The Ethical Mystery of the Sphinx Riddle

Abstract

This thesis embarks upon a polemic trek by poring over the origin of human ethical consciousness in Adam and Eve after their eating of the Tree of Good and Evil in the Bible, then goes on to explore the ethical mystery of the Sphinx Riddle in Greek Mythology, illustrate the ethical dilemma of Hamlet in Shakespeare’s renowned drama, and finally wind up with a new vision on Robert Frost’s poem with Lawrence’s idea of the Noble Wild Beast. Believing that there has appeared the binary of animality and rationality in man since the Biblical time, this thesis believes that human beings have repeatedly prized rationality over animality, emphasized ethical order over native desire, thus adoring knowledge and power while despising emotion and love. It tries to explore into such questions as: Why does God forbid Adam and Eve from plucking from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? Is Eve making a sort of ethical choice by eating the Forbidden Fruit? What is the ethical significance of Sphinx itself?