebes and asked all passerbys this famous riddle: "Which creature in the morning goes on four feet, at noon on two, and in the evening upon three?"

Anyone unable to answer was killed, though finally the riddle was solved by Oedipus (the answer was man, for the record). After that the sphinx flung herself off of a cliff. Oedipus suceeded in, if you will, "conquering" the sphinx which is essentially what Ahab similarly tries to do.

The title of this chapter hints that perhaps Moby Dick is not simply a source of madness that Ahab feels inclined to chase, rather perhaps he is being "strangled" by Moby Dick. He is bound to the whale, and the whale to Ahab.

posted by Rebecca @ 8:00 AM