Short Fiction · Chapter
The Sphinx explained
During a cholera epidemic in New York, the narrator visits a relative's cottage on the Hudson River.
What happens
During a cholera epidemic in New York, the narrator visits a relative's cottage on the Hudson River. Plagued by fear of death and superstitious beliefs, he sees a monstrous creature on a distant hillside, which he describes in terrifying detail. His skeptical host later reveals the creature is actually a tiny Death's-headed Sphinx moth crawling on a spider's thread near the window, its apparent size and distance an illusion caused by misperception.
Themes in this chapter
Death and Mortality
The cholera epidemic and the narrator's obsession with death dominate the story, with the vision of the Death's-headed Sphinx symbolizing mortality.
Madness and Psychological Decay
The narrator's terror and near-mania, fearing for his sanity, illustrate psychological decay under stress.
The Supernatural and the Gothic
The monstrous vision and the narrator's belief in omens evoke a gothic atmosphere, though the supernatural is ultimately explained rationally.
Characters to notice
- Unknown Narrator
The narrator is deeply affected by the cholera epidemic and prone to superstition; he sees a monstrous vision that terrifies him.
- Edgar Allan Poe
The host of the cottage, a relative of the narrator, who calmly explains the optical illusion and dispels the narrator's fear.
Key passages
“During the dread reign of cholera in New York, I had accepted the invitation of a relative to spend a fortnight with him in the retirement of his cottage ornée on the banks of the Hudson.”
The narrator visits a relative's cottage on the Hudson River to escape the cholera epidemic in New York.
Sets the scene of fear and retreat from the city's plague.
“I could neither speak, think, nor dream of anything else.”
The narrator is completely consumed by thoughts of death.
Highlights the narrator's obsessive fear of mortality.
“I doubted my own sanity—or at least the evidence of my own eyes; and many minutes passed before I succeeded in convincing myself that I was neither mad nor in a dream.”
The narrator questions his sanity after seeing the monstrous creature.
Emphasizes the theme of psychological decay and uncertainty.
“But for your exceeding minuteness, in describing the monster, I might never have had it in my power to demonstrate to you what it was.”
The host explains that the narrator's detailed description allowed him to identify the creature as a small moth.
Reveals the rational explanation for the supernatural vision.