Narcissus Myth Explained (Greek Mythology)

A central figure in some of the most famous stories of Grécia Antiga, Narciso is a young man who has been eternalized in beauty and also in life. Apaixonado own hair I reflect, that via the waters of a lake, the finished morrendo nas margens.

Full of interpretations and symbols, or myth remains among us, reinvented by countless authors and artists, gaining new readings with a passage of time.

A divine beauty of Narcissus

Narcissus was a child of Cefiso and Liríope: he was a river and a nymph. Perhaps you have divine origins, a nascent child endowed with extraordinary beauty. This fact assumes your country, from or birth, since your physical perfection could be faced as uma faces years of uses.

Worried, to me resolveu consult or prophet Tirésias, um, he was blind, the more he got enxergar or future. Ela perguntou se a filho life would be long. O oracle answered that sim, as long as he never sees his image as reflected, what would it be to his loss of him.

A classical culture, any qualification in exaggeration could be a perigo, because it would wake up to chamada

hybris, which can be translated as arrogância ou extreme pride. It is so that it happens as a young person, that it grows and becomes the center of attention in all the places where it passes.

Either herói was so beautiful that he conquered or love of the whole world: I tied of important divinities. Second Ovídio, na work Metamorphoses, he was wanted by women from Grécia inteira. I tied the nymphs Lutavam with their hair, but Narcissus was cold and superb, always indifferent to her invested with it.

Eco e Narciso: love and tragedy

Echo was a nymph of the lake who was expelled from Olympus by Hera, due to her years. Before, the falava muito and distracted Deusa with his conversations, while Zeus was frazzled to bring her. Furious Hera resolveu punish her I determined that it would pass to communicate only by repetitions.

A poor nymph otter a huge paixão for him, but she was always rejeitated; Likewise, she became isolou not lake and her body was transformedou num rochedo. Revolt with the behavior of Narcissus, as other nymphs will meet and ask for help from Nemesis. Filha de titãs, a deusa was known to represent vingança.

Nemesis determined that the punição would be a nursery impossible love, ficando in love peels his image of him. Later, when he left to drink water or lake, or he saw or his face peeled for the first time and discovered or size gives his beauty. Unable to leave or local, spend two days I am admiring nas Águas and I stopped to feed, ending up dying.

Do corpo de Narciso nasceu uma flor

Aphrodite, deused of love, fought for Narcissus. Assim, depois da sua morte de el, ela transformou o corpo do rapaz numa amarela flower that nasceu na margem do lago e ganhou or seu nome from him.

Many times, a flower cresce tilted to the bottom, or which was credited to represent youth position olhando or seu reflexo. She was also compared to the figure of Narcissus because despite being very beautiful, she was also fragile and short lived time.

Interpretations and meaning of myth

There is also other verses That modifies the entanglement of the myth. Numa delas, a vingança was not caused by Echo, but by Aminias, a homem who was beaten by Narcissus who shot to his own life. Já na history told by Pausânias, or herói tinha uma irmã gêmea que morreu. Appalled by her, it was or rosto da moça who was selling nas águas.

With these variations in the plot, new analyzes and interpretations emerged. It is important to note that or not this figure emerged from the word narke, which meant "entorpecimento". We are facing someone who was charming, hypnotized, self-centered. Somehow, ele é o opposite of Eco, that manages to repeat two words as others.

No second volume da sua Greek Mythology, Junito de Sousa Brandão quotes the psychiatrist Carlos Byington, in this respect:

Narcissus, argued Byington, is going to be a central symbol of permanence in itself, Echo, or vice versa, translated into the problematic of the experience of its opposite. In order to understand the myth, it is necessary to state that Narciso e Eco is in a dialectical relationship of complementary opposites, (...) of something that remains the same and of something that remains no other.

The most consensual reading about the myth is about a homem who is the subject and object of his love. Assim, history can be seen as a metaphorical reflection on identity and individuality, narrating a process of self-consciousness. This uncovered woman ends up condemning Narciso: he becomes his own universe and the rest of the world.

There is also a strong symbolic charge, present in various mythologies, which associates spells and reflections with the supernatural world. Also, a reflected image can be faced as a double, a shadow or soul attached.

During the nineteenth century, the myth of Narcissus began to be studied by other fields of knowledge. OR thermo "narcissism" Nasceu na Psiquiatria and depois was incorporated by Psicanálise.

Freud I develop a study on the subject, claiming to be a phase of human development, in that an individual's libido would be focused on it. For Jung, a story portrays a complex of the human psyche: Narciso mergulha deeply in self-reflection that loses everything or rest.

At present, Psychology fails of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, a condition through which or subject has an exaggerated and grandiose image of himself.

Representations of the myth of Narcissus

Over the past two decades, you have been untold as representations and reinventions of myth, with more varied periods and disciplines. A figure is an assiduous presence in literature from Ovídio; Two more famous examples are a part of the theater Narcissus ou or Self-Admirer (1752) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

O hero with a tragic ending also arises from the visual arts, painted by famous names such as John William Waterhouse and Caravaggio (more images above) or Salvador Dalí.

Outra reference that you Brazilians know beme a song "Sampa", by Caetano Veloso, and his unspecific verses: "É que Narciso acha feio / o que não é espelho".

Bibliographic sources:

• ÁVILA, Lazslo Antonio. "Psicanálise e mythologia grega" in Pulsional Psicanálise Magazine, Years XIV / XV.
• BRANDÃO, Junito de Sousa. Greek Mythology, volume II. Petrópolis: Editora Vozes, 1987.

Take the opportunity to see also:

• Medusa History Explained (Greek Mythology)
• Mito da Caverna, from Platão: analysis and interpretation
• Lendas of Brazilian Folklore Explained