Greek Tragedy Meets Anime: Narcissism in Oedipus and Light Yagami
By Divyanshu Mishra
“To err is to be human” has to be one of the fundamentals of human existence. Errors come in all shapes and sizes. There are errors of omission and errors of repetition. A famous quote by Anthony Hopkins from Westworld goes, “Evolution forged the entirety of sentient life on this planet using one tool, The Mistake.” The role of mistakes in everyday human life is grossly understated. The modern scientific method owes its discoveries to mistakes. Exploration, whether physical or psychological, requires the acceptance of the uncertainty of life and the inevitability of mistake.
The Greeks wrote plays about mistakes, grave ones, with grave consequences. We know of such stories as “Tragedies”. An example in contemporary Indian cinema can be Haider, based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Greeks called fatal flaws called “Hamartia”. They used an Archery metaphor to explain the core of the kinds of Tragedies that were caused by “Hamartia”. Archery, for a very long time, was one of the most advanced and skilled pieces of weaponry known to humanity. Not only did one’s arms require the strength to pull the bowstring, but also the control and dexterity to guide such tension of the string to the arrow with precision. And hamartia means “to miss the mark” or “to err” (“Hamartia”. Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 28 September 2014).
I believe it is essential to understand hamartia in order to make mistakes in peace. Mistakes, as we have already seen, both through literary analysis and the scientific method, are inevitable and they are here to help and guide us.
This article dwells on how psychology might explain people of great virtue causing their own downfalls.
Oedipus The Tragic and How he became a Narcissist
I compare Light Yagami and Oedipus as characters in their inability to accept that they might err in general, which leads their self-obsessed obsession to bend the world as per their own will. Line 600 of the play reads “[Sound thoughts do not produce an evil mind.]” These are believed to be lines in brackets that are interpolations or later additions to Sophocles’ original text. Some versions talk about not judging a man without due process. Creon’s (brother-in-law of Oedipus, actually uncle) own lines begin with a plea of due process and he urges that Oedipus hear his side, “Not if your point of view resembles mine. Begin by asking whether anyone would choose to govern, nagged by fear, instead of sleeping well with equal privilege.” This line points out a different view of justice than the one Oedipus harbours.
Oedipus and Light Yagami share a similarity in their disdain for the world as it currently is: they want to change it into what they want it to be. In other words, there is a shared narcissism between these two characters. Let’s look atone of the excerpts that helps us understand narcissism.
“While they can only propose a theory, as there is yet to be any solid evidence, psychodynamic theorists assert that it begins in childhood with parents who were often cold and rejecting (Comer, 2018). Due to this, their grandiosity is a product of self-preservation where they had to almost overcompensate for the affection and praise that they did not receive from their parents. Their inability to form meaningful relationships or empathize with others, is then a learned behavior that stems back to their childhood and contributes to their overall treatment of those around them.” (Death Note’s Light Yagami and Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Rai, PSY-470: Abnormal Psychology Professor, Grand Canyon University, December 12, 2021)
The correlation between a traumatic childhood and living in extended periods of self preservation indicate that Oedipus was pushed into narcissism. And this is not due to the allure of power but rather fear: the fear that he couldn’t allow the world to exist as the oracles had foretold. A world where he would commit patricide and incest. The only way he felt he could have agency over his life was to control all he could. Trusting one’s own laws above everyone else’s. A tyrant who could only live in his own world and no one else’s.
“Another model seeking to define NPD asserts that an individual must show signs of having either a fair or superior impairment in two of the following four areas: individuality, self-direction, empathy, and closeness (Dowgwillo, Pincus & Lenzenweger, 2019). Based on the aforementioned symptoms above, it is safe to say that he (Light Yagami) has a superior impairment in both empathy and closeness — especially in regards to his willingness and ability to form relationships with others.” (Source)
Oedipus, when questioned about his fate and patronage, seems to show cracks in his sense of self-direction and individuality. And when his sense of self is under attack, he even abandons empathy and his benevolent nature. He accuses and maligns the oracle which tells him of his ancestry. Oedipus, even after Jocasta tells him of Laius’s murder, though he is pretty sure of the fact that he murdered him, goes above and beyond to change what has already been done. Oedipus doesn’t stab and gouge his eyes out with his wife’s/mother’s brooch for what he had done. He gouged them out because being ruled by fear had made him unable to look upon or accept who he had become.
He had committed the crime ages ago and nothing could have changed what he did. He had felt no shame after slaying his father, for he thought him to be unjust and rude. Oedipus slew him as was the way of the highway back then. He saved Thebes and married Jocasta, and he did not commit incest with his mother in the social sense. Jocasta was Oedipus’s biological mother but not his caregiver. Incest is considered a sin for social reasons, despite the possibility of gene degradation. Greeks knew not of gene degradation, but the sanctity of the relationship that a mother and son share was still paramount then as it is today. And if that parameter of patronage is considered, then Oedipus did nothing wrong. But it did not matter to poor Oedipus: he did not care for justice or right or wrong. In fear, he could only care that he became what the oracle foretold.
Light Yagami and His Brand of Justice
Though Greek plays are not on every teenager’s read-list, most of them have heard of or seen Death Note. A small description of the show from Wikipedia (don’t worry, it is accurate) reads:
“Japanese manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. The story follows Light Yagami, a teen genius who discovers a mysterious notebook: the “Death Note”, which belonged to the Shinigami Ryuk, and grants the user the supernatural ability to kill anyone whose name is written in its pages. The series centers around Light’s subsequent attempts to use the Death Note to carry out a worldwide massacre of individuals whom he deems immoral and to create a crime-free society, using the alias of a god-like vigilante named “Kira”, and the subsequent efforts of an elite Japanese police task force, led by enigmatic detective L, to apprehend him.”
It would not be kind to call poor Oedipus narcissistic, but Light Yagami fits the frame of a narcissist very well. The Japanese, due to the hierarchical nature of their society, portray age not just as a measure of time and maturity, but also as a reflection of nature. Instead of running away from stereotypical narcissistic teenage behaviours, the writers of Death Note and also the supernatural entity “Ryuk” are excited to make a Narcissist a God.
“… it was not until he acquired the Death Note that he began to show signs of a larger problem. It first began with the manifestation of an inflated self of worth which gave way for the development of a god complex or an inflated feeling of his personal abilities. An inability to accept criticism of any kind followed and was accompanied with an unjustified superiority over anyone he viewed as less than him — which is almost everyone. These feelings of superiority were especially prevalent among those he perceived as a threat to his livelihood and he developed an unhealthy fixation in almost asserting dominance over them in a show of intelligence. With his inflated sense of superiority came his refusal to associate with anyone he perceived to be beneath him and his determination to form relationships with those he saw as on his level. Even then, these relationships are self-serving in nature with Yagami often taking advantage of those around him to either accomplish his goals or provide him with something that he was lacking. When confronted about the way he treats those around him, he is unwilling to acknowledge any hurt feelings and goes out of his way to cut those people out of his life and seek a different form of self-gratification.” (Death Note’s Light Yagami and Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Rai, PSY-470: Abnormal Psychology Professor, Grand Canyon University, December 12, 2021)
Light Yagami became a tyrant out of his want to bring about change, stuck in the rigid Japanese social hierarchy with a sense of disconnect both at his home due to his absent father and also at his school. His male peers alienate him for his academic prowess and female peers objectify him. We can see Light shrug off comments by his female peers as him acting too cool, or it could simply be the disdain he feels at the fact that, how he looks and what he does is all that people will care about when it comes to his social worth. Also, studying law, he knows the inefficiencies of the legal system. In his will to change the world, he was willing to subject it to terror. When confronted with the power to kill anyone on demand, Yagami forgets the most basic characteristic which makes him human, his ability to make mistakes: he doubles down in every way possible and is ready to accept defeat, but never a mistake.
Both Light and Oedipus also cause the death of their fathers, either directly or indirectly. Both characters always talk down on people they disagree with as they feel that all discussions are essentially them proving that they are not wrong. Light goes on to sacrifice his father in his pursuit of a world without crime. Though not given enough screen time, the social pressure on Light to perform academically and the lack of a father-son dynamic are clear in the show. Light feels justified in sacrificing his father; had his father also not sacrificed his family life and his relationship with his son, to serve the ends of Justice?
Light Yagami’s vision of Justice is evil and yet childish in nature. On one hand, he plans to kill everyone on death row, not even looking at the facts of conviction to make sure no one is being convicted wrongfully. On the other, his enterprise is hopeful and childish because the world he imagines is where his father doesn’t have to go to the office. A world without crime is where Mr. Yagami might be out of the job he risks his life for everyday. Kira was not the hero the world needed; Light Yagami didn’t even know what the world was. He mostly remains in his house for the majority of the first half of the show before meeting his antagonist “L”. He goes to school but again feels social isolation, always talking to himself. Kira was essentially Light Yagami’s wish of an entity that would end crime and give him back his father: a wish which spirals out of control.
Light uses himself, wiping his own memory off, uses his lover and everyone around him after this point for his vision of a world without crime. He even sacrifices his father for that world because all that isolation has caused him to not even understand that his utopia is simply him lashing out at the unjust world he feels he inhabits.
Conclusion: Is Narcissism the Cause of Tragedies?
In short, yes, but not entirely. If anyone wants a long list of what all can lead to tragedies, they can simply look at International Classification of Diseases (ICD) and Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (DSM). As per WHO, a mental disorder is characterized by a clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotional regulation, or behaviour. Mental disorders may also be referred to as mental health conditions. The latter is a broader term covering mental disorders, psychosocial disabilities and (other) mental states associated with significant distress, impairment in functioning, or risk of self-harm.
The above comparison of the two characters allows us to see how stressful situations made them both resort to self-preservation, and for self-preservation they could justify anything. Oedipus lived a scared life. If parents are like gods, then the oracles and their words to Oedipus were simply the almighty father declaring this child of his was “Evil”. The metaphor is similar to an angry parent abusing their kid and the kid taking it too close to the heart. So much so that he lashes out on the world over his own fears of being what he was declared as in the abuse (take a pick: stupid, selfish, failure, etc). Light also lived a very scared life, never even having enough courage in school to even express himself to his peers. If Oedipus felt he was unjustly judged then Light felt abandoned and isolated by his own family, father and society. Light tried changing the world too, just like Oedipus, only to fall deep down into narcissism. After the introduction of “L” and Mr. Yagami’s death, the story becomes Light simply trying to prove that he cannot be caught and that he is “Kira”. And that he cannot be wrong. Just like how Oedipus wanted to discover his true parentage to disprove that he was the son of Laius.
Note that Light cared enough about his father that he made sure he could die in peace knowing his son wasn’t Kira. Also note that he could not kill him directly. Yet, we see his obsession with being Kira dwarfs his ability to even grieve properly: “Don’t you die on me you idiot!”
Literature is a powerful tool to peer into the spirit of humanity and the capabilities of its expressions. In such a light there are a lot of tragic stories, but in most cases we see a common trait: tragic characters seem to be too concerned with the past or the future. If Haider couldn’t forgive his mother for her alleged betrayal, Oedipus couldn’t stop thinking about what he might do. If Light was not haunted by the past or the future, he simply couldn’t accept the present. Life can’t always be pleasant, but it’s much better to walk around a boulder in your path than to try and headbutt it into submission. What’s even worse is the hole of self-pity and victimization which can cause people to justify any action. The best way then to avoid tragedies might be to simply have people by your side and to cast the self aside, like the song “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” by Blue Oyster Cult says:
“All our times have come
Here but now they’re gone
Seasons don’t fear the reaper
Nor do the wind, the sun or the rain… we can be like they are”.
Imagine if Oedipus, on hearing the prophecy, chose to abandon fear and love his foster parents. Imagine if he chose to ensure that no harm came to them, instead of running away fearing himself. It would also have been a very different world for Light had he not chosen to be Kira and could have forgiven his father for the familial sacrifices he made for his career.
Sometimes, perhaps, the only remedy to pain is time and love.
