birth of tragedy.5

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ApolloGod of Light andthe SunReason

PoetryMusicHealingProphecy

Sculpture & formsClear boundaries


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ApolloA pollo, like his twin A rtemis, wasthe son of Zeus and Leto. He wasborn on the floating island of Delos. When he was fully grown,his father sent him on a mission tothe Oracle of Delphi on the

mountain Parnassus. He was tocapture the Oracle for his own. Todo this, he had to kill the Python, asnake who guarded the Oracle.From a deep cleft in themountains side, sulphurousfumes rose up to the priestesswho sat above it. The fumes puther into a magic sleep, and in her dreams she heard Mother Earthsvoice. She repeated Earthswords, and priests stood aroundher translating.


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principium individuationisLatin for the principle of individuation. The idea, associatedwith A pollo, of the uniqueness anddistinctiveness of each individual

person and thing. Nietzschecontrasts this with the Dionysianmysterious Primordial Unity.Implicit in the concept of the

principium individuationis are theboundaries between things thatseparate humans from the worldand from each other. Nietzschedescribes the state of individuationas the origin and prime cause of allsuffering and as the prime causeof evil (34-35).


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Appearance

Nietzsche's term for the nature of Apollonianphenomena. Everything that we see aroundus is appearance, as it is only a veil behind

which lies true reality. Likewise, the imagesin dreams represent the appearance of appearance. Nietzsche contrasts the conceptof Apollonian appearance, or illusion, to theDionysian suffering, or reality. Appearance isnecessary in order to shield us from the fulltruth of human suffering which otherwise

would crush us with its magnitude.


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The veil of Maya The veil of Maya Maya (Sanskrit m y , from m "not" and y"this") , in Hinduism , is a term describing manythings. Maya is the phenomenal world of separate objects and people , which creates for some the illusion that it is the only reality. For the mystics this manifestation is real , but it is afleeting reality; it is a mistake , although anatural one , to believe that maya represents afundamental reality. Each person , each physicalobject , from the perspective of eternity is like a

brief , disturbed drop of water from anunbounded ocean. The goal of enlightenment isto understand this more precisely , toexperience this: to see intuitively that thedistinction between the self and the universe is afalse dichotomy. The distinction betweenconsciousness and physical matter , betweenmind and body , is the result of an unenlightened

perspective. Nietzsche probably gets the term

from Schopenhauer.

Maya (Sanskrit m y , from m "not" and y"this") , in Hinduism , is a term describing manythings. Maya is the phenomenal world of separate objects and people , which creates for some the illusion that it is the only reality. For the mystics this manifestation is real , but it is afleeting reality; it is a mistake , although anatural one , to believe that maya represents afundamental reality. Each person , each physicalobject , from the perspective of eternity is like a

brief , disturbed drop of water from anunbounded ocean. The goal of enlightenment isto understand this more precisely , toexperience this: to see intuitively that thedistinction between the self and the universe is afalse dichotomy. The distinction betweenconsciousness and physical matter , betweenmind and body , is the result of an unenlightened

perspective. Nietzsche probably gets the term

from Schopenhauer.


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Is Nietzsche offering his reader the red Dionysian pill?


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DionysusDionysusGod of wine,drunkenness,revelry, fertilityknown as the Liberator (Eleutherios), freeing onefrom one's normal self, by madness, ecstasy, or wine promoter of civilization, alawgiver, and lover of peace, as well as the patrondeity of agriculture and thetheater as Lyaeus ("he whoreleases") as a god of relaxation and freedom fromworry

God of wine,drunkenness,revelry, fertilityknown as the Liberator (Eleutherios), freeing onefrom one's normal self, by madness, ecstasy, or wine promoter of civilization, alawgiver, and lover of peace, as well as the patrondeity of agriculture and thetheater as Lyaeus ("he whoreleases") as a god of relaxation and freedom fromworry


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DionysusDionysus had an unusual birth that evokes the difficulty infitting him into the Olympian pantheon. His mother wasSemele (daughter of Cadmus), a mortal woman, and hisfather Zeus, the king of the gods. Zeus's wife, Hera, a

jealous and vain goddess, discovered the affair whileSemele was pregnant. Appearing as an old crone (inother stories a nurse), Hera befriended Semele, whoconfided in her that her husband was actually Zeus. Hera

pretended not to believe her, and planted seeds of doubt in Semele's mind. Curious, Semele demanded of Zeus

that he reveal himself in all his glory as proof of hisgodhood. Though Zeus begged her not to ask this, she persisted and he agreed. Mortals, however, cannot look upon a god without dying. He came to her wreathed inbolts of lightning and she perished in the ensuing blaze.Zeus rescued the fetal Dionysus, however, by sewing himinto his thigh (referred as his testicles). A few monthslater, Dionysus was born. In this version,Dionysus isborne by two mothers (Semele and Zeus) before hisbirth, hence the epithet dimetor (two mothers)

associated with "twice-born".


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Dionysos is depicted in this painting newly born from the thigh of Zeus.The king of the gods holds a thyrsos (a pine-cone tipped staff), one of the usual attributes of Dionysos, and sits on a stool spread with a deerskin. His infant son holds a vine-branch in one hand and a wine cup in theother, indicating his destined role as the god of wine. The goddessesAphrodite and Eileithyia stand on either side, Aphrodite holding a pair of flower blooms, and Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth, raising her handto release the child. ca 460 BC


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In another version of the birth story,Dionysus was the son of Zeus and

Persephone, the queen of the underworld. A jealous Hera again attempted tokill the child, this time by sending Titans to ripDionysus to pieces after luringthe baby with toys. Zeus drove the Titans away with his thunderbolts, but only after the Titans ate everything but the heart, which was saved, variously, by Athena, Rhea, or Demeter. Zeus used the heart to recreate him in the wombof Semele, hence he was again "the twice-born". Sometimes people said that he gave Semele the heart to eat to impregnate her. The rebirth in bothversions of the story is the primary reason he was worshipped in mystery religions, as his death and rebirth were events of mystical reverence.


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It is possible that Dionysianmythology would later find itsway into Christianity? There

are many parallels betweenD ionysus and Jesus: bothwere said to have been bornfrom a virgin mother, a mortal woman, but fathered by theking of heaven, to havereturned from the dead, to

have transformed water intowine, and to have beenliberator of mankind. Themodern scholar Barry Powell also argues that Christiannotions of eating and drinking"the flesh" and "blood" of Jesus were influenced by thecult of Dionysus.


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Early tradition holds that drama and comedy evolved between800 - 500 BCE from the dithyramb, the songs, folk tales and dances offered to Dionysus. The word tragoidia , where our word tragedy is derived, is a portmanteau of two Greek words:tragos , "the goat", which is akin to "gnaw", and odia meaningsong , fromaeidein , to sing. This explains the very rare archaic translation as "goat-men sacrifice song.


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Fr ied r ich Nietzsche

1842 - 1900Birth of Tragedy(1871 ) was his firstmajor book.


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N ietzsche wanted to showthat there are two principlesfundamental to theuniverse. They are ancient

and immortal gods. Theyare not psychological. Thesetwo forces strive againsteach other, but sometimesfind a temporaryreconciliation or marriage.N ietzsche s argument isthat the ancient Greeks

created, for a time, a ritualform by which the twoforces are harnessed andbrought into harmony. Thiswas a new way to look atancient Greek drama.

The Dionysos Theatre in Athens built into the Acropolis, ~3rd centuryBC.


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Th is view of t h ings already provides uswit h all t h e elements of a profound and pessimistic contemplation of t h e world,toget h er wit h t h e mystery doctrine of traged y:

N ietzsche was not just workingout a new theory of Greektheater, but a theory of art and aphilosophical approach to life.

1. the fundamental knowledge of the onenessof everything existent;

2 . the conception of individuation as the primecause of evil; and

3 . art as the joyous hope that the bonds of individuation may be broken in augury of arestored oneness (Section 10, 35) .


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A pollo overcomes the suffering of the individual by the luminescent

glorification of the eternity of the phenomenon: here beauty triumphsover the suffering inherent in life; pain is in a sense obliterated fromthe features of nature (Section 16, 59).

I see A pollo as the transfiguring genius of the principiumindividuationis through which alone the redemption in appearanceis truly to be obtained (Section 16, 56).


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Dionysian art, too, wishes to convince us of the eternal joy of existenceDionysian art, too, wishes to convince us of the eternal joy of existenceonly we are to seek this joy not in phenomenon, but behind them. Weonly we are to seek this joy not in phenomenon, but behind them. We

are to recognize that all that comes into being must be ready for aare to recognize that all that comes into being must be ready for asorrowful end; we are forced to look into the terrors of the individualsorrowful end; we are forced to look into the terrors of the individualexistenceexistence yet we are not to become rigid with fear: a metaphysicalyet we are not to become rigid with fear: a metaphysicalcomfort tears us momentarily from the bustle of the transforming figures.comfort tears us momentarily from the bustle of the transforming figures.We are really for a brief moment Primordial Being itself, feeling its ragingWe are really for a brief moment Primordial Being itself, feeling its ragingdesire for existence and joy in existence; the struggle, the pain, thedesire for existence and joy in existence; the struggle, the pain, thedestruction of phenomena, now appear to us as a necessary thing, indestruction of phenomena, now appear to us as a necessary thing, inview of the surplus of countless forms of existence which force and pushview of the surplus of countless forms of existence which force and pushone another into life, in view of the exuberant fertility of the universal will.one another into life, in view of the exuberant fertility of the universal will.We are pierced by the maddening sting of these pains just when weWe are pierced by the maddening sting of these pains just when wehave become, as it were, one with the infinite primordial joy in existence,have become, as it were, one with the infinite primordial joy in existence,and when we anticipate, in Dionysian ecstasy, the indestructibility andand when we anticipate, in Dionysian ecstasy, the indestructibility andeternity of this joy. In spite of fear and pity, we are the happy livingeternity of this joy. In spite of fear and pity, we are the happy livingbeings, not as individuals, but as thebeings, not as individuals, but as the oneone living being, merged with itsliving being, merged with itscreative delightcreative delight (Section 16, 60(Section 16, 60). ).


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The book s subtitle is O ut of t h e Spirit of Music. Why music?

Music isdistinguished fromall the other arts bythe fact that it isnot a copy of thephenomenon . . .

but is the directcopy of the willitself (58).

It is only through the spirit of music that we canunderstand the joy involved in the annihilation of theindividual. For only by the particular examples of such annihilation are we made clear as to theeternal phenomenon of Dionysian art, which givesexpression to the will in its omnipotence, as it were,behind the principium individuationis , the eternal lifebeyond all phenomenon, and despite allannihilation (Section 16, 59).

Followers of Dionysus prepare the wine amidstmusic and dance.


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The second part of Nietzsches argument isthat the Greeks balancebetween the A pollonianand Dionysian wasoverthrown and Greektragedy destroyed withthe rise of two figures. A s a result, Westerncivilization was changedforever.

Euripides(480-406 B.C.)

Socrates(c. 469 / 471 BC 399 BC)


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Privileging rational and logical explanation, Socrates and Euripides effectivelyeliminated the Dionysian element from Greek drama. A nd without the Dionysian, the A pollonian could not survive. In Nietzsches own time of the Industrial Revolution,science had become the dominant explanation for the worldthe end result of a historyconnecting Nietzsches own time all the way back to Socrates and Euripides.

L et us imagine the one great Cyclops eye of Socrates fixed ontragedy , an eye in which the fine frenzy of artistic enthusiasmhad never glowed . To this eye was denied the pleasure of gazing into the Dionysian abysses (Section 14, 48).


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T he problem with science is that it pretends . . . to beable to fathom the innermost essence of things. Inreality, it serves only to elevate the mere phenomenon,the work of Maya, to the position of the sole and highestreality, putting it in place of the innermost and trueessence of things, and thus making impossible anyknowledge of this essence. In regards to the truth ofhuman existence, the effect of privileging scientificclaims this way is to lull the dreamer still more soundlyasleep (Section 18, 66).


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However, Nietzsche hopes thata new spirit may yet prevail andbring back the spirit of music,tragedy, and Dionysian wisdomand thus save Western, or atleast German, culture.

Let's imagine a growing generation with thisbold vision, this heroic desire for themagnificent; let's imagine the valiant step of these dragon-slayers, the proud daring withwhich they turn their backs on all thedoctrines of weakness belonging to thatoptimism [of science and logic], in order tolive resolutely, fully and completely. Would

that not require the tragic man of this culturein his self-discipline of seriousness andterror to desire a new art, the art of metaphysical consolationnamely,tragedyto claim it as Helen, and exclaimwith Faust:

With my desire's power, should I not callInto this life the fairest form of all? (66-67)

Richard Wagner (1813 1883)to whom the book is dedicated

birth of tragedy.5

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