Nietzsche's Tragic Performance: The Still-Living Mother and the Dionysian in Ecce Homo

Abstract

In Ecce Homo , Nietzsche identifies himself with Dionysus. Yet Nietzsche's notorious treatment of his mother in this text reveals a complex relationship to the Dionysian. While many have used the Dionysian to interpret Nietzsche's relation to the maternal, I show that his treatment of his mother illuminates his relation to the Dionysian. Building on an insight in Stanley Cavell's work on love in Shakespeare's King Lear , I show that Nietzsche's attempt to give birth to himself in Ecce Homo imitates his description of the tragic hero in The Birth of Tragedy , making Ecce Homo his tragic performance.