 In both cases, Oedipus can therefore be recognized as a "liminal" or threshold figure, helping effect the transition between the old religious practices, represented by the death of the Sphinx, and the rise of the new, Olympian gods.In Jean Cocteau's retelling of the Oedipus legend, "The Infernal Machine", the Sphinx tells Oedipus the answer to the riddle in order to kill herself so that she did not have to kill anymore, and also to make him love her.He leaves without ever thanking her for giving him the answer to the riddle.