Beyond Good and Evil · Chapter
Chapter 123 explained
A single, aphoristic critique targeting the institution of marriage, suggesting it corrupts even the relationship of concubinage.
What happens
A single, aphoristic critique targeting the institution of marriage, suggesting it corrupts even the relationship of concubinage.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
The passage reveals the Wanderer's ultimate psychological exhaustion with seeking truth, climaxing in his desp…
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Follow the arc while readingThemes 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 passages
“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.
