Death in Venice Thomas Mann\'s

Death in Venice

Thomas Mann's "Death in Venice" is often regarded by critics as being one of the most important short stories of the author's creation. In spite of his prolific literary heritage, this piece of writing caught the attention through a precise literary construction which presented two different realities while using parallel references and opposing qualities that in the end find a common point of attraction.

The story is apparently without any intriguing outcome, yet at a more profound level it proves to be one of psychological analysis and moral determinism. By placing in opposition the two characters, Aschenbach and Tadzio, Thomas Mann also sets in contrast the two worlds the characters belong to, and thus he manages to underline the defining qualities, flaws and existentialist torments each of them face. Nonetheless, the focus falls on Aschenbach whose changing emotional attitude is the driving force of the entire plot. In the end, the short story is in fact a detailed picture of the psychological transformation which Aschenbach is the victim of, all presented through a well structured literary combination of opposing and contrasting elements.

The plot is rather simple and focuses on the voyage of Aschenbach, one of Germany's most renowned writers, to the southern parts of Europe, in Venice where he develops a passion for a young Polish boy staying in the same hotel with his family and companion, Jashu. During his stay, cholera infects the city and Aschenbach has the possibility to leave the place. Instead he decides to stay and finds his death at the hands of the terrible disease. However, the actual sequence of events is less important for the development of the plot. What gives consistency and coherence is the main character's evolution from a rather detached and impersonal individual to a passionate degraded human soul. This evolution however is placed on an adequate background, as this element too is in contradiction and evolves from beginning till the end of the story.

Aschenbach is the representative of a certain type of characters. He is an honorable, respected member of the society he is part of, the son of a well off Prussian family and an austere individual. These are basic facts which the narrator is generous to provide. Nonetheless, it is obvious that in fact the image of such perfection is just a mask, as the tone of the first pages itself indicates a state of turmoil and uneasiness. The stormy atmosphere, Aschenbach's need to detach himself from his demanding writing activity, and the encounter with the strange looking red haired man all announce a dramatic unfolding of events. It is clear from he very first parts of the story that there are in fact two sides of Aschenbach's character, one who is dedicated to his work, his writing, who believes that passion is a disturbing element in the creative process, and who is the respectable member of his social environment, and another that is stressed and tired by his efforts, one that decides to leave the austere existence of Germany and all that is representative of it and chooses the opposite alternative, the sunny sensual Venice, the place of one of the most passionate love stories of all times. Therefore, it is obvious that Mann did not choose the location randomly but rather from a precise reason, to create the adequate environment for the emergence of Aschenbach's other side of his character.

The novella in itself is a story of deep and consuming interior torments. Thomas Mann is well-known for his dramatic approaches of the human soul and for dealing with the duality of life. Greatly influenced by the ideas of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche he oscillated his entire life between the need to have an opened attitude about his personal life and his personal need for privacy. Therefore, Aschenbach's character and evolution must be seen from this perspective, one that envisages the fight between the accepted state of his social image and the unseen and hidden part of his personality. "Death in Venice" is the story of the way in which this hidden part of Aschenbach's personality prevails and ultimately cases his death.

The process of revealing is however one of progression, starting from a certain denial to the admitted and embraced state of facts. In the beginning, Aschenbach appears as an individual who has succeeded in self restraining his desires to the point of denying them. This is obvious in the books he writes and through the characters he creates, which are the spokespersons of his philosophical beliefs. He considers that sheer will can determine the actions of a person and can influence its decisions; therefore, having the power to determine one's road in life is a matter of self-control. It is in this line of judgment that the influence of philosophical thought is visible; Mann, by creating his character in these parameters makes him vulnerable to a sudden and irreversible change of course. Applying the ideas of Sigmund Freud whose work had been an inspiration to Mann and to the entire writing elite of the time, Mann creates the adequate background for the manifestation of the parallel side of Aschenbach's character, the one that had been denied the existence.

The choice of leaving for Venice represents in fact the choice he makes to follow the hidden side of his nature, that which lies under the mask of a nationally acclaimed writer. The "young man" that catches his eye in his trip to Venice is representative in this sense. At a first glance, he appears to be a spirited member of a joyful group, but at a closer look, his real identity is obvious, as he is trying to hide it through painted cheeks, false hair and dyed mustache. This encounter makes Aschenbach think of his own unacknowledged falsity. The idea of false or dual identity is thus introduced in the story; upon Aschenbach's arrival to Venice, this will be developed further still.

Tadzio's presence represents the element that triggers the entire fight in Aschenbach's mind. The first contact the two have, although not a direct one, makes the aging writer see the boy for his godlike beauty, and even associates his looks to those of the Greek heroes. Nonetheless, the first impression is still kept in he limits of an artistic contemplation. Therefore, the separation between Aschenbach's dual existences, although announced, is still undefined. Nonetheless, Mann, in his creation of the scenery and background brings together a series of events that give a rapid pace to the evolution of the events. Thus, Aschenbach's luggage check for Como instead of his initial destination together with his own oscillation between accepting the porter's transportation or not, weight heavily on him finally giving in to his passion and temptation for the boy. This surrender is openly admitted in he end of Chapter 3, as Aschenbach loosely sits in his chair in a "gesture of calm acceptance."

The object of his admiration becomes even more, as the novella progresses, the reason for an obsessive behavior. Certain decisions Aschenbach take make his deepen his state of mind. When he eventually chooses to remain in Venice, despite the fact that there would have been no obvious reason to o so, officially acknowledge his evolution to a different stage in his attitude towards the boy. This is seen in his vision of Socrates and Phaedrus, the Greek couple which Aschenbach imagined to identify with. Making similarities, Aschenbach could have initiate Tadzio in all the virtues of life as Socrates was preaching Phaedrus of virtue and desire.

He becomes a captive of his own desires and a slave of the image rather then the actual reality he had created for the boy. He can no longer attain the detachment and cynicism that had characterized his attitude, but rather he fall pray to a certain image he managed to build from his long hours of admitting the young man. In his need not to destroy this image, he does not have the courage to introduce himself, despite his life experience and his presumably adult behavior. This comes to point out the decay of his rational and the total surrender to a passionate and submitted self.

Interestingly enough, this development in regard to Aschenbach's character also triggers the pressure of egoistic attitudes. The action taking place in chapter 5 leaves room for interpreting the transformation of the love he feels for the boy into a feeling of egoism. When hearing about the disease that had plagued Venice, realizing in his thoughts that he would not be able to live without the presence of Tadzio he joyfully contemplates the idea of quarantine as being one way of keeping the by inside the city and therefore in his reach and sight. Thus, the noble sentiment of love is taken to such a level of paroxysm that it becomes evil. This could be explained in part by the sense of loneliness Aschenbach is feeling. As all the German speaking tourists leave Venice, he becomes completely surrounded by strangers, be them in nationality, language of emotional state.

This depiction of Aschenbach's state of mind can be interpreted as being one way in which Mann suggests his character's definite detachment from the real world. Psychology studies can easily motivate the role a state of crisis plays in taking abrupt and drastic decisions. It most often leads the individual to engage in desperate gestures and irrational actions. Similarly, Aschenbach can no longer control his urges to see Tadzio and to be around him, even if there would be no actual contact.

The double side of his nature, that which had been denied for so long under the pressures of his German social environment cannot be repressed and the sight of an imminent death makes his actions to be even more uncalculated. Thus, "his head and his heart were drunk, and his steps followed the dictates of that dark god whose pleasure it is to trample man's reason and dignity underfoot." All of the author's descriptions now transform the background in order to accommodate the change in the character's attitude and his development. If in the beginning, Venice was ravishing, a symbol of architectural perfection, offering a sense of emotional relief, in the end it became a decaying sight." This was Venice, the flattering and suspect beauty -- this city, half fairy tale and half tourist trap, in whose insalubrious air the arts once rankly and voluptuously blossomed, where composers have been inspired to lulling tones of somniferous eroticism." The evolution of this descriptive experience s meant to point out in fact the state of human disintegration which now characterized Aschenbach.

There are however, certain passages in which the character is aware of his negative transformation and demands of him a proper explanation for this turn of events. However, he gives himself reasonable circumstances and considers that every action, state of mind, or in fact the entire situation is normal when one surrender to the passions of affection. Still, such moment come in contrast with the presence of Tadzio who maintains his pure Greek like perfection in opposition to the pathetic sight of Aschenbach.