The Birth of Tragedy Section 8-9

(Originally written June 25, 2007 in Book 15)

The Birth of Tragedy
Friedrich Nietzsche

Section 8

The Greek chorus is a living wall against the reality. The Satyr Chorus represents existence more truthfully, really and completely than the cultured man.

Poetry is not an outside fantastic non-reality; its very intention is to be a complete expression of truth.

"The satyr chorus proclaims the primordial relationship between the thing-in-itself and appearance" (Nietzsche, 62).

The chorus is how the Dionysian man contemplates himself.

To the poet, metaphor is not some abstract rhetorical figure about an image which takes place of the concepts. The character is a real, live being.

The poet is anyone who has the ability to live constantly surrounded by hosts of spirits. The dramatist is anyone with the ability to transform himself and speak out of other bodies and souls. This process is Dionysian because one must forsake their individuality.

The Greek tragedy is the Dionysian chorus which is ever-changing, discharging itself in an Apollonian world of images.

Section 9

The Apollonian part of the Greek Tragedy looks simple, transparent and beautiful.

The Apollonian plainness is a necessary consequence of gazing into the brightness of the Dionysian elements. It is similar to staring at the sun and then looking away and seeing black spots.

Myths, such as Oedipus, tell us that wisdom, particularly Dionysian wisdom is an unnatural abomination and must be brought about by unnatural causes.

"The best and highest possession mankind can acquire is obtained by sacrilege and must be paid for with consequences that involve the whole flood of sufferings and sorrows with which the offended divinities have to afflict the nobly aspiring race of men" (Nietzsche, 71).

Active sin is a Promethean virtue and this is the ethical basis for pessimistic tragedy; it is the justification of human evil.

Prometheus' nature is both Dionysian and Apollonian and therefore, "All that exists is just and unjust and equally justified in both" (Nietzsche, 72).