The Story of Narcissus and Echo — Greek Mythology #2
By: Samrat Dutta
Tags: Mythology, Greece, Narcissism, Psychology, Greek Mythology

The Story of Narcissus and Echo — Greek Mythology #2

The story of Narcissus and Echo in Greek mythology — the source of Sigmund Freud’s idea of narcissism and narcissus complex. Samrat Dutta Follow Dec 21, 2020 · 6 min read

Ancient Greek Architecture. (Source: Pexels)

Let me tell you an ancient story from Greek mythology today. Today, I’ll tell you the story of Narcissus, who was the son of the water god Cephissus according to ancient Greek mythology. His mother was Liriope. Liriope was a forest fairy. Their son Narcissus’s birth was a blessing to them. He was an attractive young man from an early age. His father was a god and his mother was a forest fairy with the beauty of all the worlds combined, so it was pretty obvious.

Narcissus’ mother went to a blind astrologer named Tiresias to find out about her son’s future. Who is Tiresias? He was an unfortunate guy who was previously blinded by Athena, the daughter of the God Zeus. That is why God Zeus gave him the power to foretell the future as compensation for Tyresius’ blindness. When Narcissus’s mother asked Tiresias about her son’s life, Tyresius checked his future and told Liriope, “This boy will have a long life, but there is a condition. If and only if he never looks at himself in the mirror, he will live a long life.

Narcissus was kept away from mirrors from an early age. He never saw himself. Meanwhile, as he grew older, Narcissus became one of the most handsome young men of his time. All the forest fairies were intoxicated with his love; day after day, night after night, mermaids and forest fairies waited to catch a glimpse of him. Everyone was enchanted by the manhood of Narcissus.

It is said that, like everyone else, a forest fairy fell in love with Narcissus. Her name was Echo. The word “echo” has been found in English dictionaries since Greek mythology. It is said that Echo loved to talk. Hera, the wife of the Zeus, once became very angry at her talkativeness and shut her mouth forever with a cruel curse. So unfortunate Echo has been just echoing the words of others ever since.

Whatever it was, Echo wandered in the woods with the pain of not being able to speak. One day when Narcissus came to hunt in that forest, Echo fell in love with the handsome man at the first sight. But she can not speak, so she couldn't find out how to tell him what’s in her mind. That’s why she kept herself as far away from Narcissus as possible. But a lover’s mind sees no boundaries. Even though she was so close, she was always overwhelmed by the sadness of not being able to speak her mind. Whenever Narcissus came to hunt in the forest, she would follow him. She used to look at Narcissus secretly and think to himself, maybe for once, Narcissus will look back at her. But alas! Narcissus is far from looking back at her, her presence never seemed to be noticed by him. Days go by. Echo spends her days waiting.

One day when Narcissus was looking for prey in the forest, Echo was following him again as usual. Then Narcissus heard someone’s footsteps and asked, “Who’s there?” Alas! Echo does not have the power to speak her mind even when the love of her life calls her. She can only create counter-answers to other people’s words. So Echo replied excitedly, “There …”. Narcissus was very curious to get such an answer, he also found it kind of funny. “Come forward,” he said to Echo. Echo replied, “Come forward …”.

Narcissus’s curiosity seemed to grow. He was desperate to meet Echo. On the other hand, Echo seemed to think that this was not true, but a dream. At the call of the handsome man Narcissus, she seemed to be overwhelmed with joy. Echo’s heart was full of hope, she will tell Narcissus about all her thoughts and love. But in an instant, all her happiness seemed to disappear in an intense sadness. She can’t speak for herself. Without answering, she ran and hugged Narcissus. But Narcissus does not know the mind of Echo! Because many fairies love him, many want to get close to him. So in the pride of all the attention he often gets, he pushed Echo away from himself.

Echo crashed to the ground. Rejected so cruelly in love, she began to cry. Finally, at one end of the forest, she went to the top of a high mountain and began to weep profusely. Days went by but she could not forget the insult she got from Narcissus. Crying, she fell to her death. Echo was lying on the top of a mountain, crying. Her body became as hard as stone. Every moment before her death she just lamented the shame, humiliation and heartbreak she got from Narcissus. No one listened to her lament. Meanwhile, Narcissus has forgotten everything. He was annoyed to hear love from beautiful fairies. No one gets his heart. So in exchange for love, everyone would get a bunch of insults from him. At one point, the broken-hearted fairies prayed to Nemesis, the goddess of vengeance, ‘O Goddess, if Narcissus ever falls in love, let him not be loved.’ Nemesis probably heard their prayers.

One day Narcissus went to drink water from a pond and saw himself for the first time in his life. A handsome man. But Narcissus did not know that his reflection was on the water. He went to touch the reflection, but as soon as he touched the water, the reflection merged with the waves. For the first time in his life, he became restless to touch someone. Startled, Narcissus raised his hand again. The water god also raised the wave again and erased the reflection. Narcissus was very scared and did not reach for the water. He just stared at the reflection. In despair, Narcissus just cried in distress. The grief of not being able to touch his lover started to ruin his body and his beauty faded day by day. All the fairies in the forest who loved him repeatedly told Narcissus, Come back, come back. But he sat by the water in amazement day after day. Narcissus, like innocent Echo, fell to his death in the agony of not being able to touch the love of his life. That curse of Nemesis seemed to have inevitably resulted. The bones of the dead narcissus merged with the rotting soil to give birth to a beautiful flowering plant called “Narcissus”. This flowering plant is now known as “Daffodil”.

Sigmund Freud, the world’s greatest psycho-analyst of all time, later came up with the idea of​ “narcissism” or “narcissus complex” in the world of psychology, based on the story of this narcissistic character in Greek mythology. Ultimately, self-absorption or self-fascination can be termed as ‘narcissus complex’. The characteristics of a narcissistic personality are self-love and self-absorption, having an exaggerated idea about one’s own qualities, giving oneself so much importance that there is not the slightest place to give importance to anyone else in life! In this case, people expect extra praise and attention from others on almost everything and if they do not get it, they keep on complaining. “Narcissism is a normal thing in childhood,” said psychologist Freud. But if it transcends puberty, it will be considered a level of mental imbalance. ”