A Comparative Study of Nietzsche’s Übermensch[overman] in 'Thus Spake Zarathustra' and Orestes in Sartre’s 'The Flies'

Abstract

This paper explores the possibility of a comparative study between Übermensch and Orestes by Nietzsche and Sartre respectively. The conceptual process of this research will perhaps allow some justification and validity of the research question revolving around a comparative study of Nietzsche’s Ubermensch[Overman] in 'Thus Spake Zarathrustra' and Orestes in Sartre’s 'The Flies. Sartre and Nietzsche both talked about the Ideal man and put light on their features. While Nietzsche shows his ideal man through the philosophical character Übermensch, Sartre portrayed it through a character drawn from an epic, Orestes, while Übermensch is a character in Friedrich Nietzsche’s book Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None which was published in four volumes between the years 1883 and 1885. Sartre produced his play The Flies in the year 1943 which presents the character Orestes, the “Free Man”. Ubermensch depicts a change from conventional morality and religion, not even bounded by conventional ideas of good and evil.