Thus Spoke Zarathustra · Chapter
II explained
Zarathustra recounts a vision of a shepherd with a black serpent crawling into his throat, which he must bite off to become a transfigured, laughing being.
What happens
Zarathustra recounts a vision of a shepherd with a black serpent crawling into his throat, which he must bite off to become a transfigured, laughing being. He then confronts the dwarf, the spirit of gravity, at a gateway named 'This Moment,' where he articulates the doctrine of eternal recurrence—that all things have already existed and must return eternally. The chapter explores the abysmal thought of eternal return and the necessity of self-overcoming.
Themes in this chapter
Eternal Recurrence
Central theme: Zarathustra explains the eternal return of all things through the gateway 'This Moment' and the two eternal lanes.
The Übermensch and Self-Overcoming
The shepherd's act of biting off the serpent's head symbolizes the overcoming of nausea and the transformation into a higher being.
The Body and the Earth
The vision emphasizes physical struggle and the body's role in overcoming the heaviest thoughts.
Characters to notice
- Zarathustra
Narrates his vision of the shepherd and the serpent, and debates the dwarf about eternal recurrence.
- The Superman
Implied in the transfigured shepherd who laughs and overcomes the serpent.
- The Higher Men
Addressed as 'ye venturers and adventurers' who are called to solve the enigma of the vision.
Key passages
“The shepherd however bit as my cry had admonished him; he bit with a strong bite! Far away did he spit the head of the serpent—: and sprang up.— No longer shepherd, no longer man—a transfigured being, a light-surrounded being, that laughed!”
The shepherd followed my command and bit down hard, spitting the serpent's head far away. He then leaped up, transformed into a radiant, laughing being, no longer a mere shepherd or man.
This act of biting off the serpent's head symbolizes the overcoming of the heaviest, most nauseating thought (eternal recurrence) and the birth of the Übermensch.
“Must not whatever can run its course of all things, have already run along that lane? Must not whatever can happen of all things have already happened, resulted, and gone by?”
Everything that can possibly happen must have already occurred along the infinite past lane, and thus all events have already taken place.
Zarathustra presents the logical premise of eternal recurrence: the infinite past implies that all possible events have already occurred.
“And this slow spider which creepeth in the moonlight, and this moonlight itself, and thou and I in this gateway whispering together, whispering of eternal things—must we not all have already existed?”
The spider, the moonlight, and you and I speaking here at the gateway—must we not have existed before, in exactly this same way?
Zarathustra extends the eternal recurrence to include every detail of the present moment, including himself and the dwarf.