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The Genealogy of Morals · Character

Goethe

Poet and thinker praised as a model of healthy, life-affirming culture.

minor

Also known as Goethe a Faust

First appearance: the genealogy of morals

Goethe's tie to Homer is one of the pressures that moves The Genealogy of Morals—worth meeting in the text, not only on a cast list.

Quoted for the phrase 'labyrinth of the breast' to describe the inward turn of the active force.
In the storyThe Bad Conscience and the Origin of AltruismOpen this moment free

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With Homer (friendship): Goethe admired Homer's heroic, life-affirming worldview, which Nietzsche contrasts with German pessimism. In The Bad Conscience and the Origin of Altruism: Quoted for the phrase 'labyrinth of…

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Character Web

3 connections

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HOHomerTAthe ascetic pr…TGthe GreeksGOGoethe

Relationship types

  • Friendship
  • Other

Character groups

  • Moral and cultural archetypes
  • Protagonist

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Narrative arc

Story tension across the book.

SetupEscalationAftermathClimax
  • Setup
  • Escalation
  • Breaking point
  • Aftermath
  • Closing

This passage marks the dramatic climax because it reaches the emotional and psychological peak of Nietzsche’s…

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Relationships

  • Homer

    friendship · positive

    Goethe admired Homer's heroic, life-affirming worldview, which Nietzsche contrasts with… How this plays out →

Relationship notes

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In the story

Goethe appears across 4 companion beats. Open any chapter in the free preview to see the notes beside the text.

Chapter companion notes

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See Goethe in the genealogy of morals