Song of Songs:
This poem strongly plays on the
control of ones desire for completion through another yet it parallels these
images with that of wild uninhibited nature. Strong comparisons are made
between sensory stimulation such as the intoxication of wine(2), the scent of
perfume(3), or the beauty of flower blossoms(14) and the somewhat opposing
controlling actions such as her ardent requests(4), the herding of a flock(7),
and the lavishing of gifts(10-11). To further expand those ideas look to the
location of the poem itself, within the Old Testament, which I often regard as
the “rule book” of the bible. Although seemingly out of its element the
placement is quite deliberate in the way that it produces a parallel between
the power of raw human desire and governing body of religion. While one element
tries to overpower the other, it ultimately fails to do so completely, yet the
two can coexist. Powerful human emotions like desire have a need to be
addressed in our lives, even in biblical texts, because they have existed
longer than the religious institutions themselves.
The Myth of Narcissus:
Like any etiological myth the story
of Narcissus delves into how an echo came about but it also serves to personify
a once unexplainable phenomenon. Echo is able to manipulate the open ended
questions of Narcissus to enable the reflection of her true feelings towards him;
however her presence also serves to foreshadow the demise of Narcissus much
like the prophecy of Tiresias. Echo is a complex representation of what is to
come but also of the impossible goal of total self-completion. Narcissus is confronted by the love echo
harbors for him and rejects it, yet he comes to be “rejected” by his love for
himself. Both the lover and the beloved in this story have unattainable goals and
face their own tragic demise in a curse of incompleteness. I believe that
Narcissus falls in love with the idea of self-wholeness, meaning that while
many people who fall in love or enter relationships are inherently searching
out a sense of wholeness that they believe they can only find through another
Narcissus was doomed or perhaps enlightened enough to realize that the form of
completion we desire comes from lacking something in ourselves. Therefore when
falling in love Narcissus could only see that within himself yet had no way of
accessing that, quite similar to Echo seeing her completion within Narcissus. Both
sides were driven by powerful desire yet were never able to achieve the end
goal. “The thing you are seeing does not
exist: only turn aside and you will lose what you love. What you see is but the
shadow cast by your own reflection; in itself it is nothing.”(85).That
passage from the myth spells out that desire is the ultimate trickster, yet it
powerfully compels us to create our own illusions and then to pursue them
endlessly.
Lacan:
In a sense it appears as if Lacan is
suggesting that by only entering the “Mirror Stage” that a developing child can
have its first confrontation with its comprehension of “self” and “I”. By
having this encounter the child feels falsely completed upon the realization of
its own reflection, and derives pleasure from this discovery of newfound self-awareness.
While it is true that stimulation of all the senses is key to a child developing
its true sense of desire the idea of self-awareness is a strong combination of
previously separate events such as motor manipulation, touch/feeling, and
sight. Therefore it is a defining experience. While I do see parallels between
Narcissus and Lacan’s theoretical Mirror stage, it is important to point out
that this is not a complete theory in my eyes.
Developmental theory is normally concluded with possible negative
results of not completing the experience, and while Lacan alludes to those
possibly unfortunate end results the theory becomes quite gray in that respect.
Both the Mirror Stage and the myth of narcissus illustrate the desire of self-image
completion and false fulfillment found outside of ones self.
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