Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Rethinking Morality
The Superman and the Will to Power
Death of God and Christianity
Eternal Recurrence
Summary
Analysis
Zarathustra is living in a town called The Pied Cow. One day, he goes to listen to a famous wise man speak about sleep and virtue. The wise man praises sleep; sleep is difficult because one must remain awake all day in order to do it. And, while awake, one must overcome oneself many times and develop virtues, like peace with God and neighbor, and obedience to authorities. At night, the wise man ponders his what he's overcome until sleep, “the lord of virtue,” overtakes him.
In the next discourse, Zarathustra challenges traditional ideas about the practice of virtue. The wise man basically teaches that virtue is the avoidance of wrongdoing, the reward for which is a peaceful soul. One practices virtue, then, for the sake of untroubled sleep, or “the lord of virtue” that washes over a person when they’ve avoided wrongdoing—there’s no higher aim.
Themes
Zarathustra laughs at the wise man, coming to a realization. The wise man teaches that one must stay awake in order to sleep well, but Zarathustra believes that those who’ve sought wise men desire “good sleep and opium virtues to bring it about,” and to wise men, wisdom means a dreamless sleep. They can’t find any higher meaning in life. But teachers like this, Zarathustra thinks, will soon fall asleep for good.
From Zarathustra’s point of view, the wise man’s virtues don’t do humanity any good. Those who seek out his teachings just want to feel secure and satisfied with themselves, numbed by the “opium” of feeling virtuous. Following these teachings just lulls people into a dreamless state—that is, they don’t spur people to anything beyond themselves.
Themes
