Wayang Purwa presents various aspects of life that are represented through the play of plays. Each play emphasizes various examples of events which in the context of ethics, can be learned moral teachings in it, by emphasizing the characterization of the main characters. Sugriwa and Subali figures are two figures of brothers who come from parts of the Ramayana story. These two brothers are very different in their disposition. Sugriwa's morality tends to be rude, and irresponsible, while Subali, his brother, is described as more subtle and wiser. This paper highlights the characterization of the two figures, with a descriptive ethical perspective, which takes into account the context of the wayang purwa tradition, especially the Yogyakarta style, the presentation of Ki Hadi Sugito and Ki Timbul Hadiprayitno, using the hermeneutic-heuristic method. The results obtained are that ethics in wayang purwa which are presented through plays, are inseparable from the context of wayang purwa in general, and certain Javanese way of life. Ethics in wayang purwa also does not merely describe black and white explicitly. Wayang Purwa emphasizes the ethics that become the Javanese way of life, specifically memayu hayuning bawana or memayu hayuning jagad, namely to seek the good and safety of the world