Socrates
Socrates shows up a lot in this text. In fact, he first gets references about two pages in. The ancient Greek father of philosophy might even be said to be the guiding spirit behind this work of Nietzsche. Just how significant a role he plays is expressed through metaphor, but still quite directly:
“In the spirit of these last suggestive questions, it must now be said how the influence of Socrates has extended down through posterity to this very moment and indeed stretches out into the future in its entirety, like a shadow which grows in the evening sun”
Christianity
Contrary to popular opinion, Nietzsche was in no way a Nazi or even a pre-conceived adherent of its tenets. If through nothing else, this can be proven by what may well be the institution which is the foremost of object of his revulsion - that particular religion in the name of which Nazis murdered millions:
“Christianity was from the very beginning essentially and fundamentally the disgust and aversion felt by life towards itself, merely disguised, concealed, and masquerading under the belief in an ‘other’ or ‘better’ life.”
Man is not an Animal
The central overarching message of the entire body of work produced by Nietzsche really boils down to one incredibly simple premise. Man is not an animal; he is special and unique and the failure of civilization rests directly upon its incapacity to understand and appreciate this. Of course, man is merely a stepping stone and not the peak of creation—that’s where that whole Superman thing you may have heard about stems from. But while he has not yet made that leap, he is most certainly not an animal and should not behave in ways that animals behave such as joining packs and moving in herds:
“Man is no longer an artist, he has become a work of art: the artistic force of the whole of nature”
Hamlet
In a work in which the word “tragedy” appears in the title, it should come as less than a shock to learn that references to Shakespearean drama are bound to appear. And, of course, what is the ultimate Shakespearean tragedy, the one single play that even those who have never read it can quote at the drop of a hat? Ever wonder what Hamlet is about? Well, wonder no longer:
“Knowledge kills action, to action belongs the veil of illusion—that is the lesson of Hamlet”
Why Nietzsche is Fun
Nietzsche loves metaphor. That is one of the thing which makes him one of the most accessible of all the great philosophers. And by metaphor is meant straightforward familiarity with a heavy dependence upon that most accessible of metaphors, the simile. But even when going straight for the direct comparison, he writes in a way that doesn’t require a degree in philosophy to understand what the heck he’s talking about:
“What I began to grapple with at that time was something fearful and dangerous, a problem with horns, not necessarily a bull exactly, but in any case a new problem”
