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Of the Tarantulas
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Rethinking Morality
The Superman and the Will to Power
Death of God and Christianity
Eternal Recurrence
Summary
Analysis
Philosophers, Zarathustra teaches, have not served truth; they have served the people instead. The people have always persecuted seekers. Zarathustra will not believe in the genuineness of philosophers until they give up their veneration of idols and go into the desert like a lion—this is where free spirits live. Philosophers, even if they’re decked out in golden gear, will always pull the cart of the people, like draft animals. Unlike Zarathustra’s wisdom, philosophers are too respectable and stiff to sail on the sea.
Zarathustra differentiates between philosophers and true seekers: philosophers are mainly concerned about the approval of the masses. True seekers, free spirits, live in solitude without regard for the masses. Philosophers are incapable of truly pursuing wisdom because they’re enslaved by the people’s will. Seekers, in contrast, can go wherever wisdom takes them.
Themes
