Nietzsche is one of the most prominent and famous philosophers of all times. His philosophical arguments for the existence of God are well-known and thought-provoking; his ideas are being discussed till nowadays. Nietzsche said that God was dead and attracted by this people’s attention.
In the story, the madman is surrounded by people who do not believe in God. The reader does not know if he really is mad or not, but that is what apparently follows from what the crowd says. The madman is seeking for God with a lantern in his hand, which is absurd in daylight. He is eager, he is persistent, and he is fierce. He is seeking for God not in a church and not among Christians, but among common people at a marketplace. According to Nietzsche, «many of those who did not believe in God were standing around just then, he provoked much laughter». But he did not mind the laughter. He exclaimed that people had killed God. According to the Christian understanding of God, he may possess human appearance, but he is no human being and killing him is nonsense. What the madman says is provocative, it has not direct meaning; so the reader needs to think about some parallels he gives us. As for me, he is speaking not about Christian God himself, but about human values that were killed by the people. Nietzsche implied that people pretended to be gods and thus lost their faith in true God. Yet, without people’s faith, God dies. The notion of God has changed, and the people of the town were laughing and asking if God was afraid or hiding. The true meaning of God had been distorted by them, and the madman was trying to open their eyes. In his exclamations, he blamed not only them but also himself. He tried to warn people that after God’s death everything will change. I am not sure if Nietzsche saw himself as a madman, but I think that even though he was an atheist, he could not imagine our world without God. As for me, he did not care much about God as a part of religion, but he did care about people because faith is something that distinguishes a human being from an animal. The philosopher is predicting our future, he is warning us that the end is near, but it has not yet come. And that is why he looks like a madman. He is appealing to the audience of non-believers, he wants them to believe, but in a crowd of atheists he is mute. In the past, the human values were mostly based on religion. Religion, which included the faith in God, was the centre of human life. Religion explained how the sun rose and set, religion controlled, religion prohibited, it was the core of people’s life. It substituted science and gave its explanation to a lot of things. True or not, those explanations filled people’s minds. However, when the God is gone, when the religion is considered to be a remnant of the past, science and scientists cannot substitute God in people’s mind. So here comes the madman, a prophet, who wants to show the way for those who are lost. Nietzsche is asking: «what were we doing when we unchained this earth from its sun?». The sun represents the Christianity itself. It was everything, but people abandoned the sun, and now they are moving in an unknown direction. The town market is the world the humanity lives in, and the laughing atheists are the common people. The madman is holding his lantern in daylight since there is no more sun, but the others do not know that. Being blind, they just see the madman blaming them for losing their God. And what if the madman appeared today? I think, he would say the same things he said back then, and the people’s reaction would also be the same. So far, people still live the same way as they did before. Compared to predecessors, modern people are totally free from God. Nowadays traditional religious beliefs are almost gone due to the development of science and education. Humanity needs no hell and heaven today. People’s eyes seem to be open, and religion is no more a cultural norm. When storm and lightning are no more mysterious, and one can explain almost everything he or she sees around, there is no more need of God. Nevertheless, people think that they believe, but they do not. People are still building churches and cathedrals, but they do not realize that the meaning of God as a protector is no more with them. One can go to a church on Sunday just because it is a tradition. People pray to their God, but at the same time each individual who enters the church has his or her own personal God, and very often these Gods have not very much in common. The good thing is that the people around the madman stopped laughing. They were astonished; they looked at him with their eyes open, but did they realize what the loss of God mean? I would not say they did. The question is when they will, and what tremendous events are on their way to happen with the humanity. «This tremendous event is still on its way, still wandering; it has not yet reached the ears of men. Lightning and thunder require time; the light of the stars requires time; deeds, though done, still require time to be seen and heard. This deed is still more distant from them than most distant stars», says Nietzsche. On the other hand, modern humanity is free from God and can rely on its own. People no longer need to ask for something in return for good deeds; no one more believes in salvation, and one can do a lot of things with hands alone. Today humanity is at the nearest and the furthest point from God at the same time. But nevertheless, human nature has not dramatically changed, which means, the event is still on its way.
To conclude, in modern society Christianity and its system of values has become outdated. Since Christianity was the core of the European culture for ages, its crisis has led to the European crisis, which was predicted by Nietzsche. The Madman provides readers with a metaphorical and detailed illustration of this crisis. Furthermore, Nietzsche makes a prediction about distant future, when humanity will face something that will change it forever. Frankly speaking, I do not think that we can be absolutely sure about what he wanted to say, but his metaphorical predictions came true. Yet, it makes me think about our past and our future.
The essay was conducted by the professional writer from plagiarism checker for college students - Milly Jones.