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Of Great Events
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
A “great sadness” descends on humanity, and everything seems empty. Zarathustra hears a prophet speak, and what he hears transforms him. He grieves, wondering how to maintain his light through the coming darkness. After a long sleep, he tells his disciples about a dream in which he renounced life. He was thrown into a coffin by a fierce wind and mocked by masked children, angels, and creatures.
The prophet named here is a stand-in for the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, who was influential on Nietzsche, and some of whose teachings (especially about pessimism) Nietzsche rejected. Here, Zarathustra at first seems swayed by the pessimistic prophet, and his dream about this is ominous.
Themes
Zarathustra’s favorite disciple interprets the dream for him. He says that the wind in the dream is Zarathustra himself, and so are the different evils that burst forth from the coffin. Zarathustra invades many tombs and laughs at the gloomy watchers of graves, overthrowing them with his laughter. He is a prophet of life, capable of dreaming his own enemies. This shows that he will always overcome them. Gradually, Zarathustra emerges from his gloom.
Nietzsche rejected Schopenhauer’s teachings on pessimism and taught optimism in their place. Zarathustra’s dream interpretation shows the same thing happening in the story, as Zarathustra mocks and overcomes gravity. The fact that he can create his own nightmares shows that he is always in control of them and need not fear.
Themes
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