A Love that Truly Kills: The Story of Narcissus
What kind of tragedy may falling in love with yourself leads to, when love itself is troublesome enough? A hunter in ancient Greece experienced this and has since become “undying” by his death. This is the story of Narcissus.
According to Roman poet Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Narcissus was a young hunter living in Boeotia, a county in Central Greece, and was famous for his incredible beauty. In Ovid’s version, he was the son of Cephissus, the god of the river Boeotia and the nymph of that river Liriope. On the other hand, in some versions, he was the son of Selene, the moon goddess, and the handsome mortal hunter Endymion.
Many people fell in love with him because of his beauty, but he turned down all offers. He thought no one was beautiful enough for him, not suitable for his love. He showed anyone who loved him only contempt.
One day, while Narcissus was hunting in the forest, Echo, who was a mountain nymph, saw him. Charmed by his beauty, Echo instantly fell in love with him and started to follow him. After a while, when Narcissus understood that he was being followed he asked:
“Who is there?”.
-“Who is there?”
replied Echo (a little point about why her name is Echo).
After a while, Echo emerged from hiding, revealing her identity. Then, she walked straight toward narcissus and tried to embrace him. But Narcissus immediately pushed her off and told her to go away. Heartbroken, Echo wandered through the woods until only her echo remained. One day, Nemesis, the goddess of revenge and retribution saw her and asked Echo what had happened to her. After Nemesis listened to the story, she decided to punish Narcissus for what he had done.
While Narcissus was returning from hunting, Nemesis took him to a pond and made him look at his reflection in the waters. Then she cast a spell and made the hunter fall in love with himself. From that moment on, Narcissus could not take his eyes off his reflection because of his deep love for the person he saw in front of him. But he could not recognise that it was his reflection and thought that the beauty in front of him did not reciprocate his feelings.
He stayed by the pond for days and waited for his reflection to reciprocate his love, but that never happened. Eventually, according to Ovid’s work, his soul could not bear the pain he felt and his body turned into a golden and white flower by the pond. On the other hand, in some versions, Narcissus commits suicide because of his pain and then turns into a flower.
The flower called Narcissus today takes its name from him.
Also, Narcissus’s name is given to an egocentric personality style called Narcissism. Narcissistic people are overly concerned with themselves, appearance, and needs. Narcissism can be mild or turn into a narcissistic personality disorder, which is a disease.
Narcissus and his story still have an important place in the modern world. Besides giving the flower and the disease their names, he has given inspiration to many works of art, music and cinematography.
For example, American novelist Herman Melville mentions the story of Narcissus in his 1851 novel Moby Dick. The myth of Narcissus is described as “the key to it all”, which refers to finding the essence of truth through the physical world.
In music, the Greek death metal band Septicflesh released a song named Narcissus in their 2008 album Communion. The lyrics of the song tell the story of Narcissus and Echo.
