Ovid’sMETAMORPHOSES

(Echo and Narcissus)

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The story of Echo and Narcissus is told in Book III of the Metamorphoses. ECHO is a "talkative nymph" who is admired by the goddess Aphrodite for her magnificent voice and song.

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When ECHO tricks Zeus's jealous wife, Hera, Hera curses her by making her only able to repeat the last words said, and couldn't say anything on her own. "Yet a chatterbox, had no other use of speech than she has now, that she could repeat only the last words out of many."

This is the explanation of the repetitive aural effect which was named after her.

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Echo stayed in the lakes since then.

Fate had it that NARCISSUS came to the lake while "chasing frightened deer into his nets." She instantly fell in love seeing him.

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Eventually, after "burning with a closer flame," Echo's presence is revealed to Narcissus who rejects her love.

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Humiliated, Echo prays in her mind to Aphrodite, who makes Echo disappear, until she "remains nothing but a voice to be heard by all."

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All by himself, Narcissus, "tired from both his enthusiasm for hunting and from the heat" rests by a spring, and while drinking, "a new thirst grows inside him.

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He falls in love with his own image. Since then, he wastes away with love and admiration for himself.

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A while later his body is gone, and in its place is a narcissus flower. The pale flower is still found near river banks so that it can be reflected on the water.

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RELEVANCE TO MODERN WORLD

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• NARCISSISM is the pursuit of gratification from vanity, or egotistic admiration of one's own physical or mental attributes, that derive from arrogant pride. • It is a concept in psychoanalytic theory, introduced in Sigmund Freud's On Narcissism. • The American Psychiatric Association has the classification Narcissistic personality disorder in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).

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THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS OF NARCISSISM

Shamelessness: Shame is the feeling that lurks beneath all unhealthy narcissism, and the inability to process shame in healthy ways.

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THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS OF NARCISSISMMagical thinking: Narcissists see themselves as perfect, using distortion and illusion known as magical thinking. They also use projection to dump shame onto others.

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THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS OF NARCISSISMArrogance: A narcissist who is feeling deflated may reinflate by diminishing, debasing, or degrading somebody else.

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THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS OF NARCISSISMEnvy: A narcissist may secure a sense of superiority in the face of another person's ability by using contempt to minimize the other person.

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THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS OF NARCISSISMEntitlement: Narcissists hold unreasonable

expectations of particularly favorable treatment and automatic compliance because they consider themselves special.

Failure to comply is considered an attack on their superiority, and the perpetrator is considered an "awkward" or "difficult" person. Defiance of their will is a narcissistic injury that can trigger narcissistic rage.

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THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS OF NARCISSISMExploitation: Can take many forms but always

involves the exploitation of others without regard for their feelings or interests. Often the other is in a subservient position where resistance would be difficult or even impossible. Sometimes the subservience is not so much real as assumed.

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THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS OF NARCISSISMBad boundaries: Narcissists do not recognize that

they have boundaries and that others are separate and are not extensions of themselves. Others either exist to meet their needs or may as well not exist at all.

Those who provide narcissistic supply to the narcissist are treated as if they are part of the narcissist and are expected to live up to those expectations. In the mind of a narcissist there is no boundary between self and other.

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