CURRENTS. A Journal of Young English Philology Thought and Review, vol.1, no.1/2015 Ed. by E. Bodal, A. Jaskólska, N. Strehlau & M. Włudzik, www.currents.umk.pl ISSN 2449-8769 || All texts licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 12 Katarzyna Burzyńska DzMAN IS SOMETHING THAT SHOULD BE OVERCOMEdz SELF-F ASHIONING VS. SELF-OVERCOMING OF SHAKESPEAREAN OVER-REACHERS IN THE LIGHT OF NIETZSCHE’S PHILOSOPHY Keywords: William Shakespeare, self-fashioning, overman, Friedrich Nietzsche, Stephen Greenblatt Introduction The starting point of this paper is Friedrich Nietzscheǯs philosophical assumption that the ultimate aim of all human endeavours is the formation of an extraordinary individual who towers over the rest of creation. Essentially, Nietzscheǯs overman is not a product of historical progress or evolution but, rather, a product of individual self-overcoming and sublimation of one's instincts. The so-called Dzgreatdz Shakespearean tragedies are traditionally characterised as tragedies of character as they are, most of all, presentations of exceptional individuals who go beyond what is given and consciously shape their personas in a crafty and artful manner (Zbierski 355). As David Daiches ȋ͹Ȍ claims, Dzwhatever we conclude to have been the Elizabethan and Jacobean view of tragedy, it is clear that a Shakespearean tragedy is the tragedy of a person or personsdz. So in my opinion, famous Shakespearean over-reachers like Macbeth, Edmund in King Lear or Brutus in Julius Ceasar all have what it takes to become Nietzchean Dzovermendz. This does not mean that they all eventually become Dzovermendz but that they all share the creative potential so praised in Nietzscheǯs philosophy. The Shakespearean tragedy canon opens with Julius Caesar, believed to be one of the greatest political tragedies ever written and, at the same time, famous for its tragic hero problem (Zbierski 373). In the present paper, I would like to focus solely on Shakespeareǯs Julius Caesar and to argue that it is Brutus who in the course of the play overcomes his inclinations, channels his instincts and emerges as an overman. His identity-creation process, as opposed to Caesar