NCHS AP English Language

The Sphynx- Lindsay Miller

To interpret the chapter in Moby Dick about the Sphynx is a slight feat. One must read into the words and extract the contextual meaning of it. Ahab speaks of the head of the leviathan beign a sphynx. Now, what is a sphynx? From Greek lore, a sphynx is a mysteriously creature that knows all, enjoys playing mind , and eats man. This is easily correlated to the whale. A whale could almost be viewed as the God of the Sea. Now, God is omniscient, all-knowing. Thus, it may be inferred that the whale is all-knowing. He mentions in his spiel how the whale sees the mutaneers drown their pirate comrade, watches as lovers drown together in the ocean, together to the end. He sees grand ships sink to the bottom of the sea and rust and rot. The whale sees all about the of man in the ocean. Furthermore, the whaleis like the sphynx because the whale kills man, just as the sphynx eats man. Lastly, the sphynx is mysterious, witty and nearly impossible to kill, much like the cunning whale, who is constanty evading the whaling vessels, nearly indestructable and very mysterious, impossible to read. In these ways, one may explicate the meanings behind the Chapter 70 of Moby Dick, The Sphynx.

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