Week 2 Reading Diary, continued: Ovid's Metamorphoses

The second reading of Ovid's Metamorphoses by Tony Kline was more interesting. The story began with Juno and Jupiter debating on who enjoys lovemaking more between the man or the woman. Jupiter changed the sex of a snake from a man to a woman to finalize the debate. It was settled that the woman enjoyed having sex more than the man (interesting..). The story that stuck with me the most was the story of Narcissus.

Narcissus

Narcissus is a son of a beautiful nymph. He was born as a beautiful child that everyone fell in love with. The prophet Teiresias predicted that Narcissus would be able to live a long life as long as "he does not discover himself." In other words, Narcissus seeing his own reflection would be his downfall. One day when Narcissus was escaping Echo, a woman who was in love with him, he saw his won reflection in a fountain. He immediately fell in love with himself. In fact, he was so in love with himself that he tried kissing his reflection and reaching for his reflection's neck. Narcissus becomes frustrated that he couldn't come in contact with the love of his life so he cried and began destroying himself. In the end, he transformed into a flower.

Narcissus staring into his own reflection. Source.