# The Morality of Resentment and the Beast of Prey explained — The Genealogy of Morals > Chapter companion for The Genealogy of Morals by Friedrich Nietzsche. ## What happens Nietzsche contrasts the aristocratic morality, which spontaneously defines 'good' from itself and then 'bad' as an afterthought, with the slave morality born of ressentiment, where 'evil' is the primary concept and 'good' is its opposite. He argues that the aristocratic 'good' man is seen as 'evil' by the resentful, and that aristocratic races, though disciplined among themselves, revert to a beast-of-prey innocence when outside their circle, committing acts of cruelty without guilt. This 'blonde brute' core is the source of the barbarian image, and Nietzsche questions whether civilization's taming of this beast—through the tools of reaction and resentment—has truly elevated humanity, or merely produced a tame, mediocre, and contemptible 'man'. ## Themes in this chapter ### Master Morality vs. Slave Morality Nietzsche explicitly contrasts the aristocratic man's spontaneous creation of 'good' from himself with the slave's resentful creation of 'evil' as the primary concept, defining the two moralities. ### Ressentiment and the Revaluation of Values The chapter explores how the 'good' of aristocratic morality is reinterpreted as 'evil' by the resentful, and how the slave morality inverts values through hatred and revenge. ### Cruelty as Foundation of Culture Nietzsche describes the aristocratic races' joy in destruction, cruelty, and violence as a natural expression of their beast-of-prey core, which is both celebrated and feared. ## Character check-ins ### Hesiod Nietzsche references Hesiod's embarrassment in conceiving the series of social ages (gold, silver, bronze) and how he resolved the contradiction of the Homeric world by splitting it into a heroic age (for aristocratic memory) and a bronze age (for the oppressed). ### the Greeks The Greeks are mentioned through Pericles' funeral oration, which Nietzsche uses to illustrate the aristocratic audacity and nonchalance that the resentful view as barbaric. ### the Germans Nietzsche discusses the 'blonde Teuton beast' and the profound, icy mistrust that Germans provoke when they come to power, linking it to the historical horror of the aristocratic barbarian. ### Homer The Homeric heroes are cited as examples of aristocratic races that share the need to let the beast of prey loose, and the Homeric world is contrasted with the bronze age in Hesiod's schema. ## Key lines > The method of this man is quite contrary to that of the aristocratic man, who conceives the root idea 'good' spontaneously and straight away, that is to say, out of himself, and from that material then creates for himself a concept of 'bad'! The slave moralist's approach is the opposite of the aristocrat's: the aristocrat first defines 'good' from his own perspective, and only then derives 'bad' as a secondary concept. _Nietzsche establishes the fundamental difference between master and slave morality in their origin of value judgments._ > It is impossible not to recognise at the core of all these aristocratic races the beast of prey; the magnificent blonde brute, avidly rampant for spoil and victory; this hidden core needed an outlet from time to time, the beast must get loose again, must return into the wilderness At the heart of every aristocratic race lies a predatory beast—a splendid blond brute—that periodically must break free from social constraints to indulge in violence and conquest. _Nietzsche asserts that the aristocratic nature includes an innate, periodic need for cruelty and domination, which is both celebrated and feared._ > Granted the truth of the theory now believed to be true, that the very essence of all civilisation is to train out of man, the beast of prey, a tame and civilised animal, a domesticated animal, it follows indubitably that we must regard as the real tools of civilisation all those instincts of reaction and resentment If civilization's purpose is to tame the predatory beast in man, then the instincts of reaction and resentment—which degrade aristocratic ideals—are the actual instruments of civilization. _Nietzsche critiques the idea that civilization's tools (resentment and reaction) represent progress, arguing instead that they produce a degenerate humanity._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_genealogy_of_morals_se/chapters/11 - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_genealogy_of_morals_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_genealogy_of_morals_se/chapters