The Birth of Tragedy

In this sense the Dionysian man resembles Hamlet: both have once looked truly into the essence of things, they have gained knowledge, and nausea inhibits action. Celebrated German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s The Birth ofTragedy from the Spirit of Music was first published in 1872.The book was reissued in 1886 as The Birth of Tragedy, Or: Hellenism and Pessimism, prefaced by an essay titled An Attempt at Self-Criticism. In this seminal work of dramatic theory, which is divided into 25 chapters, Nietzsche explores the history of the tragic form as well as the nature of Greek tragedy and its development. He holds up Athenian tragedy as an art form that transcends the meaninglessness, nihilism, and disorder of the chaotic world. By watching tragedies and celebrating them, Greek audiences experienced fear and suffering and confronted life head-on.Tragedies helped them to find the deeper meaning of human existence. Nietzsche also shines a light on the differences between the Dionysian and the Apollonian in The Birth of Tragedy, emphasising that these two elements are constantly at war for control of human lives.