Hubris
"In classical Greek ethical and religious thought, overweening presumption suggesting impious disregard of the limits governing human action in an orderly universe.(Merriam-Webster)" In other words, hubris, or hybris, is an excessive sense of pride in a human being. They often believe that they can accomplish more than the universe itself will allow. Roger Fowler defines hubris as " a man's denial of his own mortality(p.198)." "Hubris is the Greek word for 'insolance' or 'affront'(Baldick p.260)." Baldick continues, " Thus, hubris is the pride that comes before the fall(p.260)."
Hubris is probably best defined through tragedy( generally, a play ending in death). " Aristotle attributes hamartia(tragic flaw or shortcoming) to the tragic hero(Barnett-Berman-Burto p.112)." In the case of a tragedey, hubris is often the tragic flaw that causes the downfall of a hero. In the most famous examples, the Greek tragedies, the gods would become offended by a man that believed in himself too much. Therefore, they would torture him with unfortunate events that would eventually lead to his demise. Hubris, at times, can also be a mistake. " In other plays, it(hubris) is merely a misstep, such as a choice that turns out badly(Barnett-Berman-Burto p.112)." For example, in Shakespere's Macbeth, Macbeth kills Duncan in order to improve his life. In reality, the exact opposite happens, and Macbeth slowly spirals through a chain of events into despair.
Works Cited
- Barnett,Sylvan, Morton Berman, and William Burto. A Dictionairy of Literary, Dramatic, and Cinematic Terms. 2nd ed. Little, Brown and Company(Inc.) 1971.
- Fowler,Roger ed.A Dictionary of Modern Critical Terms. Rouletage & Kegan Paul Ltd. 1973.
- Baldick, Chris. from The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1990. 260 p. [1]
- Hubris.Ed. Merriam-Webster.Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature 1995.[2].
Excessive pride. With its origin in Greece, it is said to be the “overweening presumption suggesting impious disregard of the limits governing human action in an orderly universe” (EB). In Greek tragedy, this sin tends to serve as the “tragic flaw” of the protagonist, on occasion resulting in his downfall. An example occurs in the Persians of Aeschylus, with the character of Xerxes. His pride is revealed when he “flaunts nature by turning sea into land” with the act of “building a bridge of ships across the Hellespont” (EB). The “crushing defeat of the Persians at Salamis” serves as his punishment for his arrogance (EB). The protagonist’s hubris is more understated in most other Greek tragedies.
“A kind of high-flown insolence” (OED). According to the author of an article on academic hubris, it is defined “as looking out of a high turret in an ivory tower and being unable to see the ground because of the clouds” (252). He asserts “that hubris runs rampant in academia” due to those who are high in power seeing themselves as morally superior over those who “toil in the kitchen” (252). His article focuses on the manifestation of academic hubris in the pediatric field.