# Chapter 123 explained — Beyond Good and Evil

> Chapter companion for Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche.

## What happens

A single, aphoristic critique targeting the institution of marriage, suggesting it corrupts even the relationship of concubinage.

## Themes in this chapter

### Critique of Modernity

The aphorism presents a sharp, cynical critique of a fundamental modern social institution (marriage), seeing it as a corrupting force on a more primal relationship.

## Key lines

> Even concubinage has been corrupted⁠—by marriage.

The institution of marriage has a degrading and corrupting influence, extending even to relationships like concubinage that exist outside its formal bounds.

_A pithy, paradoxical reversal that frames marriage as the corrupting agent rather than the corrupted._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/123
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters