Epistemology and the Legend of the Sphinx in Oedipus Rex Research Paper

Epistemology and the Legend of the Sphinx in Oedipus Rex - Research Paper Example The possibility of pharmakos in Oedipus Rex is epitomized in the association between the sphinx and Oedipus and how the sphinx monitors and uncovers information. Pharmakos is the possibility that there is a duality to things; that a thing can be both a fix and a toxic substance. The sphinx is utilized as a pharmakos in Oedipus Rex in light of the fact that not exclusively does her physical appearance depict a duality, yet in addition her conundrums hide information in their equivocalness, yet in addition it might be said, uncover truth concerning Oedipus and the Greek society. Epistemology can be characterized as the part of theory that takes a gander at the nature, starting point, strategies, just as cutoff points of human information. It looks to address the topic of how to recognize genuine information from bogus information. One of the remarkable epistemological issues in Oedipus Rex is the vagueness introduced regarding the nature and degrees of Oedipus’ information about his actual birthplaces (Carel 103). Numerous rationalists have contended that Oedipus may have been too uninformed to even think about figuring out realities about his past. Be that as it may, toward the start of the play, his insight is all around depicted when he is the main man who can explain the enigma of the sphinx. This uncertainty delivers the unclearness of the degree to which Oedipus can and ought to be considered liable for his activities, which are: murdering his natural dad and wedding his own mom. Sophocles recounts to the account of Oedipus in invert: he begins with the completion and goes to clarify how it occurred. As indicated by the prophet, the plague that has come to pass for Thebes will discover no fix until the individual liable for the homicide of King Laius is found and ousted from the city. Oedipus begins an examination to uncover the killer, however this examination rapidly transforms into an examination of Oedipus’ genuine personality. At first th e epistemology lies around finding a response to the inquiry â€Å"who did it†, yet this progressions course to the inquiry â€Å"who am I?† (Foster 22)The mental excursion of disclosure takes up quite a bit of this story. Information should end with delight and fulfillment. Notwithstanding, in this story, epistemology prompted a revelation that was more shocking than the occasions that prompted the disclosure itself. The Sphinx The word sphinx comes structure the Greek action word which when interpreted methods â€Å"to squeeze† or to fix (Gosse 65). A few history specialists anyway contend that the word is a defilement of the Egyptian word â€Å"shesepankh† which means â€Å"living image† (Zivie-Coche and Lorton 9). In Greek folklore the Sphinx is spoken to as having a serpent’s tail, a lion’s hunches, an enormous bird’s wings and a woman’s bosom and face. This pernicious animal is typically described as being cruel an d misleading. She is the evil presence of misfortune and annihilation and slaughters and destroys the individuals who neglect to effectively answer her puzzle. As indicated by legends, the sphinx was the gatekeeper of the entryways into the City of Thebes. To be permitted section, one needed to accurately answer her conundrum. The question is â€Å"which animal has four legs in the first part of the day, two at early afternoon and three at night, and the more legs it has, the more fragile it is? It is said that no man had ever had the option to offer a right response to the conundrum (10). Oedipus was the one in particular who furnished the right response which was ‘man’. After Oedipus offered the right response, the sphinx is said to have been angered and she executed herself. The first reason for the sphinx