As often happens with Greek/Roman myths, the main character/occurrence in the story makes its mark in the English language by becoming the root of a common word. Here, we see why Narcissus (this version of the myth is from Ovid's Metamorphoses) is the root for the word narcissism, and all the other words that derive from that.
Reading Notes
- This version is a lot more poetic than the story of Phaethon I read yesterday, it seems.
- Definitely this version was meant to be read out loud, not read from paper.
- Lots of poetic imagery, as usual.
- It's weird because Narcissus is aware that he's in love with his own reflection, but he doesn't care.
- In my initial reading, my thought was "Narcissus isn't that bright, to fall in love with his own reflection. After all, one feature of cognitive development in children is when they recognize that what's in the mirror is a reflection."
- But again, he does know what's happening, he just doesn't care.
- Also shows how in mythology, prophecies always come to pass, no matter what is or isn't done to avoid them.
- In the end, a tragedy for both Narcissus and Echo (who really didn't do anything wrong except to make Juno angry, but I digress).
- Both of them end up dying/unhappy
- Side note, apparently the flower Narcissus turns into is known for growing by water and bowing so it looks like it's looking at its own reflection. Therefore, it's Narcissus forever looking at the reflection of one he can't have.
- Also, basically it was someone Narcissus rejected who started the whole thing (so again, the gods just kinda doing stuff at their whim).
So in this picture, we have Narcissus looking at his reflection, while Echo looks at him (Source: Greek Myths & Greek Mythology)
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