The document discusses multiple versions and retellings of the myth of Narcissus and Echo. It describes the classic version by Ovid where Narcissus spurns Echo's love and is cursed to fall in love with his own reflection. It also discusses an earlier version where Narcissus commits suicide after failing to seduce his own reflection, mistakenly thinking it was another person. The myth of Narcissus continues to influence modern literature, film, psychology and culture.

1. THE İMPORTANCE OF THE MYTHS
A myth is most times a symbolic representation of reality, and it's intended to be a guide
that helps us to deal with life's challenges.In first place, myths have been used by humans
since oral tradition exists, long time before writing was invented. In its primitive origins,
myths used to speak about forces of nature, then evolved to stories about gods and heroes.
The purpose of those stories was to teach some universal true deducted through observation of
human behaviour or constants in how Nature works. This is important because myths are
made to warn us about danger or to bring us hope.
In conclusion, mythological characters are seen still in different areas of life in modern
world. We run across instances of words, city names, companies, literary allusions - and many
planets and constellations - that take their name or borrow their theme from myths.
THE MYTH OF ECHO AND NARCİSSUS
Several versions of this myth have survived from ancient sources. The classic version
is by Ovid, found in book 3 of his Metamorphoses (completed 8 AD)( Thomas
Bulfinch,1999). This is the story of Narcissus and Echo. An earlier version ascribed to the
poet Parthenius of Nicaea, composed around 50 BC, was recently rediscovered among the
Oxyrhynchus papyri at Oxford. Unlike Ovid's version, this one ends with Narcissus
committing suicide. A version by Conon, a contemporary of Ovid, also ends in suicide
(Narrations, 24). A century later the travel writer Pausanias recorded a novel variant of the
story, in which Narcissus falls in love with his twin sister rather than himself (Guide to
Greece, 9.31.7).Pausanias locates the spring of Narcissus at Donacon 'Reed-bed' in the
territory of the Thespians. Pausanias finds it incredible that someone could not distinguish a
reflection from a real person, and cites a less known variant in which Narcissus had a twin
sister. Both dressed the same and wore the same kind of clothes and hunted together.
Narcissus fell in love with her. When she died, Narcissus pined after her and pretended that

2. the reflection he saw in the water was his sister.As Pausanias also notes, yet another tale is
that the narcissus flower was created to entice Demeter's daughter Core away from her
companions to enable Hades to abduct her.
Ovid's version
In Metamorphoses, Ovid tells the story of a graceful and pretty nymph named Echo who
loved Narcissus in vain. Narcissus' beauty was so unmatched that he felt it was godlike in
scope, comparable to the beauty of Bacchus and Apollo. As a result, Narcissus spurned Echo's
affections until, despairing, she faded away to nothing but a faint, plaintive whisper. To teach
the vain boy a lesson, the goddess Nemesis doomed Narcissus to fall in love with his own
reflection in Echo's pond. Entranced by his own beauty and enamoured with his own image,
Narcissus lay on the bank of the river and wasted away staring down into the water. Different
versions of the story state that Narcissus, after scorning his male suitors, then was cursed by
the gods to love the first male that he should lay his eyes on. While walking in the gardens of
Echo he discovered the pond of Echo and saw a reflection of himself in the water. Falling
deeply in love with himself, he leaned closer and closer to his reflection in the water,
eventually falling into the pond and drowning.
Archaic version
This, a more archaic version than the one related by Ovid in his Metamorphoses, is a moral
tale in which the proud and unfeeling Narcissus is punished by the gods for having spurned all
his male suitors. It is thought to have been meant as a cautionary tale addressed to adolescent
boys. Until recently, the only source for this version was a segment in Pausanias (9.31.7),
about 150 years after Ovid.( Thomas Bulfinch,1999) However, a very similar account was
discovered among the Oxyrhynchus papyri in 2004, an account that predates Ovid's version
by at least fifty years.In this story, Ameinias, a young man, loved Narcissus but was scorned.
To tell Ameinias off, Narcissus gave him a sword as a present. Ameinias used the sword to

3. kill himself on Narcissus' doorstep and prayed to Nemesis that Narcissus would one day know
the pain of unrequited love. This curse was fulfilled when Narcissus became entranced by his
reflection in the pool and tried to seduce the beautiful boy, not realizing it was himself he was
looking at. Completing the symmetry of the tale, Narcissus takes his sword and kills himself
from sorrow.
ONE VERSİON OF THE ECHO AND NARCİSSUS MYTH
Zeus, the King of the Olympians, was known for his many love affairs. Sometimes the
young and beautiful Nymph Echo would distract and amuse his wife Hera with long and
entertaining stories, while Zeus took advantage of the moment to ravish the other mountain
nymphs. When Hera discovered the trickery she punished the talkative Echo by taking away
her voice, except in foolish repetition of another's shouted words. Thus, all Echo could do was
repeat the voice of another.
Echo fell in love with a vain youth named Narcissus, who was the son of the blue
Nymph Leiriope of Thespia. The River god Cephisus had once encircled Leirope with the
windings of his streams, and thus trapping her, had seduced the nymph. Narcissus was their
child.
Concerned about the baby's welfare, Leirope went to consult the oracle called
Teiresias regarding her son's future. Teiresias told the nymph that Narcissus "would live to a
ripe old age, as long as he never knew himself."
Narcissus was beautiful as a child and grew even more so as he matured. By the age of
sixteen he had left a trail of broken hearts, from rejected lovers of both sexes. Narcissus
wanted nothing to do with falling in love with anyone and rebuffed all attempts at romance.
One day when Narcissus was out hunting stags, Echo stealthily followed the
handsome youth through the woods, longing to address him but unable to speak first. When

4. Narcissus finally heard footsteps and shouted "Who's there?", Echo answered "Who's there?"
And so it went, until finally Echo showed herself and rushed to embrace the lovely youth.
He pulled away from the nymph and vainly told her to get lost. Narcissus left Echo
heartbroken and she spent the rest of her life in lonely glens, pining away for the love she
never knew, until only her voice remained.(it is where the echo in our daily use come from)
A man named Ameinius was one of Narcissus' most ardent admirers, and repeatedly
vied for his attention. The conceited youth responded by sending his suitor a sword, telling
him to prove his adoration. Ameinious proceeded to plunge the sword into his heart,
committing suicide to demonstrate his love, but not before he prayed the gods to punish the
vain Narcissus.
The goddess of the hunt, Artemis, heard the plea and made Narcissus fall in love, but a
kind a love that couldn't be fulfilled. Narcissus came upon a clear spring at Donacon in
Thespia and, as he bent low to take a drink, for the first time caught sight of himself reflected
in the pool. Try as he might to touch this exquisite person in the waters, however, he never
could.
For hours he sat enraptured by the spring, at last recognizing himself but tortured by
the realization that he could never possess the object of his infatuation. Narcissus was
tormented, much as he had tormented all those who in the past had been unlucky enough to
fall in love with him.
Finally unable to stand the agony Narcissus plunged a dagger in his heart and died,
calling out a last goodbye to his reflected image. Where his blood soaked the earth sprung up
the white narcissus flower with its red corollary.
Some other versions finishes the story by saying that „Nymphs began to mourn for the
him,especially the water nypms and prepared a funeral pile and would have burned the
body,but it was nowhere to be found,but in its place a flower.‟(Nick Pontikis, 1988 ).

5. HOW AND WHERE WE SEE THE NARCISSUS IN THE MODERN WORLD
Narcissus lent his name to a destructive personality disorder. A person may have
charm or looks or athletic skill but if he is so fixated on himself that he drives others away and
can't even realize that he is the one at fault, he is a narcissist.(Macmullen,C.,2011)
Through the years, in literature and film, narcissists have been portrayed as sometimes
tragic, sometimes evil, but always as people to be pitied or deplored.(Macmullen,C.,2011)
Nathan DeWall, associate professor of psychology at the University of Kentucky,
analyzed popular song lyrics over the past 30 years and discovered that the music increasingly
reflects narcissistic tendencies.
DeWall said in the interview, "We found there is an increasing focus on 'me' and 'my'
instead of 'we,' 'our' and 'us.'. These song lyrics really mirror cultural changes, personality
traits, motivations and emotions."
DeWall theorized that the effect of listening to all these songs that celebrate the
wonder of Me discourages the kind of honesty that is an antidote to narcissism.
"It reinforces the idea that we need to focus on how people feel about themselves. You can't
give accurate feedback about who they really are," he said. That's because narcissists do not
take criticism well. They exude confidence, but they are really fragile, DeWall said.
If it's true that things have gotten worse, as DeWall's study suggests, then an increase
in narcissism could explain a lot about destructive trends in our society today.If we could
recover the picture of the narcissist in classic art and literature as one who is both destructive
and self-destructive and must be confronted, exposed and if necessary, rejected rather than
coddled, we might begin to find our way back to health as a society.
THE MYTH OF NARCISSUS IN CINEMA
Legendary Scottish-Canadian animator Norman McLaren finished his career with a
short film named "Narcissus", re-telling the Greek legend with a few different elements in the

6. story.Narcissus appears in the Disney adaptation of Hercules. In the film, he is portrayed as an
Olympian god with purple skin.In the film Bab'Aziz, directed by Nacer Khemir, a Narcissus
like character was portrayed by an ancient prince who sat by a pond for days after days and
looked at the reflection of his own soul. He was referred as 'The prince who contemplated his
soul'.Pink Narcissus is an artistic film by James Bidgood about the fantasies of a hustler.The
escape craft Ripley boards in the 1979 Ridley Scott film Alien is called the Narcissus.
The Portrait of Dorian GRAY (2009) and Narcissus
In the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, Dorian Gray is the
protagonist who is narcissistic. Dorian Gary is in many ways a modern retelling of the ancient
myth about Narcissus. In five ways they are very similar: beauty, love, vengeance, death and
narcissism. These stories both have the concept of beauty; Dorian Gary and Narcissus are
beautiful, young and handsome. In The Picture of Dorian Gray the artist Basil Hallward
believes that Dorian‟s beauty is the inspiration for all of his art. “Unconsciously he defines for
me the lines of a fresh school,” Hallward declared, “a school that is to have in it all passion of
the romantic spirit, all the perfection of the spirit that is Greek.” Narcissus was Greek, so he
also in a way influenced Basil. Without a doubt, Dorian and Narcissus were both
distinguished for their beauty. Dorian and Narcissus have a very similar love plot; both had
one true love: Dorian‟s being Sibyl Vane, and Narcissus‟s being Echo. Sibyl was an actress
that was in love with Dorian, but she was so caught up in her love that she lost her ability to
act. Dorian feeling outraged spurns her cruelly, leaving her humiliated, heartbroken and left to
kill herself that night. Echo was the nymph that was in love with Narcissus, and was
condemned by the goddess Hera to never speak again, except to repeat whatever was said to
her, because of this she was unable to tell Narcissus that she loved him. Like Dorian,
Narcissus cruelly refused to accept Echo‟s love because of his anger. Vengeance is a very
important device in both stories, because it is eventually what leads to the death of both

7. Narcissus and Dorian. Aphrodite was so enraged at the death of Echo that he promised to seek
revenge on Narcissus, placing an evil curse upon him which eventually lead to his death.
Dorian attempts to seek revenge on Basil, when Basil points out how evil Dorian has become.
Dorian couldn‟t take the thought that someone had thought of him as an evil person so he
killed Basil. Both Narcissus and Dorian had an overwhelming amount of self-love, and in
other words, they both were narcissistic. Every women or girl fell in love with Narcissus outer
beauty almost immediately. Having this happen to Narcissus all the time gave him a very high
opinion of himself. Narcissus was convinced that only a girl as fair as himself was worthy of
his attention. Dorian wished upon eternal youth while his picture aged. This prayer was
answered. For every sin he committed, stains were added to the painting while it grew old, but
his own face remained virtuous and appealing. Dorian sold his soul to the devil in order to
remain forever beautiful. In the end both Dorian and Narcissus end up dying, due to their own
mistakes. A curse is placed upon Narcissus, allowing him to fall in love with something that
could not return his love, Narcissus, who did not know of the curse, ended up falling in love
with his own image, who in turn could not return his own love. The curse was placed upon
him in order to shoe him the love others had for him, and the love he never returned to them.
Dorian Gray sold himself to the devil for a pretty face. However it was this face that corrupted
his life and the lives of those around him. Not only did he cause the deaths of others , but also
to himself. At the end of the novel Dorian realized, or thought he realized that by destroying
the portrait he would be free, free from the conscience that the portrait had held hidden for so
many years. The same knife that had killed the creator of the portrait would kill the painters
work. Dorian Gray is in fact a more modern retelling of the ancient myth of Narcissus. They
share the similar outlook on beauty, love, vengeance, death and narcissism. Their love for
beauty had corrupted their lives, as well as other characters that they were close to. Dorian‟s
love for Sibyl and Narcissus‟s love for Echo were almost identical and there deaths very much

8. alike, along with the symbols they left behind. Dorian Gray is a perfect example of a more
modern Narcissus.
THE MYTH OF NARCİSSUS İN LITERATURE
In Stendhal's novel Le Rouge et le Noir (1830), there is a classic narcissist in the
character of Mathilde. Says Prince Korasoff to Julien Sorel, the protagonist, with respect to
his beloved girl:
She looks at herself instead of looking at you, and so doesn't know you. During
the two or three little outbursts of passion she has allowed herself in your
favor, she has, by a great effort of imagination, seen in you the hero of her
dreams, and not yourself as you really are.
(Page 401, 1953 Penguin Edition, trans. Margaret R.B. Shaw).
The myth had a decided influence on English Victorian homoerotic culture, via André
Gide's study of the myth, Traite du Narcisse ('The Treatise of the Narcissus', 1891), and the
only novel by Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist also starts with a story about Narcissus, found (we are
told) by the alchemist in a book brought by someone in the caravan. The alchemist's (and
Coelho's) source was very probably Hesketh Pearson's The Life of Oscar Wilde (1946) in
which this story is recorded (Penguin edition, p. 217) as one of Wilde's inspired inventions.
Author and poet Rainer Maria Rilke visits the character and symbolism of Narcissus in
several of his poems.Seamus Heaney references Narcissus in his poem "Personal Helicon"[5]
from his first collection "Death of a Naturalist":
"To stare, big-eyed Narcissus, into some spring
Is beneath all adult dignity."
Harry Potter character Narcissa Malfoy, the mother of Draco Malfoy, was named after
Narcissus, and was described as being incredibly vain and arrogant. Her sister, Bellatrix
Lestrange and cousin Sirius Black were described as being incredibly beautiful before going
to Azkaban, as were all members of the Black family.

9. William Faulkner's character "Narcissa" in "Sanctuary (novel)", sister of Horace
Benbow, was also named after Narcissus. Throughout the novel, she allows the arrogant,
pompous pressures of high-class society to overrule the unconditional love that she should
have for her brother.
Hermann Hesse's character "Narcissus" in "Narcissus and Goldmund" shares several
of mythycal narcissus' traits, although his narcissism is based on his intellect rather than his
physical beauty.
A. E. Housman refers to the 'Greek Lad', Narcisuss, in his poem Look not in my Eyes
from A Shropshire Lad set to music by sevaral English Composers including George
Butterworth. At the end of the poem stands a Jonquil, a variety of Daffodil, Narcissus
Jonquilla, which like Narcissus looks sadly down into the water.
El Divino Narciso(Divine Narcissus) by Sor Juana Ines De la Cruz
This is a play written by the Mexican nun, Sister Juana Ines of the Cross. In this play,
Narcissus is depicted as Christ, whose lost love is Human Nature. Echo is Satan who tainted
Human Nature with sin when she fell from Heaven. Human Nature wandered looking for a
pure spring so that she could be cleansed of her sins and reunited with Narcissus. Echo
attempted to prevent this with the help of her assistants, Pride and Self-Love.( Michelle
Mariorenzo ,2005)She tried to tempt Narcissus to swear himself to her and give up Human
Nature by offering him many gifts, but he rejected her. Human Nature found the spring, and
with the help of Grace (Virgin Mary) hid in the branches of an overhanging tree so that her
reflection appeared in the spring. Narcissus came and saw her face (identical to his once
purified) in the water. He plunged in, swearing his eternal love and giving his life. He
ascended to Heaven, and left a white flower (the Eucharist) in his place(Kristin Fleming,2005)

10. THE MYTH OF NARCİSSUS İN FİNE ARTS
Narcissus myth, as a subject, has been undertaken by many artists in the past centuries.
The earliest traces of it survived in the Pompeian wall frescoes. Most famous yet are paintings
by such artists, as: Caravaggio, Poussin, Daumier, Moreau, Waterhouse, or more
contemporary - Dali (Metamorphosis of Narcissus, 1937). Narcissus was also a beloved
subject of many writers, mostly poets, for centuries,
DALÍ and The Myth of Narcissus
“There was a fountain silver-clear and bright, which neither shepherds nor the wild
she-goats that range the hills, nor any cattle's mouth had touched--its waters were unsullied—
birds disturbed it not; nor animals, nor boughs that fall so often from the trees.”
When we read these lines,an unspoiled place which it is difficult to access,an amazing
heaven-like a lake which is too pure and too clean comes to our mind.If we look closely at the
landscape in the painting we see the rocks,mountain,tree on the left side . The figure of
Narcissus emerges at the left of the painting, his vague outlines reflected in the water( he
stares at the invisible reflection of himself in the water that he sinks in as mentioned in the
myth), his head is resting on his knee,he probably is dying slowly; We get the impression of

11. the depression and boredom from the setting sun which glisten off back of Narcissus‟s
head.He sits in front of the lake motionless without movement,without struggling to live(we
know from the myth that narcissus refused eat or sleep because of the love he fall in,he watch
his reflection without going anywhere until he killed himself) His face in particular, the cause
of his vanity, self-absorption and self-reflection, is not seen by us.
On the other side, the image of Narcissus transforms into a hand holding an egg from
which the flower of the same name would emerge.As we see the flower is breaking through
the egg shell.(According to what i read from the internet, Dali claimed the flower-bearing egg
was inspired by the Catalan saying “he has a bulb in his head” which refers to someone who
has a mental illness or complex.So I think Dali may want to symbolize the mental illness
called Narcisstic Personality Disorder)The hand is cleverly juxtaopesed to imitate Narcissus‟
body.The hand represents the hand of water.The knee becomes the thumb, the left arm
becomes the index finger, the right shoulder becomes the middle finger, and so forth as seen
on the picture. In the back,there are human figures who are standing on the dirt road,we can
assume that they are people who try to approach Narcissus and whom he rejects
systematically in the myth.To the right of the painting a sculpture on a red stand on a checked
floor can be noticed,this can symbolize the individuality and loneliness.A closer observation
of the hand and the ground underneath reveals ants,according to what i read from the net ants
are a common subject of Dali's paintings.The left side of the painting is significantly brighter,
using yellow, red and blue colors. The right side, depicting the transformation of Narcissus is
almost in the shade, painted using dark blue and gray colors.

12. REFERENCES
1. CARY MCMULLEN.(Friday, April 29, 2011 at 12:44 p.m.).Narcissism Obstacle To
Fully Living.from
http://www.theledger.com/article/20110429/COLUMNISTS/104295001?p=3&tc=pg.
2. Rosa Maria Maurell i Constans. (25 December 2005). Dalí and the Myth of Narcissus.
In CENTRE FOR DALINIAN STUDIES. from http://www.salvador-
dali.org/serveis/ced/articles/en_article8.html.
3. Narcissus (mythology). From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissus_(mythology).
4. Nick Pontikis. (1988 ). MYTH MAN'S HOMEWORK HELP CENTER. In ECHO &
NARCISSUS. from http://thanasis.com/echo.htm.
5. Greek Myths & Greek Mythology. In The myth of Narcissus.from
http://www.greekmyths-greekmythology.com/narcissus-myth-echo/.
6. Thomas Bulfinch.Classic Literature. In Echo and Narcissus from Ch. 13 of Age of
Fable Stories of Gods & Heroes. from http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-
etexts/tbulfinch/bl-tbulfinch-age-13-echo.htm.
7. The Portrait of Dorian Gray- Inner Beauty to External Beauty. from
http://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/99366.html
8. Comparing the Myth in Ovid‟s Echo and Narcissus and Wilde‟s Dorian Gray. from
http://www.123helpme.com/preview.asp?id=8400.
9. Kristin Fleming and Michelle Mariorenzo . (24 October 05 ). Analysis of El Divino
Narciso. In Metamorphoses Project:Tracing Mythology through Time and Place. from
http://www.cornellcollege.edu/classical_studies/CLA216-2-A/narcissus-
echo/narcissus2b.htm.
10. Mythology. From
http://www.davidkabraham.com/OldWeb/Beliefs/Education/mythology.htm
11. Narcissus. from http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Mythology/Narcissus.html.
12. Polona Petek., (2008), Echo and Narcissus: Echolocating the Spectator in the Age of
Audience Research,in Cambridge Scholars Publishing(ISBN (10): 1-84718-544-4)