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Nietzsche, Tragedy and the Sublime
By: Simon Strathern

In The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche dichotomised human nature into two basic elements: the Apollonian and Dionysian. Each consists of distinct properties that differentiate them from each other and allows for a complimentary utility in the creation of tragedy. In artistic terms, the Apollonian represents the Form of Expression while the Dionysian represents the Source of Expression. The Apollonian is image that gives form to, or expresses, Dionysian raw emotion. The Apollonian structures Dionysian chaos. The Apollonian is the dream. The Dionysian is the unfathomable sea of unconsciousness that provides the raw material for the dream, the subject of dream imagery. The Apollonian is the endless variety of form required to express the infinite aspects of the Dionysian or Primal Unity. In tragedy, the actors and their machinations provide the Apollonian, the images/ideas that serve to channel the universals of the Dionysian. Through the progression of events presented on stage in Apollonian imagery, the tragedy ultimately allows the spectator to experience the ecstasy of Primal Unity as the specific images are understood to be universals and these universals are identified with on a universal, rather than individual, level. In the Greek tragedy, Apollonian imagery becomes a perfect channel for the Dionysian, and the Dionysian vanquishes the Apollonian in its aspect of separateness.

This follows from the consideration of an essential element of the Apollonian, Schopenhauer’s Principle of Individuation (PI). The PI is separateness or individuality; the human condition derived through the intellect. I and you, the concepts of self and otherness, are part of the Apollonian. Consciousness of self is the Apollonian condition. The absence of this consciousness is the Dionysian condition. Nietzsche subverts the Apollonian to the Dionysian. The individual remains ever a part of the whole; the Apollonian is the illusion of separateness. The purpose of the tragedy is to free the individual from his individuality, to dispel the Apollonian illusion of separateness so that one may experience primal unity. At the climax of the tragedy, the Dionysian breaks the tethers of Apollonian imagery as specific images are realized to be universals. The shadows on the wall are dispelled by bright sunlight meeting the naked eye. One can no longer maintain their own particular interpretation of an image because the image has now become a universal, an interpretation shared by all. Apollonian individuality is necessarily destroyed so that one can experience the ecstasy of Primal Oneness.

The destruction of the Apollonian concept of self and the ensuing experience of Primal Unity is the goal of the tragedy, but tragedy is not characterized by a battle between opposing forces. Both Apollonian and Dionysian must be present for tragedy but instead of conflicting, they complement each other, ultimately achieving perfect unity. Further, any artistic phenomenon requires the complementary presence of both Apollonian and Dionysian. The Apollonian extreme represented by Doric architecture is purely form without aesthetic inflection, in the absence of the Dionysian there is no art. However, it is also true that without the Apollonian to provide form for the chaos of the Dionysian, there can be no art. With both Apollonian and Dionysian present, the quality of the artistic phenomenon can be judged based upon the intensity of the Dionysian perceived through the imagery of the artwork. For Nietzsche, tragedy is the ultimate form of artistic expression because tragedy fully elicits the experience of the Dionysian. The nature of the Apollonian in tragedy is to allow for the imagery to gain such sublime transparency that unfiltered Primal Unity is experienced. Degrees of ecstatic experience result from degrees of unification of Apollonian and Dionysian elements in an artwork.

Tragedy is about suffering, and suffering cannot exist without individuation, yet experiencing the suffering of a noble human ultimately leads us to the realization of the sublime. Nietzsche uses the example of the Oedipus to illustrate this point.
Through his tremendous suffering, (he) spreads a magical power of blessing that remains effective even beyond his decease. The noble human being does not sin…though every law, every natural order, even the moral world may perish through his actions, his actions also produce a higher magical circle of effects which found a new world on the ruins of the old one that has been overthrown. (p. 68)
The production of this “magical circle of effects” is the experience of the sublime. The spectators of the tragedy experience Oedipus’s tremendous suffering, ultimately forcing them to merge with the universal of the noble human, in essence they become this universal, giving up their individuality in the process. Their suffering ultimately produces a magical blessing, a harmonious new world of ecstatic Dionysian unity.

Article Source: http://journal.ilovephilosophy.com

The quotes cited in the text are drawn from: Nietzsche, F. (1967) The Birth of Tragedy. Trans. W. Kaufman, N.Y.: Vintage Books.

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