Death in Venice

The novella’s protagonist is a respected German writer named Gustav von Aschenbach—the “von” having been added when he was granted a noble title for his literary achievements. The events of the novella span the final weeks of Aschenbach’s life and focus on his internal conflict and character development as his rigidly disciplined way of life is thrown into chaos by his overwhelming sensual passion for the young boy Tadzio. The free indirect narrative style presents events through Aschenbach’s subjective perspective, cementing his experiences and internal conflicts as central to the novel. In many ways, Aschenbach is modeled on Mann’s own experiences and desires, so this character functions as a vessel for Mann to explore themes and conflicts that loomed large in his own life.

Aschenbach functions in the role of the archetypal tragic hero in that the story’s plot traces his fatal downfall from a position of prestige and prosperity to an ignoble death. His fall has the hallmarks of a Classical Greek tragedy; it is precipitated by Aschenbach’s flaws and actions—his relentless pursuit of Tadzio—but is nonetheless presented as inevitable. This impression of inevitability stems from the fact that Aschenbach is described as a combination of his mother’s sensual influence and the stoic discipline of his paternal line, but he has exclusively lived in rigid and passionless pursuit of his artistic goals. Freud’s theories on the unconscious mind, highly influential in the early 20th century, purport that the repressed passions of the id grow in strength if they are resisted by the superego until they eventually and inevitably erupt. Aschenbach’s encounter with Tadzio, and his subsequent immoderate Idolization of Beauty, is the catalyst that releases his long-repressed sensual passions, leading him to entirely flout reason and morality, to his ultimate doom.

The Conflict Between Rationality and Sensuality is thus a major element of Aschenbach’s character and a central preoccupation of the novella. For his excessively disciplined focus on his work and reputation before the events of the novella, Aschenbach’s contemporary describes him as a clenched fist that never relaxed. Once he moves from repression to indulgence of his sensuality, a shift represented by his geographical relocation from Germany to Italy (the countries being traditionally stereotyped as representative of rationality and passion, respectively), he falls to the opposite extreme. This extreme is exemplified in the wild bacchanalia of Aschenbach’s dream. The extent of the changes to Aschenbach’s character is viscerally represented in his adoption of extravagant clothes and cosmetics to appear pleasing to Tadzio, in contrast to Chapter 3, in which Aschenbach was repulsed to see the same measures employed by the elderly clerk.

Throughout all these changes of attitude, comportment, and location, Aschenbach remains a very solitary figure whose traits both positive and negative are subject to the “intensifying” effects of loneliness. The solitary figure of Aschenbach is strongly associated with the Nietzschean idea of the “superman,” a person of exceptional quality who has moved beyond considerations of conventional morality. In his pursuit of Tadzio, Aschenbach ceases to interrogate himself on the rationality or morality of his actions. However, his unceremonious demise provides a stern critique of the potential harm that can be caused by estrangement and the adoption of an amoral perspective.

Aschenbach’s character is associated with both the city of Venice and the plague of cholera that wracks it in the novella’s final chapter. The omnipresent death in the city, Aschenbach’s preoccupation with his old age, and his eventual demise are all key to the theme of The Link Between Desire and Death. The plague’s progress through the city parallels Aschenbach’s growing helplessness as he fails to master himself or protect his health. The resulting lawlessness and breakdown of order in Venice mirror and illuminate Aschenbach’s crumbling self-control and the increasing moral bankruptcy of a character who previously prided himself on his dignity, reputation, and sense of duty. Just as city officials hide the truth of the plague, so too does Aschenbach endeavor to conceal both his interest in Tadzio and his knowledge of the impetus to flee.