Nausea And Eternal Recurrence_essay On Nietzsche's Zarathustra

Nausea and Eternal Recurrence Nietzsche was essentially an elitist, his doctrine of the overman is the culmination of his elitist thinking. Taking the overman as the highest human value represents an ideal of humanity where each individual would strive to become part of an ultimate mental and spiritual elite. A society of equals is incompatible with the overman, as Zarathustra declares in „The Tarantulas:‟ “„Men are not equal.‟ Nor shall they become equal! What would my love of the overman be if I spoke otherwise?” Zarathustra‟s reluctance to embrace the eternal recurrence of the same in part two of Thus Spoke Zarathustra is a reflection of Nietzsche‟s elitism. The severe nausea that Zarathustra experiences when he does finally bring himself to embrace the eternal recurrence of the same, and thus all of life, is also a product of Zarathustra‟s/Nietzsche‟s elitism. By examining passages from parts two, three, and four, the roots of Zarathustra‟s nausea are revealed as well as the way in which he finally brings himself to embrace the eternal recurrence of the same, and thus all of life, through his celebration of joy and humor. In the passage, „On the Rabble‟ from the second part of Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Zarathustra reveals the roots of his nausea in his contempt for the common man. Zarathustra relates that, “holding my nose, I walked disgruntled through all of yesterday and today: verily, all of yesterday and today smells foul of the writing rabble” (209). On page 210, Zarathustra describes the nausea that he felt when mingling with the rabble and how he “had to fly to the highest spheres that I might find the fount of pleasure again.” Here, Zarathustra escapes from the nauseating mob by indulging in his quest for the overman, raising himself to new developmental heights. In „The Soothsayer,‟ Zarathustra begins to realize the eternal recurrence of the same through the soothsayer‟s words (245).

The soothsayer‟s doctrine: “All is empty, all is the same, all has been,” is the precursor to the eternal recurrence of the same where life repeats itself in exactly the same fashion, again and again eternally (245). The soothsayer goes further (245), saying, “Indeed we harvested: but why did our fruit turn rotten and brown?” The soothsayer‟s prophecy touched Zarathustra‟s heart and changed him (246). With his first partial realization of the eternal recurrence of the same, Zarathustra sees all the work he has done towards spreading the ideal of the overman as bearing rotten fruit. Since everything in life will recur eternally, the nauseating rabble will always be present. A world of overmen is an impossibility. Here, Zarathustra begins to realize that to accept the eternal recurrence of the same, which he recognizes in his heart as truth, he will have to affirm all of life, including the rabble that so nauseates him. Further inklings of the eternal recurrence follow in the first sections of part three, and Zarathustra returns to his cave in order to gather the strength he needs to bear the acceptance of the eternal recurrence of the same. In „On the Old and New Tablets (sec. 14),‟ Zarathustra comes to realize that, “Even in the best there is still something that nauseates; and even the best is something that must be overcome” (317). Here he realizes that the nausea runs through all of life, not just the rabble. Here, Zarathustra begins to digress from his elitism slightly, opening the way to embracing the eternal recurrence. In the next section, „The Convalescent (sec. 1),‟ when Zarathustra finally does allow himself to fully realize the eternal recurrence of the same, he is struck by nausea so powerful that “he fell down as one dead and long remained as one dead” (328). After seven days he finally rises and declares that, “The great disgust with man - this choked me…” While

Zarathustra realizes his disgust was with all of man, not just the smallest, he nevertheless retains a degree of elitism only slightly less than what he had known before. Naked I had once seen both, the greatest man and the smallest man: all-too-similar to each other, even the greatest all-too-human. All-too-small, the greatest! - that was my disgust with man. And the eternal recurrence even of the smallest - that was my disgust with all existence.

Zarathustra remains an elitist, loathing the “smallest man” most of all, but he nevertheless recovers from his sickness and affirms all of life, including even the smallest man, through embracing the eternal recurrence of the same. The greatest man is perhaps Zarathustra himself. The realization of his own nauseating qualities motivates his declaration at the end of part 2 of „The Convalescent:‟ “Thus ends Zarathustra‟s going under” (333). Zarathustra will now remain on his mountaintop and work on becoming the overman. To embrace the eternal recurrence of the same, Zarathustra had to humble himself, letting go somewhat of his elitism and giving up his position as the preacher to the masses below. Although Zarathustra has embraced the eternal recurrence of the same, he must still learn to live with it. Zarathustra‟s nausea at the eternal recurrence is followed by deep melancholy related to the reader in „On the Great Longing‟ (333-36). Zarathustra is finally able to break his melancholy by bidding his soul to sing and realizing that his soul‟s melancholy is “resting in the happiness of future songs” (336). In „The Other Dancing Song,‟ Zarathustra goes on to dance with life and realizes that joy is deeper than agony (339). Through finding joy in the eternal recurrence, Zarathustra learns to live with his realization, but a new test is to follow in part four.

Part four of Thus Spoke Zarathustra brings Zarathustra his final test and his final humbling of himself. His pity is Zarathustra‟s final test. To overcome his pity he must humble himself further while, paradoxically, at the same time raising himself further toward the overman. Pity is essentially an elitist notion. To experience pity for someone, the pitying person must perceive herself as being better or higher than the pitied. While higher, the pitying person is not free of that which afflicts the pitied. Rather, the pitying person identifies with the suffering of the pitied. In the final section of part four, „The Sign,‟ Zarathustra gives up his position above the higher man, by renouncing his pity (439). In doing so, however, he must transvaluate his own suffering and his own happiness, subordinating them to his work of becoming the overman.