Arguments about tragedy
The backbone of Nietzsche’s argument about tragedy is the opposition between Apollo and Dionysus. In the beginning, it appears that Nietzsche is attempting to utilize the traits found in these gods as a metaphor for aesthetic. But later on, his intention becomes vivid, where he prioritizes on pinning his artistic analysis to the Greeks. Pinning of the art analysis to the Greeks allows him to argue that his analysis is ancient, which entails authority. There is no evidence provided by Nietzsche indicating that the Apollo and Dionysus were either sides of the artistic spectrum. At the same, he does not offer any discussion on the Greek’s main artistic models referred to as the Muses. According to Nietzsche, Apollo represented lyre and tonal music.
On the contrary, Dionysus was a representation of the patron god of Attic tragedy. The deities represent Muses in the mind of any poet. Therefore, it could invoke the Muses either as an individual or as a group. From this notion, it is evident that for an individual to create anything among the Greeks, invoking of the Muses was necessary. The Muses would then breathe the songs in the poet’s lips, and this is something that Nietzsche never mentioned in his work.
The argument proposed by Nietzsche tries to depict a lot of analogies. The conceptualization that can be generated from Nietzsche is that Nietzsche is attempting to bend the Greek consciousness and channeling it towards his aesthetic program. Several arguments that he has proposed about Apollo and Dionysus are in accordance with the Greek ancient belief. But the differences that exist between the god of light and the god of ecstasy are inventions generated by Nietzsche’s thoughts. Therefore, as philosophers and idealists, it would be right to argue that the main reason why Nietzsche was simplifying the Greek system was to benefit his philosophical objectives, and failing to streamline the system then Nietzsche would have failed in his philosophical ambition. Nietzsche further argues that the development of art was bound up with the duality Apollonian and Dionysian. Nietzsche sees this perception as part of his artistic work that would help clear the cluttered thinking that has been in existence for the past 2500 years. Nietzsche would later forge a direct connection between Germany and Greeks, societies that he views as the most dominant to all other intervening cultures.