Friedrich Nietzsche’s
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
(Com plete Notes)
Par t I: Zar athu str a's Pr ologu e
Sum m ar y
At the age of thirty, Zarathustra goes into the wilderness and so enjoys his spirit and his
solitude there that he stays for ten years. Finally, he decides to return among people,
and share with them his over-brimming wisdom. Like the setting sun, he must descend
from the mountain and "go under."
On his way, he encounters a saint living alone in the forest. This saint once loved
mankind, but grew sick of their imperfections and now loves only God. He tells
Zarathustra that mankind doesn't need the gift he brings, but rather help: they need
someone to lighten their load and give them alms. Taking his leave of the saint,
Zarathustra registers with surprise that the old man has not heard that "God is dead!"
Upon arriving in the town, Zarathustra begins to preach, proclaiming the overman. Man
is a rope between beast and overman and must be overcome. The way across is
dangerous, but it must not be abandoned for otherworldly hopes. Zarathustra urges the
people to remain faithful to this world and this life, and to feel contempt for their all-
too-human happiness, reason, virtue, justice, and pity. All this will prepare the way for
the overman, who will be the meaning of the earth.
On hearing this, the people laugh at Zarathustra. Zarathustra suggests that while it is
still possible to breed the overman, humanity is becoming increasingly tame and
domesticated, and will soon be able to breed only the last man. The last men will be all
alike, like herd animals, enjoying simple pleasures and mediocrity, afraid of anything
too dangerous or extreme. Zarathustra says, "'We have invented happiness,' say the last
men, and they blink." The people cheer, and ask Zarathustra to turn them into these last
men.
Just then, a tightrope walker begins walking between two towers in the town. A jester
comes out behind him, following him, and mocking him for being so awkward and
moving so slowly. Suddenly, the jester jumps right over the tightrope walker, upsetting
him and making him fall to the ground. Zarathustra approaches the dying man, and
allays his fear of damnation by explaining that there is no devil and no hell. But then,
the tightrope walker suggests that his life has been meaningless and that he has been a
,mere beast. Not at all, Zarathustra suggests to the dying man: "You have made danger
your vocation; there is nothing contemptible in that."
That night, Zarathustra leaves town with the dead tightrope walker to bury him in the
countryside. A poor day of fishing, he muses metaphorically: he has caught no men, but
only a corpse. On his way out, the jester approaches him and warns him to leave. The
jester says that Zarathustra is disliked here by the good and the just, and by the believers
in the true faith. Only because Zarathustra isn't taken seriously is he allowed to live.
Outside the city, Zarathustra encounters a hermit, who insists on feeding both him and
the corpse. After that, Zarathustra goes to sleep. He reawakens with the conviction that
he must give up preaching to the masses, and seek out like- minded companions to join
him. Rather than be a shepherd, who leads the herd, he must lure people away from the
herd. The good and the just, and the believers in the true faith will hate him even more
for this, for he will appear to be a lawbreaker and a breaker of the table of values.
However, Zarathustra believes this breaking of laws and values will be a glorious act of
creation.
An alysis
This prologue contains the two moments in Nietzsche's writings that loom largest in
popular consciousness: the declaration of the death of God and the declaration of the
overman. Nietzsche first wrote "God is dead" in section 108 of The Gay Science, the
book immediately preceding Zarathustra. People often mistake this phrase for the
metaphysical assertion that God does not exist. In fact, Nietzsche is making the cultural
observation that our idea of God is no longer strong enough to serve as the foundation
for truth and morality. He is not saying that God does not exist, but that God is no
longer universally accepted as giving meaning to our lives. If God was what previously
gave meaning to our lives, a world without God is meaningless. Nietzsche believes his
age is characterized by nihilism, lacking strong, positive goals.
The portrait of the "last man" is meant to give us the ultimate result of nihilism. Lacking
any positive beliefs or needs, people will aim for comfort and to struggle as little as
possible. Soon we will all become the same—all mediocre, and all perfectly content. We
will "invent happiness" by eliminating every source of worry and strife from our lives.
The overman is meant to be the solution to nihilism, the meaning we should give to our
lives. The German word Ubermensch is often translated as "superman," but Kaufmann's
choice of "overman" is more accurate, as it brings out the way that this word evokes
"overcoming" and "going under." The overman faces a world without God, and rather
than finding it meaningless, gives it his own meaning. In so doing, he upsets the "good
and just" and the "believers in the true faith" who have not yet come to recognize the
bankruptcy of the idea of God. Essentially, the difference between regular humans and
,the overman is that we need to put our faith in something—be it God or science or truth
—while the overman puts all his faith in himself and relies on nothing else.
Zarathustra suggests that humans are great only as a bridge between animal and
overman. Humans are not the be all and end all of existence, as the "last men" would see
themselves. We are still largely governed by our animal instincts, which lead us to
prejudice, superficiality, and to easy reliance upon faith. In order to refine our being, we
must turn our instinct for cruelty upon ourselves, and carve away at our prejudices,
superficiality, and faith, creating something deeper. Zarathustra speaks of the
triumphant moment where we look with contempt upon all the human qualities that we
once valued. This would signify our triumph over our shallow, human nature, and our
progress toward the overman.
This image of humanity as a bridge is illustrated in the story of the tightrope walker. The
tightrope walker is making the slow and dangerous progress between animal and
overman. The jester bears some resemblance to Zarathustra: he can move lightly
(lightness and dancing are praised a great deal later in the book) and he can easily leap
over those who are slower—in other words, he can cross the rope toward the overman.
In urging the tightrope walker to hurry up, the jester upsets him and ruins him;
similarly, Zarathustra's preaching of the overman may upset and ruin the many people
who are unable to deal with this news.
Nietzsche makes many allusions in this book to the New Testament and to the ministry
of Jesus. For instance, we are told that Jesus also went into the wilderness at the age of
thirty, though rather than enjoying his stay there, Jesus spent forty days and forty nights
in the forest being tempted and tormented by the devil. Nietzsche implicitly suggests
that Jesus lacked the strength of will to enjoy his solitude, and could endure his
loneliness for only just over a month. We also find echoes of the New Testament in
Zarathustra's musings that he has been unsuccessful in "fishing" for followers. Jesus
told his apostles that they would be fishers for men. Moreover, unlike Jesus, Zarathustra
explicitly says that he does not want to be a shepherd and lead a flock of sheep: rather,
he wants to teach the individual to break free from the flock.
Par t I: Chapter s 1–10
Sum m ar y: Par t I: Chapters 1-10
Note: Part I contains a series of sermons and stories of Zarathustra in the town called
the Motley Cow. The summaries below contain very brief synopses of what Nietzsche is
getting at in each chapter. The Analysis section will connect some of the dominant
themes.
, Ch apter 1: On the Thr ee Metam or phoses
There are three stages of progress toward the overman: the camel, the lion, and the
child. In the first, one must renounce one's comforts, exercise self- discipline, and accept
all sorts of difficulties for the sake of knowledge and strength. Second, one must assert
one's independence, saying "no" to all outside influences and commands. Lastly comes
the act of new creation.
Ch apter 2: On the Teacher s of Vir tue
Zarathustra criticizes the ideal of practicing virtue and restraint in order to find inner
peace. This inner peace, which he calls "sleep," is antithetical to the "waking" struggle
against oneself for improvement and independence.
Ch apter 3: On the After w or ldly
We are made of flesh, and not spirit, and our physical needs dictate our values and
desires. A sick or dissatisfied person will claim to be essentially spirit, and will create a
God and an afterlife as distractions from the pains of this life.
Ch apter 4: On the Despiser s of the B ody
What we call "self" is nothing more than the body, and it underlies all reason, spirit, and
sense, directing our passions and our thoughts. Those who assert that the self is really
spirit are "despisers of the body" who have a sick body that hates life and wants to die.
Ch apter 5: On En joyin g an d Suff er in g the Passion s
We learn and grow most from our moments of suffering and intense feeling. They make
us unique, and they should not be shared for fear of losing this uniqueness. Someone
who is driven by more than one intense passion will suffer great inner conflict.
Ch apter 6: On the Pale Cr im in al
This section paints the portrait of a criminal who then confesses his guilt. He secretly
wanted to kill, but convinced himself that he wanted only to rob, and therefore
committed a murder-theft. Though he was perfectly capable of murder, he is repelled
afterward by the thought of what he's done. His crime is not so much that he murdered
but that he was driven to it by his weakness and was subsequently racked with guilt. At
least his crime makes him aware of his weakness, which is more than can be said for
most.
Ch apter 7: On Readin g an d W r itin g
A great writer puts so much of himself into his work, and writes at such an elevated level
that most people cannot understand him. Though we might be inclined to think of such
writers as serious, Zarathustra characterizes them as bearing a spirit of levity and
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
(Com plete Notes)
Par t I: Zar athu str a's Pr ologu e
Sum m ar y
At the age of thirty, Zarathustra goes into the wilderness and so enjoys his spirit and his
solitude there that he stays for ten years. Finally, he decides to return among people,
and share with them his over-brimming wisdom. Like the setting sun, he must descend
from the mountain and "go under."
On his way, he encounters a saint living alone in the forest. This saint once loved
mankind, but grew sick of their imperfections and now loves only God. He tells
Zarathustra that mankind doesn't need the gift he brings, but rather help: they need
someone to lighten their load and give them alms. Taking his leave of the saint,
Zarathustra registers with surprise that the old man has not heard that "God is dead!"
Upon arriving in the town, Zarathustra begins to preach, proclaiming the overman. Man
is a rope between beast and overman and must be overcome. The way across is
dangerous, but it must not be abandoned for otherworldly hopes. Zarathustra urges the
people to remain faithful to this world and this life, and to feel contempt for their all-
too-human happiness, reason, virtue, justice, and pity. All this will prepare the way for
the overman, who will be the meaning of the earth.
On hearing this, the people laugh at Zarathustra. Zarathustra suggests that while it is
still possible to breed the overman, humanity is becoming increasingly tame and
domesticated, and will soon be able to breed only the last man. The last men will be all
alike, like herd animals, enjoying simple pleasures and mediocrity, afraid of anything
too dangerous or extreme. Zarathustra says, "'We have invented happiness,' say the last
men, and they blink." The people cheer, and ask Zarathustra to turn them into these last
men.
Just then, a tightrope walker begins walking between two towers in the town. A jester
comes out behind him, following him, and mocking him for being so awkward and
moving so slowly. Suddenly, the jester jumps right over the tightrope walker, upsetting
him and making him fall to the ground. Zarathustra approaches the dying man, and
allays his fear of damnation by explaining that there is no devil and no hell. But then,
the tightrope walker suggests that his life has been meaningless and that he has been a
,mere beast. Not at all, Zarathustra suggests to the dying man: "You have made danger
your vocation; there is nothing contemptible in that."
That night, Zarathustra leaves town with the dead tightrope walker to bury him in the
countryside. A poor day of fishing, he muses metaphorically: he has caught no men, but
only a corpse. On his way out, the jester approaches him and warns him to leave. The
jester says that Zarathustra is disliked here by the good and the just, and by the believers
in the true faith. Only because Zarathustra isn't taken seriously is he allowed to live.
Outside the city, Zarathustra encounters a hermit, who insists on feeding both him and
the corpse. After that, Zarathustra goes to sleep. He reawakens with the conviction that
he must give up preaching to the masses, and seek out like- minded companions to join
him. Rather than be a shepherd, who leads the herd, he must lure people away from the
herd. The good and the just, and the believers in the true faith will hate him even more
for this, for he will appear to be a lawbreaker and a breaker of the table of values.
However, Zarathustra believes this breaking of laws and values will be a glorious act of
creation.
An alysis
This prologue contains the two moments in Nietzsche's writings that loom largest in
popular consciousness: the declaration of the death of God and the declaration of the
overman. Nietzsche first wrote "God is dead" in section 108 of The Gay Science, the
book immediately preceding Zarathustra. People often mistake this phrase for the
metaphysical assertion that God does not exist. In fact, Nietzsche is making the cultural
observation that our idea of God is no longer strong enough to serve as the foundation
for truth and morality. He is not saying that God does not exist, but that God is no
longer universally accepted as giving meaning to our lives. If God was what previously
gave meaning to our lives, a world without God is meaningless. Nietzsche believes his
age is characterized by nihilism, lacking strong, positive goals.
The portrait of the "last man" is meant to give us the ultimate result of nihilism. Lacking
any positive beliefs or needs, people will aim for comfort and to struggle as little as
possible. Soon we will all become the same—all mediocre, and all perfectly content. We
will "invent happiness" by eliminating every source of worry and strife from our lives.
The overman is meant to be the solution to nihilism, the meaning we should give to our
lives. The German word Ubermensch is often translated as "superman," but Kaufmann's
choice of "overman" is more accurate, as it brings out the way that this word evokes
"overcoming" and "going under." The overman faces a world without God, and rather
than finding it meaningless, gives it his own meaning. In so doing, he upsets the "good
and just" and the "believers in the true faith" who have not yet come to recognize the
bankruptcy of the idea of God. Essentially, the difference between regular humans and
,the overman is that we need to put our faith in something—be it God or science or truth
—while the overman puts all his faith in himself and relies on nothing else.
Zarathustra suggests that humans are great only as a bridge between animal and
overman. Humans are not the be all and end all of existence, as the "last men" would see
themselves. We are still largely governed by our animal instincts, which lead us to
prejudice, superficiality, and to easy reliance upon faith. In order to refine our being, we
must turn our instinct for cruelty upon ourselves, and carve away at our prejudices,
superficiality, and faith, creating something deeper. Zarathustra speaks of the
triumphant moment where we look with contempt upon all the human qualities that we
once valued. This would signify our triumph over our shallow, human nature, and our
progress toward the overman.
This image of humanity as a bridge is illustrated in the story of the tightrope walker. The
tightrope walker is making the slow and dangerous progress between animal and
overman. The jester bears some resemblance to Zarathustra: he can move lightly
(lightness and dancing are praised a great deal later in the book) and he can easily leap
over those who are slower—in other words, he can cross the rope toward the overman.
In urging the tightrope walker to hurry up, the jester upsets him and ruins him;
similarly, Zarathustra's preaching of the overman may upset and ruin the many people
who are unable to deal with this news.
Nietzsche makes many allusions in this book to the New Testament and to the ministry
of Jesus. For instance, we are told that Jesus also went into the wilderness at the age of
thirty, though rather than enjoying his stay there, Jesus spent forty days and forty nights
in the forest being tempted and tormented by the devil. Nietzsche implicitly suggests
that Jesus lacked the strength of will to enjoy his solitude, and could endure his
loneliness for only just over a month. We also find echoes of the New Testament in
Zarathustra's musings that he has been unsuccessful in "fishing" for followers. Jesus
told his apostles that they would be fishers for men. Moreover, unlike Jesus, Zarathustra
explicitly says that he does not want to be a shepherd and lead a flock of sheep: rather,
he wants to teach the individual to break free from the flock.
Par t I: Chapter s 1–10
Sum m ar y: Par t I: Chapters 1-10
Note: Part I contains a series of sermons and stories of Zarathustra in the town called
the Motley Cow. The summaries below contain very brief synopses of what Nietzsche is
getting at in each chapter. The Analysis section will connect some of the dominant
themes.
, Ch apter 1: On the Thr ee Metam or phoses
There are three stages of progress toward the overman: the camel, the lion, and the
child. In the first, one must renounce one's comforts, exercise self- discipline, and accept
all sorts of difficulties for the sake of knowledge and strength. Second, one must assert
one's independence, saying "no" to all outside influences and commands. Lastly comes
the act of new creation.
Ch apter 2: On the Teacher s of Vir tue
Zarathustra criticizes the ideal of practicing virtue and restraint in order to find inner
peace. This inner peace, which he calls "sleep," is antithetical to the "waking" struggle
against oneself for improvement and independence.
Ch apter 3: On the After w or ldly
We are made of flesh, and not spirit, and our physical needs dictate our values and
desires. A sick or dissatisfied person will claim to be essentially spirit, and will create a
God and an afterlife as distractions from the pains of this life.
Ch apter 4: On the Despiser s of the B ody
What we call "self" is nothing more than the body, and it underlies all reason, spirit, and
sense, directing our passions and our thoughts. Those who assert that the self is really
spirit are "despisers of the body" who have a sick body that hates life and wants to die.
Ch apter 5: On En joyin g an d Suff er in g the Passion s
We learn and grow most from our moments of suffering and intense feeling. They make
us unique, and they should not be shared for fear of losing this uniqueness. Someone
who is driven by more than one intense passion will suffer great inner conflict.
Ch apter 6: On the Pale Cr im in al
This section paints the portrait of a criminal who then confesses his guilt. He secretly
wanted to kill, but convinced himself that he wanted only to rob, and therefore
committed a murder-theft. Though he was perfectly capable of murder, he is repelled
afterward by the thought of what he's done. His crime is not so much that he murdered
but that he was driven to it by his weakness and was subsequently racked with guilt. At
least his crime makes him aware of his weakness, which is more than can be said for
most.
Ch apter 7: On Readin g an d W r itin g
A great writer puts so much of himself into his work, and writes at such an elevated level
that most people cannot understand him. Though we might be inclined to think of such
writers as serious, Zarathustra characterizes them as bearing a spirit of levity and
