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Edvard
Munch (Norwegian, 1863-1944),
Friedrich Nietzsche
(1906) |
Published in 1882. Second Edition published in 1887, adding: Preface, Book V,
and Appendix of Songs. Excerpts from translation by Walter Kaufmann.
Text amended in part by The Nietzsche Channel.
http://www.geocities.com/thenietzschechannel/diefrohl7d.htm
THE GAY
SCIENCE
Selected Text
Book III
125.
The
madman. — Have you not heard of that madman who lit a
lantern in the bright morning hours, ran to the market place and cried
incessantly: "I seek God! I seek God!" —As many of those who did not believe in
God were standing around just then, he provoked much laughter. Has he got lost?
Asked one. Did he lose his way like a child? Asked another. Or is he hiding? Is
he afraid of us? Has he gone on a voyage? emigrated? — Thus they yelled and
laughed. The madman jumped into their midst and pierced them with his eyes.
"Whither is God?" he cried. "I will tell you. We have killed him—you and
I! All of us are his murderers! But how did we do this? How could we drink up
the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What were we
doing when we unchained this earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now?
Whither are we moving? Away from all suns? Are we not plunging continually? And
backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there still any up or down?
Are we not straying as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of
empty space? Has it not become colder? Is not night continually closing in on
us? Do we not need to light lanterns in the morning? Do we not hear nothing as
yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do we smell nothing as
yet of the divine decomposition? —Gods, too, decompose! God is dead! God remains
dead! And we have killed him! How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of
all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet
owned has bled to death under our knives, —who will wipe this blood off us? What
water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what
sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too
great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?
There has never been a greater deed, —and whoever is born after us, for the sake
of this deed he will belong to a higher history than all history hitherto!"—
Here the madman fell silent and looked again at his listeners: they, too, were
silent and stared at him in astonishment. At last he threw his lantern to the
ground, and it broke into pieces and went out. "I have come too early," he said
then; "my time is not yet. This tremendous event is still on its way, still
wandering—it has not yet reached the ears of men. Lightning and thunder require
time; the light of the stars requires time; deeds, though done, still require
time to be seen and heard. This deed is still more distant from them than the
most distant stars—and yet they have done it themselves!" — It has been
related further that on the same day the madman forced his way into several
churches and there struck up his requiem aeternam deo. Led out and called to
account, he is said always to have replied nothing but: "What after all are
these churches now if they are not the tombs and sepulchers of God?"
B. Nietzsche’s Madman:
Interpretive Questions
1. In what sense is the madman insane?
Upon what basis, or according to what standard, is he considered insane?
2. What might be the symbolic or analogical meaning of the madman utilizing a
lighted lantern to search for God on a bright morning?
3. According to the madman: “we have killed God, we are his murderers.”
Beginning with “But how have we done it?” the madman poses a series of
passionate questions in response to the murder of God. What do you think is the
basic point of these questions? What do these questions imply about the
consequences of the ‘death of God’ for his murderers?
4. The madman claims that the murder of God is the greatest event ever
and that those born after it belong to a higher history. What do you
think the madman means? Why do you think he makes such strong claims?
5. The madman throws down his lantern, in response to the silent and stunned
audience, and proclaims that he has come too early. He also states that
this murderous deed “is as yet further from them than the furthest star—and
yet they have done it!” What might the madman mean? Why do you think
he throws his lantern to the ground, so that it’s light is extinguished, at this
precise moment?
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