You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
The Sphinx differs from other treasure-guarding monsters: her treasure was
not material wealth but knowledge, the secret of the sexual riddle. While treasure seekers killed other dragons, the Sphinx, defeated by insight and knowledge, killed herself 'when her secret is broken in time of sexual maturation'. The primary anxiety connected with the sexual riddle shapes the pattern of all subsequent anxiety arising from the unknown. The author believes that the unveiling of the riddle, the acquisition of the hidden treasure, is ultimately detrimental for man: '… a curse lies upon this knowledge', the dragon-killer ultimately falling victim to his victory over unconscious fantasies. Oedipus 'personifies the final defeat of the conscious self-evident thinking and the victory of the Sphinx, of the psychic forces which are hidden in the unknown and the unconscious of the own self'.