Riddle Essays

  • The Riddle of Life

    563 Words  | 2 Pages

    direct to it when he pretends to not watch. A single word can describe my existence: Curiosity. Having been contained for the last seven and a half years, it is like a beast by educational policies. Once unleashed there is no way to stop it. A little riddle: 56784=4; 11111=0; 88811=6; 62257=1; 75213=? I have spend frustrating hours trying to find the right solution. I could have looked up the answer but I wanted to figure it out on my own. I wanted the challenge. That is why I want to be a Benjamin

  • The Riddle Of The Sphinx

    643 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Riddle of the Sphinx The study of myths probably began in the 4th century. BC. when Euthemerus explained them as exaggerated adventures of historical individuals. The allegorical interpretation of myths , stemming from the 18th century study , says that at one time myths were invented by wise men to point out a truth, but after a time myths were taken literally. The linguistic corruption interpretation says that myths could be understood as allegory for events found in nature. The Jungians

  • Oedipus: Riddle of the Sphinx as a Metaphor of Life

    1059 Words  | 3 Pages

    Oedipus: Riddle of the Sphinx as a Metaphor of Life Oedipus Rex (the King), written by Sophocles, is the tragic play depicting the disastrous existence to which Oedipus, an Athenian, is 'fated' to endure. With a little help from the gods and the 'fated' actions and decisions of Oedipus, an almost unthinkable misfortune unfolds. Athenian perfection can consist of intelligence, self-confidence, and a strong will. Oedipus, the embodiment of such perfection, and his tragedy are common place to Athenians

  • A Crossing of Old and New: Riddle 55 of the Exeter Book

    1860 Words  | 4 Pages

    A Crossing of Old and New: Riddle 55 of the Exeter Book I saw in the hall, where heroes drank, carried onto the floor a wondrous woodtree of four kinds and wound gold, cunningly fastened treasure, and part of silver 5 and the sign of the cross, which He raised the ladder for us to heaven before He stormed the city of the inhabitants of hell. I can easily tell before noblemen the origin of this tree: there was maple and oak and the hard yew 10 and the dark holly:

  • Riddles

    813 Words  | 2 Pages

    1.     Can you name three consecutive days without using the words Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday?…Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow 2.     What falls but never breaks? What breaks but never falls?…Night and Day! 3.     Wat is black when u buy it, red when u use it, and gray when u throw it away?… Charcoal 4.     Woman shoots her husband, holds him underwater for 5minutes, and finally hangs him. They were seen five minutes later. How is it possible… The woman was a photographer, took a

  • tragoed Oedipus the King (Oedipus Rex) - The Archetypal Tragic Man

    612 Words  | 2 Pages

    in Thebes that could be ended only when someone solved her riddle.  Oedipus traveled to Thebes and answered the riddle correctly.  The citizens of Thebes consider him a hero because he restored harmony to their kingdom.  Sophocles alludes to the riddle of the Sphinx several times in his play, Oedipus Rex.  Since the riddle is a metaphor for Oedipus' life, it is ironic that he was able to answer the question.  His revelation of the riddle of the Sphinx further supports the perspective of Oedipus as

  • Oedipus the King

    635 Words  | 2 Pages

    power of the gods. Throughout the play, the main character, Oedipus, continually failed to recognize the fault in human condition, and these failures let to his ultimate demise. Oedipus failed to realize that he, himself was the true answer to the riddle of the Sphinx. Oedipus ignored the truth told to him by the oracles and the drunk at the party, also. These attempts to get around his fate which was determined by the gods was his biggest mistake. Oedipus was filled with hubris and this angered the

  • Oedipus The King Essay

    577 Words  | 2 Pages

    his ability to solve problems was the leading cause of his ruin. It is evident that Oedipus has a great ability to solve problems through the references made to his success with the Sphinx. He brags about being able to solve the Sphinx’s riddle when no one else could. This puts him at a higher level than everyone

  • Oedipus the King: A Hero

    764 Words  | 2 Pages

    there would be no way for him to avoid his destiny. Before the play begins, we learn of Oedipus' heroism. Thebes had been tortured by the Sphinx, who would consume a townsman for every day that his riddle remained unsolved. Then humble Oedipus arrived in Thebes, solved this un-answerable riddle, and was immediately deemed a hero, and promoted to king of Thebes, taking his late father's place at the throne. In the begining of the play, Oedipus' heroism shows once more when he promises to end

  • Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

    717 Words  | 2 Pages

    been able to solve the mystery and stop Tom Riddle sooner. I think if I were Ron I would convinced Harry to tell Dumbledore about the voices. I also would have stayed away from where all of the writing on the wall was going on. While I was reading this book I never would have though that it was Ginny Weasly that opened the Chamber of Secrets. I also never would have thought that the reason Hagrid got expelled from Hogwarts was because Tom Riddle accused him of opening the chamber. I think this

  • Does Sophocles Use Disquietude In Oedipus The King

    976 Words  | 2 Pages

    Use of Disquietude and Pleasure in Oedipus the King       At the very core of  Sophocles' tragedy, Oedipus the King, lies emotional confusion. Sophocles purposely creates within his readers this sense of emotional confusion and self-awareness through his use of both disquietude and pleasure.    When he grows up, unknowing of his adoption, he discovers his doomed fate from an Oracle.  Seeking to escape it, he flees from Colonus.  Once upon the road, Oedipus discovers his path blocked

  • Oedipus the King: Pride and Determination

    532 Words  | 2 Pages

    throughout the play. When Oedipus heard the oracles’ prediction that he was to kill his father and marry his mother, he was determined to prevent the prophecy. Therefore he left his homeland of Corinth never to return. Then when he solved the Sphinx’s riddle, Oedipus’ pride rose to a new level. He was praised by the people of Thebes, resulting in his marriage to Jocasta, Queen of Thebes. Oedipus also shows his determination when in search of Laius’ murderer. He stated that he would avenge the King’s death

  • Sophocles’ Oedipus the King and the Human Condition

    1394 Words  | 3 Pages

    hubris, he becomes the agent of his own destruction. He serves as the paradigm for the self-deluding and self-destructive spirit of the human condition. Oedipus is a man of great wit and cleverness. He has solved the riddle of the Sphinx and even Teresias says: "It’s in riddle answering you are strongest" (29). But Sophocles understands that it is better to be wise than to be clever, and that the one does ... ... middle of paper ... ...one thing in terrible detail—that he has been blind all

  • William Blake's The Lamb

    536 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Lamb - William Blake Summary The poem begins with the question, "Little Lamb, who made thee?" The speaker, a child, asks the lamb about its origins: how it came into being, how it acquired its particular manner of feeding, its "clothing" of wool, its "tender voice." In the next stanza, the speaker attempts a riddling answer to his own question: the lamb was made by one who "calls himself a Lamb," one who resembles in his gentleness both the child and the lamb. The poem ends with the child bestowing

  • Sophocles' Oedipus the King and Cocteau's The Infernal Machine

    1439 Words  | 3 Pages

    extreme pride; while Sophocles' clever Oedipus has reason for his pride, Cocteau's foolish Oedipus is arrogant without cause. Sophocles' Oedipus solves "the (sphinx's) riddle by (his) wit alone."(Soph .O.T. 397) The Sphinx sits on the road to Thebes and kills anyone who can not answer her riddle until Oedipus appears, solves the riddle, and saves Thebes. It is at this point that he becomes King of Thebes and rules his people well. He does not know that he has killed his father, the former king, and

  • Oedipus

    1481 Words  | 3 Pages

    then continued his traveling, and arrived at the kingdom of Thebes, which was plagued by a horrible beast, they called the Sphinx. The frightful creature frequented the roads to the city, asking travelers her riddle then eating them when they could not answer correctly. Oedipus answered the riddle the Sphinx presented him with correctly, saving the city and becoming a hero. Believing that robbers had killed Laius, and grateful to Oedipus for ridding them of the dreadful Sphinx, the Thebans rewarded Oedipus

  • The Cruel Transformation in Oedipus the King

    1302 Words  | 3 Pages

    condemned man, humbled by his tragic fate. In the beginning, Oedipus is portrayed as a confident, powerful hero.  His bravery and worth are proved when the reader learns how he solved the Sphinx’s riddle.  Even though Oedipus was not a native Theban, he chose to answer the Sphinx’s riddle in spite of her threat of death to anyone who answers incorrectly.  Only a man like Oedipus, a man possessing tremendous self-confidence, could have such courage.  When Oedipus succeeds, freeing the city

  • Oedipus

    831 Words  | 2 Pages

    will be a sick city. This bad blood is the blood of the person who killed Laios. When Oedipus asks why the case was not investigated, as he had not come to Thebes at that point, the people answer that they were too busy trying to solve the Sphinx's riddle. Oedipus says that no matter what the cost is, he will get to the bottom of it, both because it harms Thebes, and because Laios was noble and loyal. The elders say that they do not have any knowledge of the murder, and suggest that Oedipus call Tiresias

  • Oedipus the King: A Tragic Hero

    750 Words  | 2 Pages

    play, we can already see that Oedipus is a great but flawed man. He proves to us to be a great and courageous man because of his extreme intelligence and cleverness. At the opening of the play, the chorus attributes Oedipus with solving the tricky riddle of the Sphinx and saving the city of Thebes from the gruesome creature. Oedipus’ intelligence seems to come to him naturally yet he was “taught . . . nothing/no skill, no extra knowledge [from the Thebans], [yet] still [he] triumphed,” (46-47). Oedipus

  • Riddle In Oedipus

    605 Words  | 2 Pages

    Before Oedipus came to Thebes, the city was under siege by a sphinx. It sat by the road and questioned would be travelers with a now famous riddle about a creature who walks on four legs in the morning, two in the day, and three in the evening. No one, it seems, could solve the riddle and many wise and valiant men lost their lives to the sphinx's appetite. Enter Oedipus. A wanderer, traveling far, separated from his family and his homeland, he becomes the unlikely hero of the city, weds its queen