But, like everyone who longed for his attention, Ameinias was just another unlucky admirer. Echo’s loquacity is a fault, but one’s right not to have to suffer emotional abuse should not be dependent on one not having any significant faults.
It is an explanation not only for where the flower originated, but also why echoes exist. Ameinias found Narcissus alluring and was in awe of his hunting prowess. Though Ovid uses the Roman names for the gods, I’ll be using the Greek names. Although he recognized it as himself, it still allowed him to see the image of the one he loved. It was stressed that he deserved everything that happened to him because of the scornful way he treated those who loved him, especially Echo. Echo and Narcissus represent two extremes of the human personality. Ovid told of Narcissus’ story from his birth: Narcissus was fathered by a river god to a nymph named Liriope. As for Narcissus, we see not only his ego-libido (self-love)–in the form of what Freud called secondary narcissism, a regression from the object-libido (love of others) one is supposed to develop after outgrowing the ego-libido of infantile primary narcissism–but we also see malignant traits in him, directed towards other people. When she stumbled upon Narcissus, an equally beautiful woodland spirit, it was love at first sight.
You are projecting today to mythical Greece, it’s a story of pride and hybris.
Her body is gone but her bones became rocks and her voice remains and can be heard in mountain valleys and in caves. Written by Kristin Lisenby, @eastandalchemy. perfect example of your words and actions not just affect yourself but others around you until it snowballs into a fiasco. Echo was a nymph who was destined a fate that she could only repeat the sounds and last words of others. It just shows Narcissus leaning over a pond looking at himself with a statue behind him. For it is their self-absorption that causes the alienation resulting, in turn, in the pathologies of the masses. When most people think of Narcissus, they think of Echo. Before Echo stumbled upon Narcissus in the woods, there was a young man named Ameinias. [2], The painting on the J. W. Waterhouse website, The Unwelcome Companion: A Street Scene in Cairo, I Am Half-Sick of Shadows, Said the Lady of Shalott, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Echo_and_Narcissus_(Waterhouse_painting)&oldid=983197448, Pages using infobox artwork with the backcolor parameter, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 12 October 2020, at 20:33. He missed her so much that he would go to the river to see his reflection. Ovid and Pausanias show the reader that it isn’t good to be self absorbed because a person will end up with no one in the end just like Narcissus who died by the side of a watering hole with only his reflection.
He rejected all the nymphs and women who fell in love with him.
One day while Narcissus was hunting he went to get a drink. So close, yet so far away. Hera’s punishment, an excessive one motivated by narcissistic rage against someone who couldn’t refuse Zeus’ command, is a form of emotional abuse. Pausanias summarized Ovid's story, but also had his own version: The spring of Narcissus is located on a mountain top at the river Lamus in a place called Donacon. This story tells that Narcissus had an identical twin sister, who he did everything with.
Or, like Echo, was he cursed? she devoted herself to woodland sports. Echo may be talkative, but this in itself is a minor fault. His admiration of his reflection is like Lacan‘s notion of the mirror stage, only Narcissus’ experience is an extreme version of the self-alienation we all as infants first experience on at least some level. Coined by psychoanalyst Dean Davis and popularized by psychologist Dr. Craig Malkin, Echoism is the polar opposite of narcissism. Ameinias would take the rejection as badly as it could be taken, and the youth would commit suicide in the doorway of Narcissus’ home, killing himself with a sword that had been given to him by Narcissus. He takes his last dying breath by himself and dies by the image that he will never have but so badly desires. Please log in using one of these methods to post your comment: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. The painting is included in the PDF linked above. But, like everyone who longed for his attention, Ameinias was just another unlucky admirer. Narcissus fell in deeply love with his reflection while drinking on a hunt. He has no concern about anything around him nor does he eat or sleep.
Perhaps, but only if we don’t ask any questions. It illustrates the myth of Echo and Narcissus from Ovid's Metamorphoses.
A narcissus flower grew on the spot where he died. At first glance, this gesture appears genuine, but the phallic shape of the sword was intended to tease Ameinias. Echo jubilantly rushed to Narcissus, but he spurned her, saying, “Hands off! He’s invoked by anyone looking to correct an error in judgment, and he takes pleasure in helping people who are looking for a second chance in a failed relationship. In the rationalized version where Narcissus had a twin, Echo and the will of the Gods are completely omitted, thereby negating what appeared to be the main points of the story. One of these was the nymph Echo, who could only repeat the words of others. Echo, heartbroken and riddled with sorrow, followed her beloved into the afterlife shortly after his demise. ( Log Out / His transformation into a flower symbolizes how, even in death, a narcissist can still be loved and admired, even by such victims of his as Echo (who mourns for Narcissus to the end), as well as by his flying monkeys and enablers. With blood on his hands, Narcissus sealed his fate. Crazy with love, Narcissus stayed by the side of the water and wasted away.
Infants develop a sense of an ego when they first see themselves in a mirror, the reflection showing a unified, coherent totality of a self, as opposed to the awkward, clumsy, fragmented self the baby feels himself to be. But Echo had one failing; she was fond of talking, and whether in chat or argument would. She mourned more and as he said his farewell to the reflection she echoed his words. He was in love with his sister who eventually died. According to Gildenhard and Zissos, the story of Narcissus actually interrupted the poetic pattern within Metamorphoses, showing that the story was an afterthought used to verify the validity of the prophet Tiresias. Narcissus was incapable of loving anyone but himself, and Echo was cruelly rejected. The ideal of perfection seen over there is something one strives to equal for the length of one’s life, just as Narcissus aches to hold in his arms the body he sees in the watery reflection, but can’t hold (Mary M. Innes translation, page 92). Her prayers were heard by the goddess Nemesis who caused Narcissus to fall in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. He sees his ideal-I in the watery reflection; it’s him, yet it isn’t him. Zeus and Hera, in their own ways, are excessively egotistical and exploitative, too, being the king and queen of heaven, and having all the privileges and arrogance of a ruling class. Change ), Rewriting Your Life Story – Infinite Ocean, ‘Sirens,’ a Horror Novella, Chapter Eight, ‘Sirens,’ a Horror Novella, Chapter Seven. She was so upset by her rejection that she withdrew from life and wasted away until all that was left was a whisper. It is also a story of vengeance of the Gods; Echo was punished by Juno for distracting her so that the Nymphs who were lying with Jupiter could escape and Narcissus was punished for treating those who loved him poorly. Since Narcissus denied everyone his love, the gods fated that Narcissus could never have anything that he loved. Pausanias even stated that he believed the flower existed long before Narcissus. I will be basing my analysis of this myth largely on the poetic narrative in Ovid‘s Metamorphoses. A balance between ego-libido and object-libido (love for other people) should be striven for. From that day onward, she lost the ability to speak freely, and her voice was restricted to echoes.
It is almost the opposite of consent, Narcissus withheld “consent” due to pride and was punished, the logic being, can you make love to yourself ? She wasn’t born speechless, but after a tryst with Zeus, Hera cursed Echo. It wasn’t long before Narcissus stopped for a drink of water. And so, Narcissus goes for a drink from that fateful pool of water. Modern Versions of the Narcissus/Echo Myth. upon Echo in these words: "You shall forfeit the use of that tongue with which you have cheated me, except for that one purpose you are so fond of REPLY. Legend says that moments before he succumbed to his injuries, Ameinias called upon Nemesis, God of justice and Karmic consequences. He never heard the lovesick tone in her voice.
Near her grow some yellow flag irises, Iris pseudacorus, and she wears a red poppy in her auburn hair. Echo stayed by his side while he wasted away and eventually perished. They covered him with their hair and set up for a funeral. as you won’t to anyone else. However, there was no one to whom Narcissus would return affection. But, chances are, it was Nemesis that spurned the curse that ended Narcissus’s life. Even Philostratus’ analysis states that in the Painting of Narcissus, Narcissus is gazing at himself and his focus is not towards anything else. He asked that Narcissus pay for his emotional and physical wounds by experiencing the ultimate loss—the death the one he loves the most. May I die before you enjoy my body.” Humiliated and rejected, Echo fled in shame.
One must have neither too much nor too little a sense of self. The painting is in oils on canvas and it measures 109.2 cm × 189.2 cm (43.0 in × 74.5 in). One feels oneself to be so incomplete, yet the specular image seems so whole, so together, so perfect…and so over there, not here, even when the reflection is as close to oneself as it is to Narcissus. He never glanced in her direction. Echoism and narcissism thus represent two uncomfortable extremes on a personality spectrum. Echo returned to see him wasting away. Let’s dive in. If he wasn’t smitten, he was at least entranced enough to profess love to his own reflection. ( Log Out /
Narcissists are known for their viciousness and cruelty to others, and their namesake is, of course, no exception. It worked.