Narcissus (mythology)

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This page is about the mythological figure; for other uses of the term, please see Narcissus.

In Greek mythology, Narcissus or Narkissos (Greek Νάρκισσος), was a hero of the territory of Thespiae in Boeotia who was renowned for his beauty. Several versions of his myth have survived: Ovid's, from his Metamorphoses; Pausanias', from his Guide to Greece, (9.31.7); and one found among the Oxyrhynchus papyri.

Pausanias locates the spring of Narcissus at Donacon 'Reed-bed' in the territory of the Thespians. Pausanias finds it incredible that someone could not distinguish a reflection from a real person, and cites a less known variant in which Narcissus had a twin sister. Both dressed the same and wore the same kind of clothes and hunted together. Narcissus fell in love with her. When she died, Narcissus pined after her and pretended that the reflection he saw in the water was his sister.

As Pausanias also notes, yet another tale is that the narcissus flower was created to entice Demeter's daughter Persephone away from her companions to enable Hades to abduct her.

1 Ovid's version
2 Narcissism
3 Influence
4 The Narcissus flower
5 Further reading, and listening
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Ovid's version

In his Metamorphoses, Ovid tells the story of a graceful and pretty nymph named Echo who loved Narcissus in vain. Narcissus' beauty was so unmatched that he felt it was godlike in scope, comparable to the beauty of Dionysus and Apollo. As a result, Narcissus spurned Echo's affections until, despairing, she faded away to nothing but a faint, plaintive whisper. To teach the vain boy a lesson, the goddess Nemesis doomed Narcissus to fall in love with his own reflection in Echo's pond. Entranced by his own beauty and enamoured with his own image, Narcissus lay on the bank of the river and wasted away staring down into the water.

Different versions of the story state that Narcissus, after scorning his male suitors, was cursed by the gods to love the first male that he should lay his eyes on. While walking in the gardens of Echo he discovered the pond of Echo and saw a reflection of himself in the water. Falling deeply in love with himself, he slowly wasted his days in awe of his reflection. When Echo came to see him one day he cried out, "Alas, Alas," and she replied to him with the same words, the most that she could say. He quietly turned away and died. The nymphs mourned him and planned a funeral pyre on which to burn his remains. All that was left in his place was a beautiful flower of white petals stained with purple inside that now bears his name.

[edit] Narcissism

Narcissism is named after Narcissus, and both derive from the Greek word narke "numb" from which we also get the word narcotic. Thus for the Greeks Narcissus stood for vanity, callousness and insensitivity, as he was emotionally numb to the entreaties of those who fell in love with his beauty.

[edit] Influence

The myth of Narcissus has been a rich vein for artists to mine for at least two thousand years, beginning with the Roman poet Ovid (book III of Metamorphoses). This was followed in more recent centuries by other poets (Keats), and painters (Caravaggio, Poussin, Turner, Dalí, and Waterhouse). In Stendhal's novel Le Rouge et le Noir (1830), there is a classic narcissist in the character of Mathilde. Says Prince Korasoff to Julien Sorel, the protagonist, with respect to his beloved:

She looks at herself instead of looking at you, and so doesn't know you. During the two or three little outbursts of passion she has allowed herself in your favor, she has, by a great effort of imagination, seen in you the hero of her dreams, and not yourself as you really are. (Page 401, 1953 Penguin Edition, trans. Margaret R.B. Shaw).

The myth had a decided influence on English Victorian homoerotic culture, via the influence of Andre Gide's study of the myth Traite du Narcisse ('The Treatise of the Narcissus', 1891), and the influence of Oscar Wilde. Also, many characters in Fyodor Dostoevsky's (19th-Century Russian Writer) writings are lonely Narcissus-types, such as Yakov Petrovich Golyadkin in "The Double" (Published 1846).

[edit] The Narcissus flower

The Narcissus flower is named after Narcissus.

http://www.flowers.org.uk/Flowers/facts/k-r/narcissus.htm

[edit] Further reading, and listening

Louise Vinge. (1967). The Narcissus Theme in Western Literature up to the Nineteenth Century. (The classic in-depth study).

The Narcissus myth as told by story tellers:
1. Narcissus, read by Timothy Carter, music by Steve Gorn, compiled by Andrew Calimach. (.ogg file)
Bibliography of reconstruction: Ovid, Metamorphoses III.340 - 350, 415 - 510 (AD 8); Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.31.7 (AD 143–176)