Death of Tragedy

The main theme of Nietzsche's Birth of Tragedy is the comparison between ancient Greek tragedy and Wagnerian music, in which he sees the latter as a 'rebirth' of the former. Implied by such rebirth is the death of the former, which, according to Nietzsche, is caused by the influence of Rationalism on Tragedy, the personification of which is what he calls 'Socrates', a third 'god', in addition to Dionysus and Apollo, in the his study. The exact referent of 'Socrates' is unclear, for, as a practitioner of self-reflection, this character indeed represents the historical Socrates. But, as a detached observer, he is closer to Plato, and as an analyst of Tragedy, Aristotle is his predecssor. Now, Nietzsche's primary focus regarding the Socratic influence on Tragedy is the transformation of the latter to Drama, with its problem-resolution structure, and its happy ending, an evisceration of Tragedy. Left relatively unexplored are two other significant historical developments that are due to the introduction of Socratism. First, whereas in ancient Tragedy, the audience is a participant in the suffering and redemption of the hero, Socrates is a detached observer and commentator on what is transpiring. Second, the detachment, in general, of the audience from participation, is a key dimension of the abstraction and extraction of 'Aesthetic experience' from community ritual. In other words, one of the many accomplishments of Birth of Tragedy is that it demonstrates how the death of Tragedy is also the birth of Art Criticism.