Barrister Miti Sanjana :
A mythological Greek hero Narcissus is the origin of the term Narcissism that everyone is familiar with nowadays. Narcissistic Personality Disorder is a mental condition characterized by an extreme self-obsession with lack of concern for the needs of other people of the surroundings. Many of us do not know much about the background history that narcissism is named after the mythological Greek character Narcissus, an extremely good looking young man who refused the love of Echo a wood nymph with a beautiful voice and as punishment was condemned to fall in love with his own reflection.
Narcissus was the son of River God Cephisusson and the fountain-nymph Liriope and was a hunter from Thespiae in Boeotia. He was the most attractive and handsome young man in the forest with big blue eyes. Whoever saw Narcissus fell in love with him immediately but he didn’t love anyone as he felt no one else was good enough and worthy for him.
He was famous for his extraordinary beauty and physique. The myth of Narcissus has two different versions. One is Greek and the other is Greco-Roman version. Conon and Ovid, the Greek and Roman poet respectively, wrote the story of Narcissus. One day Narcissus was hunting deer in the woods when Echo the nymph of wood, saw this golden-haired extra ordinarily beautiful looking youth. As soon as she saw him, she was lost. She felt an instant and extreme attraction for Narcissus on the first sight. She fell deeply in love, and followed him through the woods. Narcissus could feel that he was being followed by someone and shouted “Who’s there?” Echo repeated “Who’s there?” She eventually showed herself and rushed to him to embrace him. Narcissus became very irritated and asked her to leave him alone. He pushed her away and threw her on the ground. Echo was utterly heartbroken. She devoted all her life for a love that would never be returned. She ran away to live in the mountains and she spent the rest of her life lonely cherishing the memory of her love.
Nemesis was the goddess of retribution and revenge. One of the rejected lovers of Narcissus, prayed to Nemesis to punish him for his uncompassionate feeling. She decided to punish Narcissus and cursed him. She led him to a hidden pool of water. Narcissus decided to drink some water to quench his thirst from the pool. The pool had a crystal clear surface. He bent down to drink the water and he saw someone looking at him. He was spellbound and surprised by the beauty he saw not knowing that it was him. He fell in love with the person with open blue eyes like stars, the golden hair, the sharp cheeks. He didn’t realize it was his own reflection. When he was trying to touch the beautiful person it disappeared and he only touched the crystal clear water. He was trying to embrace it but found none there. When the sun was going down the reflection disappeared. Narcissus cried out. He became obsessed by gazing endlessly at his own beautiful reflection. He finally realized that it was his own illusive image and he fell in despair that his love could not materialize. He became extremely thirsty but he wouldn’t touch the water in fear of disappearance of his reflection. Eventually he died out of thirst and staring at his own reflection. He died at the side of the pool from his sorrow. Day after day, he sat beside the pool patiently staring in his own reflection until he took his last breath. As per the roman version Narcissus is transformed into a magnificently beautiful flower. This mesmerizing flower is very fragile and usually found growing close to watercourses.
After the death of Narcissus, grief and sorrow killed Echo. She stopped eating and drinking and began wasting away. Her beauty faded away. Grief and sorrow snuffed the glow of her beautiful eyes. Her beautiful brown locks became limp. She died out of grief and her bones and flesh turned into the mountain stone. There was nothing else inside her except her lonely beautiful voice which closely repeated and echoed the words of other when they spoke.
