Definition
At the beginning of a romance the hero and/or heroine, despite their overall good characteristics (arete), suffer from hubris or from some other sort of excessive behavior. Because of this excess, the hero and/or heroine must be educated and learn balance or moderation (sophrosune) in order to be prepared for right (or just) rule. This education is usually an involved, episodic process. The process of education creates suffering. Education ultimately occurs because of the efforts of the hero’s counterpart, the heroine, or vice versa. After much suffering, the hero and/or heroine are educated, order returns, right rule can occur, and usually marriage occurs. Personal and political disorder are resolved.
Key Concepts
The beautiful is the good.
Romances are political: A man’s relationship with his wife mirrors a leader’s relationship with his subjects.
paradox: conflict between the appearance of right and its proper reality, between a false and true understanding
arete: excellence (strength, eloquence, cleverness, handsomeness)
hubris: excessive pride in onself
dissoi logoi: double speech, the conflicted nature of the world
sophrosune: balance or moderation
hyperbole: exaggeration, excess in the hero
education for right rule
a balance of the masculine and the feminine
reversal (peripeteia)
recognition (anagnorosis)
episodic
hero/heroine