# Napoleon Bonaparte — Beyond Good and Evil character guide

> Napoleon Bonaparte in Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche.

**Role:** minor

**Also known as:** Napoleon

**First appearance:** 0002-i-prejudices-of-philosophers

## Who they are

Historical figure referenced as an exemplar of power and the 'higher man'.

## In the story

### [The Herd Instinct and the Need for Command](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/199)

Presented as the 'absolute ruler' whose appearance was a blessing and deliverance for gregarious Europeans, offering the last great proof of this phenomenon.

### [The New Warlike Age and German Skepticism](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/209)

His astonished exclamation 'Voilà un homme!' upon seeing Goethe is cited as a revelation that contradicted the centuries-old, feeble European conception of the 'German spirit'.

### [VII: Our Virtues](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/vii-our-virtues)

His mother is cited as an example of a powerful woman who owed her influence to her force of will, not cultivation.

### [On Woman and Enlightenment](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/232)

Cited as an authority who rightly commanded Madame de Staël to be silent in politics, presented as a model for dealing with women.

### [239](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/239)

Referenced indirectly via his mother, who is cited as an example of a powerful woman who achieved ascendancy through force of will, not formal 'cultivation'.

### [The Twilight of European Taste: From Mozart to Romanticism](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/245)

The figure before whom Europe 'almost fell down in adoration'; part of the historical interlude (Rousseau to Napoleon) that Beethoven's music captures.

### [Beyond Nationalism: The European Soul in Art](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/256)

Cited among the 'large-minded men' of the century whose labor prepared the way for a new European synthesis, rising above mere patriotism.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/characters/napoleon
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/characters