the Sphinx and Formalism

A nude male stands with his back against a cliff face, gently holding a spear with the head resting on the ground. He wears a sash across his chest and a cape attached to the sash falls over his right side. A creature with the body of a cat, wings, and the breasts and face of a woman hovers in the air, pinning him to the cliff face. She wears a diadem. They look at each other, the male displaying no fear and the creature displaying no malice. To the male’s left is an urn on a pedestal, and at his feet are strewn limbs of the dead.


http://jssgallery.org/Other_Artists/Gustave_Moreau/Oedipus_and_the_Sphinx.htm


The sphinx is a threat, shown by the way she has young Oedipus backed up against a cliff. He has reason to be afraid. She is in a position of power, as shown by the diadem she wears, and the limbs in the foreground belong to her previous victims. Oedipus, however, is unafraid and has no intention of fighting the sphinx. His body position is open and the head of his spear is pointed at the ground. The sphinx for her part seems quite taken with Oedipus. She looks up at him, placing herself in a submissive position, and her paws on Oedipus’ chest rest there gently, almost like a lover’s.

Longinus and Murat

Longinus has a great deal to say about the sublime, that is, that which transcends the
commonplace and inspires true and noble emotions in people. According to Longinus, the ability
to create the sublime is largely innate and to create the sublime is to create grandeur. Longinus
states that the creation of grandeur comes from five sources: the “ability to form grand
conceptions”, “the stimulus of powerful and inspired emotion”, “the proper formation of the two
types of figure”, “noble diction”, and “dignified and elevated word arrangement”. The
performance artist Jerome Murat draws upon some of these sources to create a performance
piece that touches the sublime.
Murat’s performance is entirely a movement piece, so dignified word arrangement does
not contribute to the sublimity of the piece. However, the four other sources of the sublime are
indeed drawn upon for the execution of the piece. Murat obviously has incredible talent in
forming “grand conceptions”, as can be seen by the innovative visual concept of his piece and
the technical skill with which it was executed. Murat was able to inspire strong emotions in his
audience by the inclusion of music in his piece and also the emotion that he imbued his mask
with through skillful puppetry. By giving the mask emotions of its own he encouraged his
audience to sympathize with it. And although there were no words in the piece, Murat also
utilized “noble diction”. In theatre, the way physical action is performed is considered a type of
diction equal to the way words are said. All of Murat’s movements were incredibly specific and
had a magical quality to them. Hence: noble diction.
Perhaps the most important source of sublimity that Murat draws from is “the proper
formation of the two types of figure”. His piece is built entirely upon metaphors and symbols,
which are generally seen as figures of speech. The mask is a symbol for sentience, for
intelligence. The act of it waking up is a metaphor for a person “waking up” into reality. When
Murat puts the mask into the box, the box becomes a metaphor for the mental prisons that people
try to build around others. When Murat puts on the mask, it is a metaphor for him accepting his
own intelligence and his willingness to truly “see”. Murat almost becomes a parallel to the one
prisoner who made it out of Plato’s cave. All of these metaphors combine together in order to
elicit emotional responses from the audience.
Murat draws upon the five sources of sublimity to create a sense of grandeur in his
performance piece. His use of the five sources of sublimity and his technical execution combine
to form a piece that truly seems divinely inspired. Murat has great talent as a performance artist,
and has used his special gift to create something that touches the sublime. I think Longinus
would be proud.













Works Cited
1. Longinus. “On The Sublime.” Classical Literary Criticism. Ed. Penelope Murray.
London: Penguin Books, 2000. 113-166.
2. “The Best Magic Performance.” <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-p7bPdCjj0 >