![]() ![]() Īpollonian and Dionysian juxtapositions appear in the interplay of tragedy: the tragic hero of the drama, the main protagonist, struggles to make (Apollonian) order of his unjust and chaotic (Dionysian) fate, though he dies unfulfilled. Both of these principles are meant to represent cognitive states that appear through art as the power of nature in man. He is the horror of the annihilation of the principle of individuality and at the same time someone who delights in its destruction. In this mold, a man appears as the satyr. Nietzsche used these two forces because, for him, the world of mind and order on one side, and passion and chaos on the other, formed principles that were fundamental to the Greek culture: the Apollonian a dreaming state, full of illusions and Dionysian a state of intoxication, representing the liberations of instinct and dissolution of boundaries. Apollo represents harmony, progress, clarity, logic and the principle of individuation, whereas Dionysus represents disorder, intoxication, emotion, ecstasy and unity (hence the omission of the principle of individuation). He argued that this fusion has not been achieved since the ancient Greek tragedians. The main theme in The Birth of Tragedy is that the fusion of Dionysian and Apollonian Kunsttriebe ("artistic impulses") forms dramatic arts or tragedies. The Greek spectators, by looking into the abyss of human suffering depicted by characters on stage, passionately and joyously affirmed life, finding it worth living. ![]() Nietzsche found in classical Athenian tragedy an art form that transcended the pessimism found in the so-called wisdom of Silenus. The Ancient Greeks did not consider the two gods to be opposites or rivals, although they were often entwined by nature. ![]() Dionysus, son of Semele, is the god of wine and dance, of irrationality and chaos, representing passion, emotions and instincts. Apollo, son of Leto, is the god of the sun, of rational thinking and order, and appeals to logic, prudence and purity and stands for reason. In Greek mythology, Apollo and Dionysus are both sons of Zeus. The concept has since been widely invoked and discussed within Western philosophy and literature. The word Dionysian occurs as early as 1608 in Edward Topsell’s zoological treatise, The History of Serpents. Its popularization is widely attributed to the work The Birth of Tragedy by Friedrich Nietzsche, though the terms had already been in use prior to this, such as in the writings of poet Friedrich Hölderlin, historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann, and others. The Apollonian and the Dionysian are philosophical and literary concepts represented by a duality between the figures of Apollo and Dionysus from Greek mythology. Marble statue of Apollo (left), and of Dionysus (right) ![]()
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