Nietzsche: Apollo and Dionysus

In this essay I intend to examine Nietzsche's allegory of the Apollonian and Dionysian as a portrait of human nature. To proceed it is helpful to provide some context to this discussion which can be found in Nietzsche's book "The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music". His first literary piece, as a professor of Philology (the humanistic study of language and literature), the book examines classical tragedy as a life-affirming art form. Whilst the book specifically focuses on art, Nietzsche's questioning at the beginning of the book alludes to philosophical application beyond philology.
"Is there a pessimism of strength ? An intellectual inclination for what in existence is hard, dreadful, evil, problematic, emerging from what is healthy, from overflowing well being, from living existence to the full ? Is there perhaps a way of suffering from the very fullness of life?" (N, p3)
    Given the specialist nature of Nietzsche's profession, and the associated terminology, it is helpful to at this point define his key terms. Apollo was the God of the sun and light, and for Nietzsche's understanding he represented illumination, reason and order. Nietzsche refers to him as "that fully wise calm of the god of images" (N, p12). So for Nietzsche the Apollonian is the rational man that strives for form and structure to illuminate the form of a thing. In making distinctions between one form and another, for Nietzsche, the Apollonian also contains the individuality of man; by making all things distinct the Apollonian makes man himself distinguishable from others.
    Dionysus by contrast was the Greek God of wine and ritualistic frenzy; for Nietzsche he represents the chaotic, unrestrained, instinctual base nature and -by contrast with the Apollonian in thought- the indistinguishable. Nietzsche himself suggests Dionysian thought is "namely, the desire for the ugly , the good strong willing of the ancient Hellenes for pessimism, for tragic myth, for pictures of everything fearful, evil, enigmatic, destructive, and fateful" (N, p3).
    Nietzsche suggests that the Dionysian forms the base or foundation of man, yet only as much can surface that can be overcome by the Apollonian; Man for Nietzsche becomes dissonance veiled with beauty. Nietzsche's proposes that these two different drives exist in open conflict, dialectically opposing forces which result in a tragic synthesis. That both the animal and man grapple with one another, as though locked in conflict, proportionately increasing in strength with no victorious party.
    As an allegory for human nature this dialectic has evident application. Increasingly as a species we acknowledge our genetic similarity to other species; our Apollonian inquiries reveal evidence for the natural means by which human beings have evolved through a process of natural selection. Yet we see things as beautiful, good, evil, distinct and have built our civilisation upon rational ideas. We as a species distinguish ourselves from the flora and fauna around us and call ourselves 'civilised', aspiring to the Apollonian ideal. In Nietzsche's view we are the Dionysian origin beneath the veil of Apollonian civilisation.
    In literature Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" written 12 years after Nietzsche's own work, with the obvious internal tensions within the divided protagonist Dr Henry Jekyll, has become something of a popular expression of the divided self. That man has a good, rational and beautiful side is often contrasted in various artistic mediums with his more dark, irreverent, and (perceived or actual) evil tendencies. Yet in this world it is not uncommon to hear our Apollonian way of dismissing our more questionable actions with such ironic phrases as "it was just a moment of madness".
    But how does Nietzsche's thought here reflect his later development of the superman? In Nietzsche synthesis of man both the Apollonian and Dionysian are a part of the nature of man. The superman pursues what is life affirming, giving no credence to what is good or evil (or to be more specific to this essay; what is Apollonian or Dionysian), but that he is a true synthesis in equal measure of both the Apollonian and Dionysian. He is a balance individual with no 'neurosis' as Nietzsche suggests, predisposing him to reject his Dionysus and accept the world according to Apollo -unlike the Philosophers that have come before him. For Nietzsche the superman society becomes balanced not on the basis of what is tasteful but on the basis of what affirms life irrespective or the origin of such balance be it Apollonian or Dionysian.