Mini Theme - Echo and Narcissus - Danger of Narcissism

Mini-Theme #1- "Echo and Narcissus": Danger of Narcissism

The "Echo and Narcissus" translated by Ted Hughes concerns a danger of self-love in the Geek mythology. Behind that story, there is also a deep lesson about basis for understanding the implications of a condition known as narcissism. Narcissists are people who overly self-involved, and over respect their fantasies of perfection. The original author, Ovid, is very successful to deliver to reader a meaningful message considering with danger of narcissism and the way narcissists bring to a relationship with another person.

Narcissus is the son of Liriope, a swarthy nymph, and Cephius, a river God. His beauty has been expressed early in the myth: "In his sixteenth year Narcissus, / Still a slender boy but already a man, / Infatuated many. His beauty had flowered," (69). As the result of the massive attraction that he receives, Narcissus realizes his power and breaks hearts of people. "But something glassy about it, a pride, / Kept all his admirers at a distance. / None dared be familiar, let alone touch him." (70). However, Narcissus also gets trapped by his beauty as others have been and starts falling in love with himself. "I see through my own reflection. / .... I am in love with myself. / .... Loving or being loved? "(76). But it was too late; Narcissus was too absorbed in himself; he would not leave the stream so he died of thirst and hunger and unrequited self-love. Thus, we often question that "do narcissists love themselves?" The answer would be "not really". Narcissists just love the images of themselves. Therefore, they don't deal with their true emotions; they deny that they have any problems and place their health at risk through addictive behavior.

Furthermore, narcissism is also dangerous for relationship between people. According to the myth, Echo was a beautiful nymph of the woods and hills. But Echo has one weak-point; she talks too much, and whether in conversation or argument, she would have the last word. "Never anything more / Than the last word or two, the tail end" (70). Thus, because of her talkativeness, Echo is cursed by Juno to remove her voice with the exception in repetition of another's shouted words. One day, Echo sees Narcissus and falls deeply in love with him. However, unfortunately, Narcissus refuses the love of Echo because of his self-love. Here, Ovid once again is very successful in describing the details conversation and action between Echo and Narcissus. Ovid wants to show the readers how narcissism affects others in unhealthy ways. The problem of Narcissists is that they don't recognize the true value of others people. Therefore, narcissists badly treat and abandoned others. As the result, narcissism is usually the problem that destroys relationship between people.

Together, the story of Narcissus and