- Song of Songs, Narcissus, and Lacan's "Mirror Stage" -

S O N G  O F  S O N G S

The relationship between the lover and beloved is very sensual. There are many elements of the text that conclude this. The very first line is "Let him kiss me the with kisses of his mouth..." It's interesting that the first line of the song is not something alone the lines of "Oh how I feel for this man..." but instead is something physical. The poem also continues to compare the love to material objects, which makes the love seem un-authentic. Furthermore - this is a love between a wealthy man and a lower class woman, which brings with it taboo qualities (which can make people more attracted to each other). The conversation goes back and forth about beauty and jewelry but is very shallow, in fact non-existant in regards to deeper emotional meanings. 

N A R C I S S U S

After re-reading Narcissus' and Echo's conversation I realized that Echo did not "echo" Narcissus in the traditional sense. Apparently Echo had the ability to pick and choose which aspects of conversation she was to repeat. She chose certain sections of Narcissus' shout-outs to reply back with. When Narcissus questioned  "Is there anyone here?," Echo responded, "Here!" The "?" and "!" suggests that Echo didn't respond in a questioning way ultimately meaning that she can also change the inflections that the first voice says (which is not traditional in an echo either). That being said, Echo came off as possibly insane. She may have scared Narcissus by immediately charging to embrace him rather than identifying herself first. Naturally anyone alone in the woods would have made a bolt for it. I knowI would.

When Narcissus saw his reflection in the water he immediately fell in love with the desire for himself. He fell in love with something he could not have (in this case because he was the person). Being the individual was not enough to satisfy his desire for himself. He needed some external connections whether it be emotionally, physically or both. 

Narcissus was fully aware that it was his reflection in the water but he couldn't pull himself away from the burning desire he felt. This is a very common aspect of love. Very often when we desire something we tend to put it on a pedestal and admire to a point that is unrealistic. We almost "fool" ourselves into believing that person, object, place or whatever is the most incredible god-like thing ever to exist, whereas someone who wasn't clouded by desire may have a more practical interpretation. The fact that Narcissus knew it was himself and still could not conquer his emotions proves that we are controlled by our lust and victims to its power.

M I R R O R  S T A G E

One can absolutely see a correlation between Lacan's article and the Narcissus myth: primarily, the whole concept of reflection. Lacan calls the discovery of reflection an identification, which is practical for when we are extremely young in age, we have very little ways of connecting with our identity. This leads to physical motions being our initial bridge to discovering who we are. (Perhaps there is some underlying reason there as to why we are such a physical species?)

Just like Narcissus became aware of himself when admiring his reflection, we become a little more connected with ourselves. The story starts to digress, of course, when Narcissus falls victim to his own desire. Luckily, humans are too young to feel desire for love to that extent at that age.