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
(1) Zarathustra recalls his initial folly of trying to speak to humanity in the market-place. Nobody among the mob believes in Higher Men; they believe that everyone is equal before God. But God has died. (2) God was the Higher Men’s greatest danger. Only after his death can noontide come, and the Men be masters. Now they desire the Superman. (3) While most ask how humanity can be preserved, Zarathustra asks how man can be overcome. He doesn’t care about suffering men near at hand; he cares about the Superman. He hates modern man’s slavish attempts at self-preservation. He only loves those who desire to overcome “petty virtues” and “miserable ease,” despairing of, rather than submitting to, today’s values.
The supper conversation summarizes Zarathustra’s teachings. Zarathustra once tried to appeal to the mob, but their outdated beliefs kept most from receiving him. Those who threw off belief in God are able to rightly desire the Superman.Most people are motivated by self-preservation and are therefore unable to understand the need to overcome themselves and look toward the future, to the Superman. They prefer comfort in the present moment, which traditional morality enables.
Themes
(4) Zarathustra calls upon the Higher Men to be courageous, even when faced with the abyss. (5) Evil is man’s greatest strength and necessary for the Superman. Sin is Zarathustra’s consolation. But these things aren’t meant for everyone’s ears. (6) Life must become harder and harder for Higher Men, so that they can grow high enough to be struck and shattered by lightening. (7) Zarathustra doesn’t want to become light for the higher men, but to blind them with his lightning.
Zarathustra teaches that courage is the highest virtue. Courage, like other strong attributes, looks like “evil” to the masses, but such things are necessary expressions of the will to power. That will must be tested for endurance, until higher men don’t just follow Zarathustra but surpass him.Nietzsche saw his teachings as appropriate for higher men only, not for the masses.
Themes
(8) The Higher Men must be honest and not exert their will beyond their powers, unlike the mob, who are false. (9) The Higher Men must be mistrustful and keep their reasoning secret from the mob. The learned, too, hate the Higher Men. (10) The Higher Men must carry themselves high on their own legs, not on the backs of others. (11) Higher Men, creators, must be “pregnant” with their own children only. They should not do things for the sake of their neighbors—doing so is for petty people who hold false values. (12) Giving birth is a painful, messy effort.
Higher Men must be honest about their limitations and indeed about everything. Because Higher Men are susceptible to misunderstanding, they should also conceal their ideals from those who will be threatened by them. They must think for themselves, and they must not pity their weaker contemporaries, but look resolutely into the future, to their offspring.
Themes
(13) The Higher Men must follow in their forefathers’ footsteps and not attempt the improbable. (14) They must not be timid or ashamed. They should attempt great things, even if they fail, and even if that means man is a failure. (15) Higher Men are all failures—why does this matter? Humanity’s future is struggling deep within them, so it’s no wonder. They must learn to laugh at this. (16) The greatest sin on Earth is rejection of laughter—one who doesn’t laugh doesn’t love enough. Such people are sickly and belong to the mob; they don’t know how to dance.
Higher Men, though they must be independent, must also be realistic about the burdens passed down to them and the effort involved in casting these aside. Higher Men must also strive to fulfill their full potential, something too rare. This effort will inevitably involve failure, but this isn’t to be viewed as a reason for shame or despair. For Nietzsche, life is basically cheerful—there’s even joy to be found in serious matters. Laughter is part of embracing life, something the masses can’t do.
Themes
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(17) The one approaching their goal dances, even though they pass through dangers and afflictions. (18) Zarathustra “the laughing prophet” has found no one else strong enough for his crown today. (19) It is better “to dance clumsily than to walk lamely.” The Higher Men must learn how to do this and reject the solemnity of the mob. (20) They must learn to dance organically, in a way that transcends themselves. Much is still possible. Zarathustra throws his “laugher’s crown” to the Higher Men.
Again, the struggles and failures inherent to striving for the Superman aren’t heavy, solemn things. Such failures must be accompanied by joy instead of false guilt and grief, which belong to conventional morality. Higher Men should be daring and reach toward the future.
Themes
