Hubris, or overbearing pride, is a tragic flaw that can lead to terrible consequences when someone violates a moral code or attempts to overstep normal human boundaries. It has been included in stories since ancient times and is still popular in modern psychology. Arrogance is just one of many flaws that can lead to a character’s downfall, and it is often used by authors to create conflict or teach a moral lesson. The rejection of excessive arrogance is central to many religions, and it can also be applied to organizations and politics. Examples of hubris can be found in literature, such as Macbeth and Antigone, as well as in pop culture.
Hubris, or hubris, Greek for “insolence,” is a real person’s or fictional character’s tragic flaw of overbearing pride or arrogance. Terrible consequences usually occur when, because of this problem, someone violates a moral code, neglects a warning from an authority figure, or attempts to overstep normal human boundaries. Sometimes it leads to defeat, death, or both, as is often the case in a tragedy, but often an individual learns from their mistakes and emerges triumphant in the end. Authors have included it in their stories since ancient times and it is frequently featured in contemporary writing.
General meaning over time
Originally, in ancient Greek society, arrogance had strong connotations towards sexual misconduct and general violence towards others. People like Aristotle believed that individuals engaged in this type of behavior to humiliate victims, with an underlying desire to feel superior. This concept is still quite popular in modern psychology, which generally accepts that abusers are the opposite of pride, that they feel small enough to abuse in order to prove to themselves that they have some kind of authority or ability. Today, however, those who use the term generally mean that a person truly believes they are better than everyone else and acts accordingly with a sense of entitlement, so even though victims of arrogance can be humiliated today just as they were in ancient times , the motivations behind the actions are different.
Differentiation
The word hubris is mostly closely associated with the phrase “tragic flaw”, which many people see as synonymous with the word “hamartia”. However, the fallacy of hamartia need not be the result of an inherent flaw in character. Hamartia is the action that leads to ruin, while a tragic flaw, such as arrogance, is a personality trait or part of the character’s moral makeup.
Scope
When a person uses this trait in a story, it’s usually for one of three reasons. He may want to give this flaw to a character to make him seem more relatable, because readers or people in an audience generally accept that no one is perfect. The author could also use it to create conflict on purpose, thus creating some interest – others usually cannot challenge or overcome a protagonist if he has no weaknesses, so including him opens the door to physical, mental or emotional battles, leading to more longer and more complex plots. Some writers incorporate it to teach a moral lesson: overthinking yourself can lead to defeat, so it’s best to be cautious, take advice, and get help if needed.
Appearance with other strokes
Arrogance is just a flaw that can appear in a character and ultimately lead to his defeat. Courage or jealousy, for example, can equally be the source of the protagonist’s error of judgment or downfall. Many writers give their protagonists more than one of these poor traits at once, intertwining them to make the plot better.
Links to religion
To the Greeks, arrogance wasn’t really related to religion or faith, except that people believed that the gods would punish those who showed it. They generally saw it more as a moral issue and tried to enact and enforce laws that supported behaviors they considered more acceptable. Even so, they linked the concept to humility, because they thought modesty and submission were a reasonable way to reduce conflict and abuse.
The idea of rejecting excessive arrogance and living in a meek, compassionate, and loving way is central to many different religions that people practice today, including Christianity. In fact, one of the best summaries or warnings against arrogance is found in the Bible at Proverbs 16:18, which states “Pride precedes a fall.” The story of the fall of the Devil, Lucifer, perhaps best exemplifies this aspect, but many other scriptural accounts also convey the idea. One of the best known describes how King David, taking advantage of her political power, sent Bath-sheba’s husband to die in battle and committed adultery with her, which led God to demand the life of King David and Bath-sheba’s infant son.
Link to organizational hierarchy and politics
Some people believe that groups can exhibit this negative trait just like a person can. In this context, they sometimes apply the term to organizations such as businesses, as well as governments. More often than not, the arrogance issue in these cases relates to widespread corruption, which individuals usually see as particularly troublesome, because it indicates a disconnect between the rulers in power and those they lead. For example, in several reports, multiple journalists and generic writers use the word to describe US President George W. Bush’s drive towards the 2003-11 war in Iraq.
Literary examples
A classic example of having too much pride is Macbeth in William Shakespeare’s tragic play of the same name. Macbeth allows his arrogance and ambition to lead him to kill Duncan to take the throne of Scotland. His action, violation of the moral and divine law, leads to his own destruction.
In Sophocles’ play Antigone, King Creon ignores warnings from the prophet Tiresias that he will die if he continues to condemn his niece, Antigone. Convinced that his law prevails over the laws of the gods, he does not change his behavior. Antigone dies as a result, as do the king’s wife and son.
The idea of being too arrogant and then suffering dire consequences continues with characters in literature and pop culture today. Paul Theroux’s character Allie Fox from the 1982 novel and 1986 film The Mosquito Coast suffers from arrogance based on her idealism and her contempt for American culture and religion. His determination to create an ideal community in the jungles of Honduras ultimately drives him to become deranged and destroys him. While the courage, determination, and idealism Allie possesses can be seen as positive character traits, they ultimately lead to her downfall.
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