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. On board the ship, people are very curious about Zarathustra, but he remains sorrowful and withdrawn. After a couple of days, however, he begins listening to others again, since he is “a friend to all who take long journeys.” Eventually, he begins to speak and tells them a riddle about his encounter with the most solitary man. First, Zarathustra was walking a mountain path in a grim twilight, resisting the mocking Spirit of Gravity, which sits on him like a “half dwarf, half mole.” Eventually, Zarathustra summons his courage and tells the creature that either he or the dwarf must die.
The Spirit of Gravity is what Nietzsche saw as the distorting instinct created by the Judeo-Christian emphasis on sin and guilt. Zarathustra throws off this “dwarf,” or guilty conscience, once and for all—something he sees as the most difficult effort for a person today. However, it’s a necessary precursor to the Superman, since guilt is incompatible with the will to power.
Themes
2. The dwarf hops down from Zarathustra’s shoulder. Zarathustra points out a nearby fork in the path; above the crossroad is a gateway marked with the word “Moment.” He explains that an eternal path runs backward from here, and everything that can happen has already run along the path. All these things must also run forward along the lane. If he and the dwarf run down the lane before them, in other words, they will be returning eternally.
Having thrown off the Spirit of Gravity, Zarathustra is now free to regard the future with hope. In fact, having thrown off guilty conscience frees Zarathustra to embrace and teach the idea of all things eternally recurring. Being conscious of one’s guilt would prevent a person from embracing this idea.
Themes
Suddenly, Zarathustra is transported to a desolate spot among wild cliffs. He sees a young shepherd, who is choking on a heavy snake that has crawled into his throat. Zarathustra vainly tugs at the snake and then urges the man to bite its head off. The shepherd does so, spits the snake’s head aside, and springs up, transformed. He laughs as no human being has laughed before.
Here, the shepherd is the archetype of the most solitary man. Zarathustra calls upon the shepherd’s will to free him from the choking snake. The shepherd symbolizes a modern person freeing themselves from the day’s suffocating values. With this, Zarathustra calls on people to free themselves before they are choked to death—once this is done, humanity can freely evolve.
Themes
