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1 the Fall of the Tragic Hero: a Critique of the “Hubristic Principle

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1 the Fall of the Tragic Hero: a Critique of the “Hubristic Principle The Fall of the Tragic Hero: A Critique of the “Hubristic Principle” Richard V. Cudjoe Peter Kojo T. Grant Jonathan Asante Otchere DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ujah.v12i1.1 Abstract The idea of attaching moral depravity to the fall of the tragic heroes (according to Aristotle, those men who enjoy prosperity and high reputation like Oedipus and Thyestes etc.) did not start with the three tragic poets, namely; Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, but rather it dates back even to Homer. This idea is, of course, influenced by the old Greek tradition of Koros, Hubris, Nemesis and Ate. The totality of this traditional view and its application is equated to the phrase ‘hubristic principle’, in the scheme of this work. The hubristic principle makes specific that the fall of the hero is as a result of a sin or wrong that he committed. The commission of this wrong must not go unpunished. In effect, the hand of Justice, what they call nemesis, no matter how delayed must fall on the hero. The problem is how then do you reconcile situations where the fall of the hero is not his making? In other words, where do you place undeserved misfortune that befalls the hero? Apparently, it is this inadequacy of the hubristic syndrome that Aristotle proposes hamartia (Greek, for error) as the appropriate means in accounting for the fall of the tragic hero. This paper discusses first, the hubristic principle and its application and second, assesses the reliability of the theory in accounting for the fall of the tragic hero. 1 Cudjoe, Grant & Otchere: The Fall of the Tragic Hero Introduction The idea of attaching moral depravity to the fall of the tragic heroes did not start with the three tragic poets, namely; Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, but rather it dates back even to Homer. This idea is, of course, influenced by the old Greek tradition of Koros, Hubris , Nemesis and Ate. The totality of this traditional view and its application is equated to the phrase ‘hubristic principle’, in the scheme of this work. It is therefore, appropriate to first explain the concepts and to secondly, expatiate on their usage by writers such as Homer, Hesiod, Herodotus, Thucydides and especially the three Greek tragic poets, as earlier mentioned. Koros The word Koros is the Anglicised form of the Greek κόρος, which is variously explicated as satiety, surfeit, and insolence, as cause or corollary of hubris. (H.G. Liddell & R.Scott). It refers to the quality or state of being fed or gratified to, or beyond, capacity. In other words, it is an expression of overabundant supply, in effect, excess. Hubris The word Hubris is the Anglicised form of the Greek ὕβρις which means “wanton violence, arising from the pride of strength or from passion, insolence,” (Liddell & Scott). Hubris, intentionally dishonouring behaviour, was a powerful term of moral condemnation in ancient Greece, and in Athens, and perhaps elsewhere; it was also treated as a serious crime. The common use of hubris in English to suggest pride, over-confidence, or any behaviour which may offend divine powers rests, it is now generally held, on a misunderstanding of ancient texts, and concomitant and over- simplified views of the Greek attitudes to the gods which 2 UJAH: Unizik Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 12 No. 1, 2011 have lent support to many doubtful and often over- Christianising, interpretations, above all of Greek tragedy. The best ancient discussion of hubris is found in Aristotle’s Rhetoric : his definition is that hubris is: Doing and saying things at which the victim incurs shame, not in order that one may achieve anything other than what is done, but simply to get pleasure from it. For those who act in return for something do not commit hubris, they avenge themselves. The cause of the pleasure for those committing hubris is that by harming people, they think themselves superior; that is why the young and the rich are hubristic, as they think themselves superior when they commit hubris. ( Rhetoric : 1378 b 23-30). This account, locating hubris within a framework of ideas concerned with the honour and shame of the individual, which took a central place in the value-systems of the ancient Greeks, fits very well the vast majority of texts exploiting the notion, from Homer till well after Aristotle’s own time. While it primarily denotes gratuitous dishonouring by those who are, or think they are, powerful and superior, it can also at times denote the insolence of accepted ‘inferior’ persons, such as women, children, or slaves who disobey or claim independence; or it may be used to emphasise the degree of humiliation actually inflicted on a victim, regardless of the agent’s intention; some cases, especially applied to verbal insults, may be humorously exaggerated; and revenge, taken to excessive or brutal lengths can be condemned as constituting fresh hubris. ( The Oxford Classical Dictionary , 2003:732). It must therefore, be understood that the exposition and the clarification above underpins the varying 3 Cudjoe, Grant & Otchere: The Fall of the Tragic Hero interpretations of hubris regarding the situation and the context. Adding his bit to the varying interpretations of the word, D.M MacDowell explains that they call it hubris (arrogant violence arising from passion) and this can mutatis mutandis be considered as the ‘big bang’ of the concept- formation of crime as we know it today. For the Greek, manifestations of such a deliberately criminal behaviour are found in the misconduct of a young man full of energy as well as of men who abuse their wealth and political power. Other characteristic manifestations are, further, eating and drinking, sexual activity, larking about, hitting and killing, taking other people’s property and privileges, jeering at people and disobeying authority both human and divine. A person shows hubris (arrogance) by deliberately indulging in conduct which is bad, immoral, or at best useless, because it is what he wants to do, having no regard for the lives or rights of other people. (MacDowell 1976: 14-31). Besides, M.W. Dickie’s position on hubris, which is captured in the article of D.L. Cairns (1993:1 ), explains among other things that hubris is essentially a disposition of over-confidence or presumption, as a result of which one fails to realize or recognize one’s limitations and precariousness of one’s human condition. Cairns goes further to analyse the dispositional aspect of the meaning and the application of the word, which he admits was not the main interest of Aristotle. In this regard, Cairns writes: True, Aristotle does define hybris in terms of acts, but even though hybris is, for him, always a particular way of treating another person, it is not the nature of the act or the effect on the honour of the patient which makes an act 4 UJAH: Unizik Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 12 No. 1, 2011 hubristic, but the motive; and that motive is a prohairesis , a particular choice of a developed character. (Cairns, 1993:6-7). In effect, Cairns tries to equate hubris to ‘thinking big’. In this regard he comments: Terms such as mega phronein are, … ways of referring to the subjective, dispositional aspect of hubris, and thus, since hubris-words can be used in purely dispositional senses, hubris and ‘thinking big’ can amount to the same thing. (Cairns, 1993:11) Supporting his argument for the dispositional aspect of the interpretation of hubris, Cairns cites Plato’s treatment of the subject: The extreme over-valuation of the self that is hybris is, for Plato, a failure to control disruptive forces within the personality, a refusal to accept one’s place within a rational system, and an exaltation of the merely human (or less than human) at the expense of the divine. (Cairns, 1993:31). He further argues that Plato’s recognition of the associations of hybris with exuberance, vigour, disease, and madness is, because it forms such an obvious point of contact between his view and some of the earliest poetic applications, valuable evidence of the dispositional basis of hybris. (Cairns, 1993:31). David Cohen also notes that in surveying all the usages of the words hubris, hubrizein, hubristes, and hubrisma, in the principal 5 th and 4 th century Athenian prose 5 Cudjoe, Grant & Otchere: The Fall of the Tragic Hero authors, he discovers that more than fifty per cent of all occurrences refer in a general way to some unspecified kind of wrongful, insulting, insolent, or excessive behaviour.(Cohen, 1991:172). Nemesis Nemesis, could be interpreted as distribution of what is due, but in common usage it means retribution, especially righteous anger aroused by injustice; later, of the wrath of the gods; indignation at undeserved good fortune. It is also associated with the impersonation of divine retribution, coupled with aidos (Liddell & Scott). Nemesis also refers to both goddess and an abstract concept from νέµειν (to deal or distribute); often a personified moral agent (‘Retribution’) like Lachesis and Praxis. Nemesis was daughter of Night, born after the Moirai and Keres as an affliction to mortal men. (Hornblower & Spawforth, 2003:1034). Hesiod gives us a detailed account of this picture in his Theogony when he explains thus: Also she bare the Destinies and ruthless avenging Fates, Clotho and Lachesis and Atropos, who give men at their birth both evil and good to have, and they pursue the transgressions of men and of gods: and these goddesses never cease from their dread anger until they punish the sinner with a sore penalty. Also deadly Night bare Nemesis (Indignation) to afflict mortal men, and after her, Deceit and Friendship and hateful Age and hard-hearted Strife.
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