The Sphinx Symbol Analysis

In addition to its association with Ancient Egyptian culture, the Sphinx symbolizes transition, specifically Cleopatra’s transition from innocent girl to adult queen and Egypt’s transition to Roman rule. In the Ancient Greek tradition, the Sphinx was a mythical creature with a woman’s head, a lion’s body, and a bird’s wings. The Greek Sphinx is a ruthless antagonist who will kill and eat those incapable of solving her riddle. Unlike the Greek Sphinx, the Egyptian Sphinx is typically masculine. In addition, Egyptians considered the Sphinx to be a powerful but benevolent and protective force. The Sphinx of Shaw’s Caesar and Cleopatra evokes characteristics of the Greek and Egyptian Sphinx. Like the Greek Sphinx, the Sphinx that Cleopatra flees to in Act I has the head of a woman. Yet, Cleopatra’s decision to go to the Sphinx for refuge from the approaching Roman army implies that she views the Sphinx as a protector, which is characteristic of the Egyptian Sphinx.

In many ways, the Sphinx functions as Cleopatra’s double. Like the Sphinx, which is half animal and half-beast, 16-year-old Cleopatra exhibits qualities of girlhood and queenhood, childish naivete and experience. While she longs to reclaim her royal throne, she’s too distracted by the foolish spat with her brother, her naive beliefs about Roman barbarians, and her childish infatuation with Caesar to become a competent, effective leader. Just as the Sphinx exists simultaneously as human and beast, so, too, does it appear during the play’s critical moments of transition. Caesar and Cleopatra meet and begin their political relationship at the Sphinx, symbolizing Egypt’s transition from Egyptian to Roman rule. Later on, at the dinner party in Act IV, Cleopatra uses a miniature sphinx figurine and incense to facilitate communication with Father Nile, an Egyptian deity. Almost immediately after Cleopatra uses the Sphinx to summon the spirit, the dinner guests hear the frenzied shouts of Pothinus’s assassination. The Sphinx appears at this critical moment when Cleopatra defies Caesar by ordering Pothinus’s assassination, demarking Cleopatra’s shift from a young girl too eager to please Caesar to even consider going against him to a ruthless, competent leader capable of advancing her own political goals.