Apollonian and Dionysian Man Essay -- essays research papers

The Apollonian and Dionysian man complete each other in the sense that these two terms create our society. The Apollonian man was given its name from Apollo, the sun- god. He represents light, clarity, and form. The Dionysian man was given its name from the Greek god Dionysus. As the wine-god, he represents drunkenness and ecstasy. The Dionysian was the primal aspect of reality, as well as raw nature, life and death, pleasure and pain, desire, passion, sex, and aggression. It is the source of primal instincts. "The Dionysian with its primal pleasure-experienced even in pain- is the common womb of music and tragic myth...the Apolline is the realm of dreams and ideal forms."("The Birth of Tragedy" Nietzsche, 1871) The Apollonian is the humanized aspect of reality, civilization, harmony, and balance. It follows order, form, status, peace, moderation, permanence, symbolism, language, and reason. In modern psychological terms it is the Ego and Superego. The complexities of the Dionysian person verses the Apollonian person will be explored using Robert Johnson's Ecstasy. The Dionysian name emphazing the irrational element of frenzy was found in the rites of Dionysus. This book explores the nature of ecstasy through the myth of Dionysus. In ancient Greece, Dionysus was the god of wine and ecstasy. "The myth of Dionysus is a picture of the forces, behaviors, and instincts that shape our inner world. He is a complex figure who symbolizes the irrational world of our senses as it interacts with the rational world of rules and limitations."(Johnson, 11) Zeus, in disguise, traveled on earth and came upon the city of Thebes. He fell hopelessly in love with Semele, the daughter of King Cadmus. She became pregnant and wanted to look into the eyes of her lover. She asked Zeus to grant her a boon. He made an oath with the River of Styx. This oath exclaimed she could have anything. She asked to see the god of the thunderbolt in his true splendor. She persisted and sadly he kept his word. This meant her death. She was immediately incinerated. Only her womb, wrapped in ivy, escaped the flame. Zeus was furious, therefore he cut an incision in his thigh, and tucked the child into it. The baby continued to gr... ...e The Birth of Tragedy) â€Å"The Apollonian tendency is associated with the instinct for form, beauty, moderation, and symmetry. It is the basis of all analytic distinctions.†(Nitezsche The Birth of Tragedy) The Apollonian and Dionysian are two terms that consummate each other in the sense that they structure our society. The Apollonian is the humanized aspect of reality, civilization, harmony, and balance. It follows order, form, status, peace, moderation, symbolism, and reason. The Dionysian was the primal aspect of reality, as well as nature, life and death, desire, passion, sex, and aggression. Robert Johnson’s Ecstasy explored the nature of ecstasy throught the ancient Greek myths of Dionysus and Apollo. Ecstasy was once considered a favor of the gods, a divine gift that could lift mortals out of ordinary reality and into a higher world. The myth of Dionysus and the rise and fall of his cult, offer the best elucidation of our loss of ecstatic experience. He is a complex figure who symbolizes the irrational world of our senses as it interacts with the rational world of rules and limitations.