Myth and heroes: to what extent a myth may have existed

...

. Dorian Gray is a film adapted from the book The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar WILDE. The scenario takes place in the

19th century. It talks about Dorian Gray, a handsome young man - who knows it and is proud of it. He meets Lord HENRY

who helps him to stay beautiful and young all of his life. Dorian remains young, while a picture that represents him ages. He

has a life of debauchery and commits several crimes. At the end of the film, Dorian loses his love and his friends and lives

with torment so that when he finds the painting that’s aging, he stabs it and dies, becoming the old man he should have

been and nature resumes its

course.

Echo and Narcissus is a painting from John William WATERHOUSE. It represents a man looking at his face in the water. A

woman (Echo) looks him, from where she is hidden behind a tree. This painting illustrates the myth of Narcissus. According

to the legend, Narcissus was a handsome young man and he was proud of it; Echo, a nymph was in love with him but this

feeling was not reciprocal, she asked for help from the goddess Nemesis who punished Narcissus for his vanity by making

him fall in love with his own image. He was so mad about his reflection that he is died of thirst and starvation whilst

transfixed by wanting to touch his reflection on the water.

These two works bring together several similarities: they both speak of a young man, of great beauty and vain. The mixture

of the two causes the loss of both.

. In our day myths, or at least the one of Narcissus is still present. Indeed in our society the cult of beauty holds a very

important place. Youth and the cult of beauty seem to have become more important than human qualities. Some do not

hesitate to hurt themselves and others to respect these archaic criteria. For example, some stores hire their salesmen not on

their abilities but on their physical appearance. Which proves that beauty and youth are still primordial criteria in our values.

. I think that, unfortunately, the symbolism of the myth seen in these two documents is still relevant today. Despite the lapse

of time since the stories of Narcissus and Dorian Gray were first created, our society remains based on the same criteria

that everyone must love: beauty and youth. I am sad because I have the impression that it has not evolved and that the

damage done by obsession with beauty does not serve us as an example so as not to reproduce it