Nietzsches Conception of the Dionysian and the Apollonian in The Birth of Tragedy - Essay Example

Nietzsche’s Conception of the Dionysian and the Apollonian in The Birth of Tragedy By Nietzsche’s Conception of the Dionysian and the Apollonian in The Birth of Tragedy Definition of the Apollonian and the Dionysian Principles The book The Birth Tragedy was written by Friedrich Nietzsche in the year 1872. In this book, Nietzsche gives his theory of aesthetics. The first fifteen of this book is an investigation of Greek tragedy. Nietzsche claims that Greek tragedy resulted from the fusion of the Apollonian principle with the Dionysian principle of nature. This paper gives a critical discussion of Nietzsche’s conception of the Apollonian and the Dionysian in The Birth of Tragedy. The critical analysis of the two concepts focuses on the dichotomy that Nietzsche draws between the two concepts. Nietzsche used the terms Apollonian and Dionysian to designate two opposing key principles in the Greek culture. The Apollonian principle is the principle of nature that is based on individuality. Nietzsche conceived Apollonian as a form and life giving force that makes one thing distinct and unique from all other things (Friedrich Nietzsche: The Birth of Tragedy, n.d). For Nietzsche, Apollonian was more of a principle of individuation that makes things identifiable as distinct things. Nietzsche therefore conceived Apollonian as a principle of rationality, intellectual harmony, and order. For this reason, the Apollonian force is characterised by restraint and detachment from the other elements of nature, which in turn reinforces a strong sense of self, as a unique and distinct thing. On the other hand, the Dionysian principle refers to the principle of nature that is based on disorder or chaos and appeals to human emotions and instincts (Nietzsche, 2008). According to Nietzsche, Dionysian principle is the principle of nature that is represented by ecstasy and intoxication. Rather than preserving individualism, the Dionysian principle of nature breaks down the bulwarks of individualism, and opens human beings to unite with nature. For Nietzsche therefore the Dionysian principle is a kind of a spirit of frenzy and self-forgetfulness, which opens and enables human beings to unite with the rest of nature, forming one primal reality (Kaufmann, 2000). For Nietzsche therefore, the two principles of nature are opposed; while the Apollonian principle seeks to define and to preserve the individuality of human beings, the principle of Dionysian seeks to dismantle human individuality and to submerge human into nature, whereby human beings will form one undifferentiated unity with the rest of nature. Nietzsche’s coinage of the terms the Apollonian and the Dionysian Nietzsche named the two contradictory principles of nature from the two ancient different gods of the Greeks. According to Greek mythology, both Apollo and Dionysus are the sons of the Greek godhead, the Zeus (History Guide: Nietzsche, Dionysus and Apollo, n.d). According to the Greek mythology, Apollo is the god of light, dreams, and rationality. Dionysus on the other hand is the god of ecstasy and intoxication. Nietzsche therefore saw these two terminologies as apt terms to describe the two principles of nature that he had conceived as being contradictory in nature. Concrete examples of the Apollonian and the Dionysian principles in nature According to Nietzsche, the Apollonian principle of nature is the principle that enables us to make analysis and distinctions of reality. For this reason, Nietzsche argued that the Apollonian principle is the principle that enables us to reason, to contemplate and to discover things through the use of reason. Without the principle of Apollonian, it is simply impossible to discover anything as a distinct reality. Nietzsche saw the Socratic Philosophy as a very good example of the Apollonian principle at work in nature. This is because the Socratic Philosophy was purely based on reason. Nietzsche, however, saw the Apollonian principle as being insufficient to account for all the reality of nature. According to Nietzsche, a good example of the principle of the Dionysian in nature is wine or anything that causes intoxication. This is because intoxication or hallucinations makes human beings to kind of forget their selves, thus submerging human nature into nature (Nietzsche, 2008). Nietzsche saw the Dionysian principle as being very important in overcoming life sufferings. This is because, while the Apollonian principle distinguishes human beings as distinct reality from nature and therefore enhances and reinforces the sense of self, the Apollonian principle breaks the barriers of individuality and unites human beings with the rest of nature. For this reason, the sufferings that human beings undergoes as separate and distinct beings in nature vanishes once they become submerged into the primal nature. For Nietzsche therefore the Dionysian principle of nature is quite important in the lives of human beings. The Apollonian and the Dionysian Principles in the Greek Art/Tragedy Nietzsche argued that the Greek art especially the Greek tragedy has both elements of the Apollonian and the Dionysian principles. Nietzsche went on to argue that both the Apollonian and the Dionysian principles are important in the creation of any work of art. The Apollonian principle is the principle that gives the work of art its coherent structure and form, thus making the particular work of art identifiable as a distinct and unique thing. On the other hand, the principle of Dionysian gives a work of art the vitality, the passion, and the beauty that makes it appealing to the senses. For this reason, these two principles of nature are intimately intertwined in the work of art. On Greek art, Nietzsche argued that prior to including the principle of Dionysian in their art works, the Greek art was naïve, uninspiring, and based only on appearances. This clearly shows that before the introduction of the Dionysian principle, the Greek work of art was solely based on the Apollonian principle. Nietzsche argues that in this kind of art, the observer was never united with the work of art because the observer merely contemplated the work of art, without immersing himself/herself into the work of art. This clearly brings out the main dichotomy between the Apollonian and the Dionysian principles of nature in the work of art; the Dionysian principle of nature in the work of art unites the observer with the work of art that he/she is contemplating, while the Apollonian principle in the work of art only appeals to human reason, without uniting the observer with the thing that he/she is observing. Nietzsche argued that the two principles were present in the Greek tragedy and that is why the Greek tragedy was a perfect work of art; Greek tragedy was produced through tension between these two principles of nature (Nietzsche, 2008). According to Nietzsche, the fusion of the Apollonian and the Dionysian principles in Greek tragedy produced a seamless whole that enabled the audience of Greek tragedy to have an experience of the whole spectrum of human condition. In the Greek tragedy, the Apollonian principle was found in the dialogues, while the Dionysian element was found in the music or the choruses that were characteristic of every Greek tragedy. According to Nietzsche therefore, the Greeks were very good at fusing these two elements of Greek art in a perfect manner, thus giving a perfect work of art. In the Greek tragedy, the Apollonian element gave form to the formless Dionysian element in the Greek tragedy. According to Nietzsche therefore, combination of these two elements or principles of art produces a perfect work of art. Nietzsche saw music as a classic example of the Dionysian element in art; sculpture on the other hand is the perfect example of the Apollonian element in the work of art. Nietzsche argued that the Greek tragedies of Aeschylus and Sophocles are the greatest human work of art. Nietzsche argued that these masterpieces of Greek art achieve their sublime effects through the taming of the Dionysian passions by the Apollonian element. Nietzsche argues that a look at the origin of Greek tragedy can help us in knowing how the Greek tragedy achieved its fame as an excellent work of art. Nietzsche traces the origin of Greek tragedy to the religious rituals, which involved singers and dancers, and some two or more actors who stood apart from the tragic chorus/dance as tragic actors. Nietzsche saw the chorus in Greek tragedy as a representation of the primal unity achieved through the Dionysian principle. Nietzsche then argued that the Apollonian impulses of Greek tragedians gave form to the Dionysian rituals of music and dance. For this reason, the death of a hero in Greek tragedy was not a negative and destructive act, but rather, a positive act that affirms life through art. As we can see from the above description of the role of the Apollonian and the Dionysian elements in the work of Greek art, although the two principles of Greek art are different and opposed, fusion of the two elements in the work of art produces a perfect piece of art work. This fact shows that the two principles of Greek art are complimentary; the Apollonian and the Dionysian principles are like the two sides of the same coin in the work of art. Another difference that Nietzsche highlighted between the Apollonian and the Dionysian elements is that, while the Apollonian element is temporal, the Dionysian element of nature is eternal. This is because the Apollonian element of nature, as the individuating principle of nature, is bound to disintegrate once the particular thing that it individuates disintegrates and loses its form. In other words, the Apollonian principle of nature individuates the material and the temporal things and once these material things come to their end, or lose their individuality and their forms, the Apollonian principle disintegrates and vanishes. On the other hand, the Dionysian principle as the principle of nature that unites the individual person with the primal nature is eternal. This fact shows that Nietzsche conceived nature as being eternal. For Nietzsche therefore the Dionysian principle unites the individual human person with the eternal nature, thus making the human beings eternal. Nietzsche argued that through the Dionysian principle, man realized that life is not limited to individual experiences, but that there is more of reality than once can know through rationalisation and contemplation. Nietzsche argues that the Dionysian principle of nature enables human beings to escape the greatest calamity of human beings, i.e. death. This is because the Dionysian principle of nature unites human beings with the eternal primal nature. Nietzsche therefore concluded that it is only through the Dionysian that man can be saved from the suffering of the world. A critical look at this idea shows that the idea is similar, and actually in agreement with the Christian idea of salvation and afterlife. Christianity teaches that it is only through being united with the eternal God that human beings will be saved, and have eternal life with God after the earthly demise. These two ideas therefore are in agreement. Nietzsche laments the fact that the golden age of Greek did not last for long time because it was soon overtaken by the rationalist worldview of Euripides and Socrates. On his part, Euripides rejected the primal unity induced by the Dionysian element of nature and he also rejected the imaginative state of mind induced by the Apollonian element of nature. Euripides replaced the Apollonian and the Dionysian elements of reality with morality and rationality. Nietzsche saw Euripides as having been influenced by Socrates, the founder of western rationalization. According to Socrates, all reality is rational, knowable through reason. Socrates distrusted the sensory knowledge, and he saw instincts as lack of insight, on the other hand, Socrates saw immorality as lack of knowledge. Nietzsche argues that Socrates made the Greek community to turn from the life giving Greek tragedies, and turn to the empty rationalism that found its fullest expression in Plato’s dialogues. For Nietzsche, therefore, rationalism is just a part of reality, the Apollonian element of life, and it cannot account for the reality of life for it doesn’t account for the Dionysian element of reality. In conclusion, in the Birth of Tragedy Nietzsche gave a detailed descriptions and distinctions between the two principles of Greek tragedy, i.e. the Apollonian principle and the Dionysian principle. The main dichotomy between the two principles is that the Apollonian principle is the principle of nature that individuates particular things so as to render them knowable as particular concrete realities, distinct from other things in nature. The Dionysian principle of nature, on the other hand is the principle of nature that seeks to unite particular and concrete realities of nature with the primal unity, so as to form a one primal united reality or nature. Nietzsche saw these two principles of nature as being the most important element of any work of art. References Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900): The Birth of Tragedy. Web. History Guide: Nietzsche, Dionysus and Apollo. Web. Kaufmann, W., ed., 2000, Basic Writings of Nietzsche, New York: Modern Library. Print. Nietzsche, F., 2008, The Birth of Tragedy (Trans., Douglas, S.), UK: Oxford University Press. Print. Read More