Friday, 26 August 2011

The Story of...

The Story of...

Last time I wrote about Echo, and today I'm going to write about her broken-heart story related to a gorgeous lad, whose name is Narcissus. This is an interesting story. Similar to my last article of Echo which is the name of Greek nymph became an English word in everyday use, narcissus is an English word, which has an origin in Greek Mythology as well, means "a plant with white or yellow flowers that appear in spring. There are many types of narcissus, including the daffodil", according to OAD (2010).

Narcissus was a beautiful lad. His beauty was really significant that all the girls who saw him immediately crushed on him, he was interested in no ones unfortunately. Echo is one of the girls longed to be his lover. Too bad that she was cursed by the Goddess-Hera- unable to speak first and always repeat the last word of others. So this was very hard for Echo when she loved Narcissus. She could follow him but couldn't speak to him. She had no idea how to make him pay attention to her.

One day, however, her chance had come. He went in to the mountain where she lived, and he was calling to his companions. Then she called back in rapture but only the last word of his speech. She was hidden by the trees so he did not see her, and he shouted, "Come!"(Mythology, 2010, p.115) She answered joyfully, "Come!"(p.115)
This is the reason for my last article I wrote the topic "Come!" "Come!" ;))
Stepped forward from the woods, but before she reached him he turned away with anger and said, "I will die before I give you power over me" (p.115). Then he was gone. That's a mistake. She didn't have a chance to excuse, with sadness she was left alone...

(Echo was near him but could do nothing.)

The time passed by, Narcissus went on his cruel way. After he broke many other girls' heart, he was punished by himself. As he bent over a clear pool for a drink and saw his own reflection, he fell in love with it at the moment. "Now I know what others have suffered from me...I cannot leave it. Only death can set me free" he cried. (p.115) And it came true. He was fascinated by himself, went nowhere, looked nothing except his own reflection. Echo was near him but could do nothing, she cried in silent. Finally, he was died near the pool. The nymphs he had scorned sought his body to give it burial, but they couldn't find it. "Where it had lain there was blooming a new lovely flower, and they called it by his name, Narcissus" (p.116).

So that is the end of Narcissus and the beginning of narcissus.

I like the stories of Greek gods that relate to reality..I mean there are something linked the story to today world, I didn't mean that all stories have to be true. I found that they are really interesting and amazing! One more thing, Narcissus is not only used as the English word to mean flower, but it is used in other word form...narcissism which its root comes from Narcissus means "the habit of admiring yourself too much, especially your appearance", according to OAD.
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References

(2010). Narcissus. Oxford Advanced Learner Dictionary. Retrieved August 26,2010 from
http://www.oxfordadvancedlearnersdictionary.com/dictionary/narcissus

(2010). Narcissism. Oxford Advanced Learner Dictionary. Retrieved August 26,2010 from http://www.oxfordadvancedlearnersdictionary.com/dictionary/narcissistic#narcissism

Hamilton E. (2010, January). Mythology. New York: Grand Central Publishing Hachette Book Group.

3 comments:

  1. "Only death can set me free", said Narcissus (¶ 4).
    If he had asked for it, would it have been morally right to put him out of his misery with euthanasia?
    Is depression or a prolonged mood a good enough reason to allow a doctor to assist in euthanasia?

    (I suspect this may not be the response Tang was looking for, but it's the one that occurred to me. I've been reading all those thesis statements on the popular topic of euthanasia lately.)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think he should suicide not euthanasia, it takes too much time to die.

    ReplyDelete
  3. P'Golf, that's really funny!! How can you think about that?! Haha
    He couldn't commit suicide because he didn't want to be torn away from his love which is himself. So maybe that's why it took that long time.

    ReplyDelete

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