How is the allegory of the cave in Plato's Republic a good example of hubris; and how is hubris portrayed in Livy's, Thucydides', and Euripides' respective works of literature?
How is the allegory of the cave in Platos Republic a good example of hubris; and how is hubris portrayed in Livys, Thucydides, and Euripides respective works of literature?Hubris is an important term when it comes to classical literature especially to the Greeks, but also to the Romans. Hubris is excessive pride, often to the point where one is hurt in one way or another by it. Hubris is in the cave allegory from Platos Republic, but also in parts of Euripides The Bacchae, Livys The Early History of Rome, and in Thucydides On Justice Power and Human Nature, and hubris is never viewed by either society as a positive, and the results of each story prove just that.
The allegory of the cave is explained as people chained to chairs in a cave that can only see shadows dancing in front them that are cast by people behind those in the chairs as sort of puppets, and the people believe these shadows to be reality. the prisoners would in every way believe that the truth is nothing other than the shadows of these artifacts (Plato 187). Plato goes on to theorize about what would happen if one of the prisoners were set free. He would see the real world, and learn that he was only seeing shadows of true life before. Then, what if that same prisoner were to go back into the cave? if he had to compete again with the perpetual prisoners in recognizing the shadows, wouldnt he invite ridicule? Wouldnt it be said of him that hes returned from his upward journey with his eyesight ruined and that it isnt even worthwhile even to try to travel upward? (Plato 189). The contrast between the perpetual prisoners and the one who had seen the light is where the hubris is present in this allegory.
Plato grew up in the aftermath of a war, and because of this much of his work is cynical, yet the cave does leave the door open for hope. While the pride of the perpetual prisoners is too excessive to think that the world they live in is a false one, there is hope of getting out of the cave, and that
The allegory of the cave is explained as people chained to chairs in a cave that can only see shadows dancing in front them that are cast by people behind those in the chairs as sort of puppets, and the people believe these shadows to be reality. the prisoners would in every way believe that the truth is nothing other than the shadows of these artifacts (Plato 187). Plato goes on to theorize about what would happen if one of the prisoners were set free. He would see the real world, and learn that he was only seeing shadows of true life before. Then, what if that same prisoner were to go back into the cave? if he had to compete again with the perpetual prisoners in recognizing the shadows, wouldnt he invite ridicule? Wouldnt it be said of him that hes returned from his upward journey with his eyesight ruined and that it isnt even worthwhile even to try to travel upward? (Plato 189). The contrast between the perpetual prisoners and the one who had seen the light is where the hubris is present in this allegory.
Plato grew up in the aftermath of a war, and because of this much of his work is cynical, yet the cave does leave the door open for hope. While the pride of the perpetual prisoners is too excessive to think that the world they live in is a false one, there is hope of getting out of the cave, and that
Cited: uripides. "The Bacchants." Ten Plays. Trans. Moses Hadas and John McLean. New York, New York: Bantam Dell, 1936. 315-353. Livy. "Book One." The Early History of Rome. Trans. Aubrey De Selincourt. New York, New York: Penguin Books, 1960. 33-101. Plato. Republic. Trans. G.M.A. Grube and C.D.C. Reeve. Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Company, Inc, 1992. Thucydides. On Justice Power and Human Nature. Trans. Paul Woodruff. Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Company, Inc, 1993.