Questions on "Thus Spake Zarathustra," by Nietzsche

Interpretive questions

Prologue

Why must Zarathustra, like the sun, "go under" ? (p. 79) Was his ten years of solitude in the mountains a necessary precondition of "going under"?

Page 79 : Zarathustra to sun: "For ten years you have climbed to my cave: you would have tired of your light and of the journey had it not been for me and my eagle and my serpent." What do the eagle and the serpent represent (see also p. 93, section #10)?

Why does the saint whom Zarathustra encounters in the forest counsel him to "Give them [men] nothing! Rather, take part of their load and help them to bear it -- that will be best for them, if only it does you good!" (p. 81)

Zarathustra answers, "I give no alms. For that I am not poor enough?" What does this mean and why does the saint laugh when he hears it? (p. 81)

If Zarathustra has been in solitude himself for so long, why is he surprised to learn the saint doesn't know that "God is dead." (p. 81)?

P. 82: Zarathustra preaches to the people, "Behold, I teach you the overman. The overman is the meaning of the earth ..." Who is the "overman," and why is he the "meaning of the earth? What does Zarathustra mean by his next statement," viz., "I beseech you my brothers, remain faithful to the earth, and do not believe those who speak to you of otherworldly hopes."

P. 83: What is the "hour of great contempt" and why is it "the greatest experience you can have"?

Does the tightrope walker represent the overman? Is there a symbolism to Zarathustra carrying his corpse and then finally placing it in a hollow tree to protect it from wolves?

Interpret this line on p. 84: "What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end: what can be loved in man is that he is an overture and a going under.

Who is the "last man" referred to on page 86, and why is he contemptible?

Why is it an insight that Zarathustra will speak "not to the people but to companions"? (p.91) He also says, "Zarathustra shall not become the shepherd and dog of a herd." Why this apparent renunciation of a leadership role?

Zarathustra's Speeches

On the Three Metamorphoses

How does the spirit become a camel, a lion, and finally, a child (p.93)?

Zarathustra says (p. 93), "Why must he preying lion become a child?" Why, indeed?

What is the meaning of the "sacred Yes" (p. 93)

Why is the town in which Zarathustra sojourns for a awhile called "The Motley Cow" (p.93).

On the Afterworldly

What is Nietzsche's position on the "afterworld" as expressed in this section? Must people reject the afterworld to achieve the "overman"? (pp.95-98)

On the Despisers of the Body

What is Zarathustra's critique of the "despisers of the body." What does he mean when he says that they have become despisers of the body because their "self" wants to go under?

On the Preachers of Death

Who are "Preachers of Death?"

On the Thousand and One Goals

P. 103: "'To honor father and mother and to follow their will to the root of one's soul': this was the tablet of overcoming that another people hung up over themselves and became powerful and eternal therby'" Is this a reference to the Ten Commandments?

P. 104: Why does Zarathustra refer to good and evil as "lovers"?

On Free Death

P. 104: What does it mean to "die at the right time"?

What is the "golden ball" referred to on p. 105?

What is Zarathustra's critique of the life of Jesus (p.106)

On the Gift-giving Virtue

Is speaking in parables "the origin of virtue" (p. 108)

P. 110: "The man of knowledge must not only love his enemies, he must also be able to hate his friends." Discuss this alteration of a familiar maxim.

P. 110: "Dead are all gods: now we want the overman to live" Does this statement encapsulate Zarathustr's (Nietzsche's) message?

Evaluative Questions

Why does Nietzsche employ the literary device of an ancient Persian prophet to serve as his mouthpiece?

Is Zarathustra a poet? Philosopher? Prophet?

"A Book for All and None"

When Friedrich Nietzsche's Thus Spake Zarathustra was first published in the 1880s by E. W. Fritzsch in Leipzig, it carried the subtitle "ein büch für alle und keinen," ("a book for all and none").

The philosopher Karl Jaspers wrote of Thus Spake Zarathustra in his introduction to Nietzsche's philosophy, "What Nietzsche regarded as his magnum opus resists all traditional means of classification; it is to be taken as poetry as well as prophecy and philosophy; and still it cannot be viewed as precisely any of these (emphasis added).

Scholars dispute whether any one of Nietzsche's books really encapsulate the Nietzschean philosophy. In any event, as you read this month's selection, ask yourself, "Why is this 'for all and none'?"