Hubris is a key concept to understanding what happens and why in Classical Greek tragedies and epics. In summary, you commit hubris when:
a) you think you are the master of your own destiny, especially when you know your fate and you try to prevent it from happening;
b) you believe you are greater or more clever than the gods, or don't credit the gods for your fortune when you are in their favour;
c) you commit acts against the gods – when you know or should have known better – thinking these acts will have no repercussions; or
d) you experience things that are reserved for gods only. This is something I don't get into in the video, but I was meaning to use an example from Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet", the titular characters thinking their love is divine and therefore greater than mere mortals are allowed to feel; thus they too arguably commit an act of hubris in the Classical Greek sense.
In essence, all of these offences are sins against the divine contract between mortals and gods in the Greek polytheistic religion as they are all ways a mortal can falsely think themselves to hold some power reserved for gods only.
Through the ritual of storytelling and theatre, the spectators were meant to be reminded of their mortality, their human limitations, their contract with the gods, and how any breach of it could have dire consequences: painful penance eventually leading to redemption that in extreme cases – such as that of Oedipus the King – takes more than a single generation to fulfil.
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#Classics #Literature #GreekTragedy
