The Greek
legend or myth of Narcissus involves a notion of unhealthy love of self. The beautiful son of
the river god was the object of everyone's desire. His beauty inspired declarations of love
from many. He rejected them all. One day, he gazes upon his own reflection in a lake. He is
immediately taken back with the beauty of that which stares back at him. Narcissus stares in
the lake because he is in love with his own reflection. He is so much in love with the
reflection that stares back at him that he leans over the edge of the bank to get a closer and
more intimate view. In doing so, he falls into the water and then dies. Narcissus' love of
self- beauty is what causes him stare into the lake, leading to his death.
Coelho takes a slant on this myth with referencing Wilde's interpretation of the myth.
In Wilde's vision, the lake did not recognize Narcissus, even though everyone else did. The
lake weeps not because of Narcissus' self love, but that within Narcissus eyes and his incessant
staring, the lake realized her own beauty in how someone looked at her with such longing. There
is beauty reflected in all of the world becomes the message out of this application of the
myth.
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