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Narcissus
The Lake appears in the brief prologue to the novel, in the context of a story read by the alchemist. In a twist on the original Greek legend, the lake mourns for Narcissus because she has lost the opportunity to see her own beautiful reflection in his eyes. The prologue functions as a cautionary tale against self-love.
The Lake Quotes in The Alchemist
The The Alchemist quotes below are all either spoken by The Lake or refer to The Lake. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Prologue Quotes
“I weep for Narcissus, but I never noticed that Narcissus was beautiful. I weep because, each time he knelt beside my banks, I could see, in the depths of his eyes, my own beauty reflected.” “What a lovely story,” the alchemist thought.
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Explanation and Analysis:
The prologue of this novel features an updated version of the Narcissus myth from Ancient Greece. In the original myth, Narcissus drowns in the lake where he is addicted to gazing at his own reflection. In this version, the lake mourns his death because it lost the opportunity to admire its own reflection in Narcissus’s eyes. The alchemist’s approval of this story and its placement at the beginning of the novel seem to function as a cautionary tale for the reader. The legend of Narcissus has been a cautionary tale since antiquity, warning against overly indulgent self-love. This new version Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non
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The Lake Character Timeline in The Alchemist
The timeline below shows where the character The Lake appears in The Alchemist. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Prologue
...into the water and drowns. In this version of the story, however, the narrative continues. The lake is weeping after Narcissus’s death, and the goddess of the forest appears to ask the...
(full context)
The goddess of the forest assumes that the lake weeps for Narcissus’s death because the lake could best contemplate his beauty, as he knelt...
(full context)
