# XII: The Flies in the Marketplace explained — Thus Spoke Zarathustra

> Chapter companion for Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche.

## What happens

Zarathustra warns his friend to flee into solitude, away from the noise and stings of the marketplace, where great men are merely actors and the small and pitiable ones seek vengeance. He advises against engaging with the poisonous flies of the crowd, urging the preservation of one's depth and pride.

## Themes in this chapter

### Critique of Herd Morality

The chapter condemns the marketplace as a realm of noise, actors, and the small-minded, where the herd's values dominate and poison the creator.

### Solitude and Companionship

Zarathustra repeatedly urges flight into solitude as a refuge from the stinging flies of society, emphasizing the necessity of isolation for the profound individual.

## Character check-ins

### Zarathustra

Zarathustra speaks as the guide, urging his friend to retreat from the marketplace and its poisonous flies.

## Key lines

> Flee, my friend, into thy solitude! I see thee deafened with the noise of the great men, and stung all over with the stings of the little ones.

Retreat to isolation, for the clamor of the powerful and the bites of the petty are overwhelming you.

_Zarathustra opens with a direct command to escape both the loud 'great men' and the irritating 'little ones' of society._

> Little do the people understand what is great—that is to say, the creating agency. But they have a taste for all representers and actors of great things.

The masses cannot grasp true greatness, which is creative, but they love those who merely perform or represent greatness.

_Nietzsche distinguishes between the creator of new values and the actor who merely imitates greatness for public acclaim._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/thus_spoke_zarathustra_se/chapters/xii-the-flies-in-the-marketplace
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/thus_spoke_zarathustra_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/thus_spoke_zarathustra_se/chapters