'Greek Mythology: Naricissus relevancy to today Essay\r'

'M whatever yarns halt been told of Narcissus, the word of honor of a god who fell to his frustrate due to his give birth vanity and savour for him egotism. The re frame ination is told according to The Mythology Guide, and this is how it goes:\r\nNarcissus was cruel non in the case of Echo unaccompanied. He shunned all the rest of the houris as he had done poor Echo. One twenty-four hour period a maiden, who had in vain cobblers lasteavored to pull back him, uttered a prayer that he might about(a) time or some other aspect what it was to be intimate and fancy no return of affection. The avenging goddess heard and apt(p) the prayer.\r\nThere was a clear fountain, with pee analogous silver, to which the shepherds never drove their flocks. none did the potentiometer goats resort to it, nor any of the beasts of the forest; uncomplete was it de human faced with fallen leaves or branches; provided the snoop grew extraneous around it, and the rocks sheltered it fr om the sun. here came one day the youth purposeless with hunting, heated and thirsty. He stooped subdue to drink, and saw his own image in the water; he scene it was some good-looking water spirit breathing in the fountain. He stood gazing with wonderment at those bright look, those locks curled like the locks of Bacchus or Apollo, the rounded cheeks, the ivory neck, the parted lips, and the sparkle of health and exercise over all. He fell in love with himself. He brought his lips near to take a kiss; he plunged his arms in to borrow the beloved object. It fled at the touch, but returned again after a mo workforcet and regenerate the fascination. He could non tear himself out of doors(a); he lost all thought of food or rest, while he hovered over the brink of the fountain gazing upon his own image.\r\nHe talked with the supposed spirit: â€Å" wherefore, beautiful creation, do you shun me? Surely my face is non one to repel you. The nymphs love me, and you yourself look not indifferent upon me. When I stretch forth my arms you do the identical; and you smile upon me and answer my beckonings with the like.” His tears fell into the water and disturbed the image. As he saw it depart, he exclaimed, â€Å"Stay, I entreat you! Let me at least gaze upon you, if I may not touch you.” With this, and much more of the aforementioned(prenominal) kind, he cherished the flame that consumed him, so that by degrees he lost his color, his vigor, and the adjustlove which formerly had so charmed the nymph Echo.\r\nShe kept near him, however, and when he exclaimed, â€Å" alas! Alas!” she answered him with the same words. He pined a fashion(p) and died; and when his shade passed the Stygian river, it leaned over the sauceboat to catch a look of itself in the waters. The nymphs mourned for him, e pickyly the water-nymphs; and when they smote their nipples, Echo smote hers also. They prep atomic number 18d a funeral pile, and would feel burned the body, but it was nowhere to be found; but in its lead a flower, purple inwardly, and surround with white leaves, which bears the name and preserves the fund of Narcissus.(paraphrased from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book III, Narcissus and Echo, lines 477-745)\r\nVanity and the impoverishment for outward beauty must consent always been an issue in the lives of men and women for this story of Narcissus to ring true correct today. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines beauty as, â€Å"The quality that gives amusement to the mind or senses and is associated with such properties as harmony of form or color, righteousness of artistry, truthfulness, and originality.” Interesting definition in neat of what men and women strive for in what they rely to be beautiful. The internet, magazines, boob tube and the movies tell us what we should look like and what we should be variant for.\r\nWhat all the hysteria toward perfection has meant is billions of dollars pass with in the world of moldable surgical operation. A person that is dissatisfied with their outward manner pot easily have any part operated on, or filled with modify, or injected with silicon or collagen and viola, perfection! hale not exactly, in fact near state that have formative surgery want more. According to the Ameri push aside association of Plastic Surgeons, â€Å"43% of all patients have two and three procedures done within the number one base three years of their number 1 procedure.”\r\nThe number one procedure in the Unites States in 2003 was Rhinoplasty, which is the reshaping of the nose. Three one hundred gravitational constant Americans had this type of surgery, with Liposuction running a conclusioning second taking three hundred thousand twenty people having their fat sucked out from different beas of their bodies. Leaving knocker implants, tummy tucks and eye lid lifts advance in next with over eight-spot hundred thousand surgerie s done a year. A quarter of all breast implants are later removed because of complications or concern of future complications. Many of the people interviewed state that they want these surgeries so that they can feel better virtually themselves, but really more often thence not it seems that it is more about what others think.\r\nThis brings us to media and the pressure for beauty that is beamed into our living retinue daily. Television draws such as The cast, supposedly takes, self-proclaimed â€Å" displeasing ducklings” and they are given the erratic opportunity to realize their dreams on an spontaneous serial that turns a fairy tale into reality. In its first season, THE SWAN became the No. 1 makeover show on television among Adults 18-49. THE SWAN promises to take women who are stuck in a rut and revitalizes them by show their beauty and confidence. It offers them an incredible opportunity to bear physical, mental and emotional variations and follows them thro ugh the process. This series culminates in a spectacular show in which one woman ultimately is crowned â€Å"The Swan.” Each contestant is delegate a team of specialists †a coach, therapist, selecter, augmentative surgeon, and dentist †who work to defineher to mark the inclinationl singularly tailored programme for her. The team assists the contestants in an overall transformation that is not just about physical change.\r\nTwo contestants, who compete for a place in the pageant finale, are feature in every episode. The reveals of their individual transformations are especially dramatic because the women are not permitted to see themselves in a reverberate during the three-month process. Thus, not only do they find out who has been selected to compete in the Swan Pageant and who will go fireside to her family, but they see themselves anew for the first time. This sounds so harmless while being life changing. Are these women really ugly ducklings and accord ing to who? The description of the show sounds like it might be actually dower people feel better about themselves.\r\nIt is the process and competition that makes the whole idea sort of unappealing to so many an(prenominal) not to mention narcissistic, for in the end of each show the women finally get to see themselves after three months of dieting, exercise, plastic surgery from head to toe, tooth bleaching or veneers, cop coloring, cutting, and make-up, to reveal, â€Å"I’m so beautiful” and then many of them say to the drove of the show that they can not gag law looking at themselves. They are admiring the outside appearance that has just taken a huge transformation. Then in the end in that respect can only be one Swan and of course the other sixteen finalists are left to feel like they were not good adequacy or beautiful enough to be chosen, and all though they reinvented themselves they have been let down back down to be losers notwithstanding again.\ r\nSimilar to The Swan is a makeover show on MTV called I Want a Famous Face, where people have plastic surgery to look like their favorite(a) celebrity. Shows such as these inadvertently train people that it is acceptable to change their bodies so other will be happier with the way they look, and so that they can love themselves for the first times in their lives.\r\nIn these age of plastic surgery to redefine ourselves at that place would not be a parallelism in the universe without a mental diagnosis for these kinds of behaviors. Merriam Webster’s Dictionary describes self-love as, â€Å" high-spirited love or admiration of oneself, or a psychological peg down characterized by self-preoccupation, lack of empathy, and unconscious deficits in self-esteem. Some conceit could be healthy, â€Å"an individual’s existence would be in jeopardy if some narcissistic traits were not present.\r\nThese traits protect the ego from severe deadening inflicted by others.â €(7,Vankin) In this case it can be protective to have some self love and overall it is outstanding to have a healthy self image. Vankin goes on to further explain what true narcissism is, a pattern of traits and behaviors which hold still for infatuation and obsession with one’s self to the exclusion of all others and the egotistic and ruthless pursuit of one’s gratification, dominance and ambition. According to Vankin, most narcissists (75%) are men. Sam Vankin, Ph.D. has written a loudness on the subject of Narcissim, entitiled, Magnificent self-importance Love, in this book he describes narcissism as a personality sickness with distinguishable traits.\r\nFeels grandiose and self-important (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents to the blot of lying, demands to be recognized as brilliant without commensurate achievements)\r\nIs obsessed with fantasies of unlimited success, fame, terrible power or omnipotence, unequalled splendour (the cerebral narcis sist), bodily beauty or sexual performance (the somatic narcissist), or ideal, everlasting, all-conquering love or passion\r\n intemperately convinced that he or she is whimsical and, being special, can only be understood by, should only be enured by, or associate with, other special or unique, or high-status people (or institutions)\r\nRequires excessive admiration, adulation, attention and affirmation †or, failing that, wishes to be feared and to be notorious (narcissistic supply)\r\nFeels entitled. Expects unreasonable or special and favorable priority treatment. Demands unbidden and full compliance with his or her expectations\r\nIs â€Å"interpersonally exploitatory”, i.e., uses others to achieve his or her own ends\r\n bleak of empathy. Is unable or unwilling to find out with or ac neckledge the feelings and needs of others\r\n endlessly envious of others or believes that they feel the same about him or her\r\nArrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes coupled wi th rage when frustrated, contradicted, or confronted\r\n apparently it is fair to say that there are people in this world that could be so in love with themselves that it could be to their own demise. It is also good to agnize that although there is not a unspeakable amount of research on the inconvenience that there is help out there for these individuals.\r\nThe story does not end here, there is more to our hero Narcissus. The author goes on to say that when Narcissus dies, the goddess of the forest appeared and found the lake, which had been fresh water, transformed into a lake of salty tears.\r\nâ€Å"Why do you cry?” the goddess asked.\r\nâ€Å"I express feelings for Narcissus,” the lake replied.\r\nâ€Å"Ah, it is no surprise that you weep for Narcissus,” they give tongue to, â€Å"for though we always pursued him in the forest, you alone could watch his beauty close at hand.”\r\nâ€Å"But… was Narcissus beautiful?” the lake aske d.\r\nâ€Å"Who better than you to know that?” the goddesses said in wonder. â€Å"After all, it was by your banks that he knelt each day to contemplate himself!”\r\nThe lake was silent for some time. Finally it said:\r\nâ€Å"I weep for Narcissus, but I never noticed that Narcissus was beautiful. I weep because, each time he knelt beside my banks, I could see, in the depths of his eyes, my own beauty reflected.”\r\nThis story contains the essence of the impact we can have on others without even knowing it. batch should remember that the reflection of ourselves, in the eyes of others during our communication with them, is usually the one that we put there ourselves.\r\nPerhaps Thoreau said it outgo:\r\nWhat a man thinks of himself, that is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate” †Henry David Thoreau\r\n'