in the birth of tragedy, nietzsche explains how greek tragedy unites the twin

phenomena of apollo and dionysius together to form greek tragedy. there are several

difference between the dionysian and the apollonian. while these differences clash, they

are both absolutely necessary to create the highest art.

one of the most superficial differences is that apollo is the deity of music and

dreams while dionysius is the patron deity of the collapse of man's ability to distinguish

between reality and dreams.

another key difference is that in the apollonian way, apollo was seen as able to

shield mankind from some of the grief and strife of existence while total immersion in the

dionysian way was seen as a permanent redemption for all worldy pains. the dionysian

way was seen as an alternative to christianity. however, the only way to achieve this

redemption was to completely immerse oneself in life immediately.

the catch is that only by the ways of apollo could the dionysius be seen. therefore

to acheive this complete redemption both apollo and dionysius are completely vital to

eachother.

nietzsche explains that the greeks discovered that they just existed and in order to

live at least a decent life had to create some sort of illusion that would soften the thought

of existing for nothing and suddenly not existing in death. "the greeks were keenly aware

of the terrors and horrors of existence; in order to be able to live at all they had to place

before them the shining fantasy of the olympians" (nietzsche 1040). the greeks consoled

themselves by creating the olympians and the myths that surrounded them.
 it is like having a completely blank sheet of paper in front of you. the paper is

paper. you can draw or paint something onto the paper and call it art. you can sell this art

and buy things to make yourself happy but in the end you realize it is still just paper. this

relates directly to man. man can be well-learned, wealthy, and a philanthropist and

achieve temporary happiness but in the end when he is in his last years, he is still just a

man.

the greeks seemed to create the myths to show that man did indeed have a purpose

and by diligently going about and actualizing it man could become happy knowing that

his existence was justified. humanity has such a desire to remain on the earth that he

creates the illusion or dream of an afterlife. the thought that man could chose an afterlife

just from choices motivated man into justifying his existence. this gave man the ideal of

hope.

the cruel realization of oedipus' existence in oedipus rex further supported the idea

that the greeks had used art to divert themselves from the horrors of existence. in oedipus

rex a prophecy was made that oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother. in

horror, oedipus's parents abandoned him on a mountain side where by the kindness of a

shepard oedipus is adopted by the royal family of corinth.

later in his travels oedipus is confronted by an elderly man and they fight. oedipus

kills the man and continues on his way. he then encounters a sphinx who is maliciously

guarding the plagued city of thebes. he is then asked a riddle in which if he doesn't solve

he will be ripped to pieces by the sphinx's sharp talons. he answers the riddle correctly

and frees thebes from the sphinx and its plague. they reward him kingship over thebes

and the hand of queen jocasta. they later have four children, antigone, ismene, polyneices
and eteocles. these four children are later involved in the story of antigone in which all

children but ismene are either slain or died by their own hand.

another plague ravages thebes and creon returns from an oracle proclaiming that if

the former king laius' murderer is found and cast out from the city the plague would stop.

oedipus swears to find the criminal and send him into exile. he calls for the blind seer

tiresias and oedipus is revealed to be the criminal. at first, oedipus is angry and thinks that

creon put him up to this to try and claim the throne for himself but the memory of the

man that he had killed haunted oedipus. later he found out that he had actually killed king

laius on the crossroads. all the facts seem to add up and queen jocasta hangs herself in

horror. oedipus gouges out his eyes and exiles himself as he had promised to do to the

criminal.

i believe tragedies were written to make human existence not seem nearly as harsh

as the protagonist's existence. in this way it is like saying "your life isn't so bad, look at

that guy's. do you really think that you have things worse than him?" in this way the

greeks did not think that their existence was so fruitless.

neitzsche emphasizes how the socratic dismissal of myth leaves man without

purpose or hope. man has lost his sense of awe and curiousity. from this loss of senses,

man can no longer recieve reassurance from the myths and legends. man can no longer

relate himself to the history of his people. man grows despaired and languishes.

"for nietzsche, nihilism is the outcome of repeated frustrations in the search for

meaning. he diagnosed nihilism as a latent presence within the very foundations of

european culture, and thus, as a necessary and approaching destiny" (wikipedia).

nietzsche believed that nihilism would shake the foundations of modern religion to its
grounds and make way for a nihilism's reappearance.

"men were considered 'free' so that they may be judged and punished-- so that

they may become guilty; consequently, every act had to be considered as willed, and the

origin of every act had to be considered lying within the conciousness" (1059). nietzsche

and like-minded people gave their best efforts to take the concepts of punishment and

guilt out from the world. this is best described by the following quotation:

"today, as we have entered into the reverse movement and we immoralists are

trying with all our strength to take out the concept of guilt and the concept of punishment

out of the world again, and to cleanse psychology, history, nature, and social institutions

and sanctions of them, there is in our eyes no more radical opposition that that of the

theologians, who continue with the concept of a 'moral world-order' to infect the

innocence of becoming by means of 'punishment' and 'guilt'. christianity is a metaphysics

of the hangman" (1059).

with this being said, it is apparent that nietzsche saw christianity as something

more malicious. christianity praised the good in people and preached love for your fellow

man yet why did it insist on punishment, judgement, and guilt? this seemed absurd.

nietzsche offers one solution to the 'problem' of christianity. until now, the concept of god

was the greatest hinderance to existence and liberation. "we deny god, we deny the

responsibility in god: only thereby do we redeem the world" (1059).

the only issues i see with nietzsche's analysis of nihilism is what would happen if

we all rejected god and he truly existed. what would become of mankind? what was our

existence about if there is an afterlife? i believe that nietzche would respond rather
angrily, "halt die schnauze. du bist doof. haben sie nicht gehört? gott ist tot."