Re: Culture, Tomb, SPHINX -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

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Date Posted: 20:09:06 03/23/08 Sun
Author: Cara
Subject: Re: Culture, Tomb, SPHINX
In reply to: CS Holden 's message, "Re: Culture, Tomb, SPHINX" on 09:07:50 03/12/08 Wed

Thinking about the "clean" death of the Sphinx, I wonder whether, rather than Oedipus becoming a new Sphinx, the Sphinx was simply an earlier Oedipus. The one who normally suffers a clean death is the sacrificial victim. The Sphinx is a monstrous creature who bears all blame for the original "plague", and no one in the play ever questions this.

Another parallel between Oedipus and the Sphinx could be the riddle. The Sphinx devoured herself when Oedipus solved her riddle, and Oedipus destroyed himself when he thought someone had discovered the truth of the oracle.

But if the Sphinx is a mythical masking of an earlier victimage, this means we have two overlapping mechanisms. The Sphinx being a sacrificial victim, she must have been a pharmakon, curing the plague with her death. But if Oedipus is also responsible for curing the plague by defeating her, are they not both the cure of the same plague? Is it possible to have two parallel myths overlap one another in this way?

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Re: Culture, Tomb, SPHINX -- CS Holden, 10:09:08 03/24/08 Mon