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Zarathustra’s Prologue
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
Zarathustra names “three metamorphoses of the spirit”: the spirit becomes a camel, the camel becomes a lion, and the lion becomes a child. The “weight-bearing” spirit, like a laden camel, takes heavy things upon itself—things like self-abasement, hunger of the soul, and loving one’s enemies. This spirit then goes into a lonely desert.
Following the Prologue, this is the beginning of Zarathustra’s discourses. This first discourse concerns the evolution of the spirit, which changes into three different creatures that each symbolize a stage of its evolution. The camel symbolizes self-discipline: in this state, the soul undertakes self-denying practices that are traditionally seen as spiritually beneficial.
Themes
In the desert, a second metamorphosis occurs: the spirit becomes a lion, wanting to be free and lord over its own desert. The lion will fight against the “great dragon” called “Thou shalt.” By contrast, the lion says, “I will!” The dragon’s glittering scales include all values that have been created. The dragon wants to get rid of “I will.”
The lion represents the soul’s independence—its desire to throw off traditional restraints, while the dragon, “Thou shalt,” refers to the archaic language of ancient commandments. Instead of submitting to these, the lion exerts its will in order to fight them, while the dragon resists.
Themes
Through its might, the lion is capable of creating “freedom for new creation.” However, the lion must undergo another metamorphosis into a child. This is because the child can do what even the lion can’t: in its innocence, it can create new values. Now, the spirit can bring its own will into being.
The lion can win its freedom, but only the child—because it’s untouched by old constraints—can make entirely new values for humanity. But the evolution from camel to lion to child can only occur when the soul is first willing to bear old values and labor under them; it can’t simply dismiss them without experiencing them. This suggests that old values aren’t worthless—they must be put into practice and thoroughly examined before something new can arise out of them.
Themes
