Icarus

Literary Practical culture psychology self

Etymology

From Greek myth as told by Ovid: the inventor Daedalus made wax-and-feather wings to escape Crete and warned his son Icarus to fly a middle course — but Icarus soared too near the sun, the wax melted, and he plunged into the sea. Often forgotten is that Daedalus also warned against flying too low, where sea spray would clog the wings; the tale is as much about ignoring counsel as about ambition. "Icarus" now names any dazzling, self-destructive overreach.

noun · /IK-uh-ruhs/
A person whose overambition or recklessness leads to a spectacular downfall.
What it names
The figure to invoke when someone destroys themselves by ignoring limits in pursuit of glory.
Example
He scaled the company in eighteen months and flamed out in three — a real Icarus.
Related idea
Where hubris is the arrogant pride itself, Icarus is the person and the fall it produces — the vice versus the cautionary figure who embodies it.