Aesthetically-Inspired Travel

Venice Thomas Mann’s novella “Death In Venice” tells the story of Gustav Von Aschenbach, a somewhat struggling artist who travels alone to various places but winds up in Venice. Aschenbach’s motive for staying in Venice has mostly to do with, if not everything to do with, his newfound, unmeasurable love for a young Polish boy named Tadzio. Aschenbach sees the boy’s beauty as godly, and seems to find it incomprehensible that Tadzio is simply human. He follows Tadzio’s Polish family around the city, finding his affection for the boy (with whom he has never spoken) to be uncontrollable. Eventually, the city is infected by Cholera, which the city officials try to keep secret as to not scare away the tourists. Although Aschenbach knows that he should leave Venice for his own sake, he cannot bare the idea of leaving Tadzio. Although he has never officially met the boy, brief moments during which their eyes meet make Aschenbach so happy that he believes he would die without Tadzio. Much of Mann’s text seems to be discussing the concept and importance of Aesthetics. Gustav Von Aschenbach is an artist himself; thus, the protagonist of the story emphasizes and creates aesthetics for a living, despite the more “proper” occupations of his somewhat known line of ancestry. The beauty of Venice itself, which Aschenbach references as the inspiration for great artists before him, is something that brings Aschenbach to the city. It is then the awe-inspiring beauty of the Polish by Tadzio that convinces Aschenbach to stay in the city, despite the imminent danger that eventually causes his death. Many of the books we have been reading in class reference the somewhat beautified, tourism-drawing views of traveling. It is often the beauty of a tropical island or a hilly, European countryside that draws tourists in. Often times, our characters travel based off of their romanticized views of other countries, which reality often falls short of. Mann plays with this theme when a lovesick Aschenbach lets a barber convince him that he too needs to be beautified. He dyes Aschenbach’s hair, puts powder on his face, scents him with perfume, and even applies red coloring onto his lips. Aschenbach’s new “beauty,” like that of Venice, seems forced and rather unappealing. Internally, he is going through a rather ugly struggle with what I took to be self-hatred, due to his old age and incapability of talking to Tadzio. The fact that he dies, like Daisy Miller, may be taken as Mann’s warning against careless traveling, which Gustov Von Aschenbach partakes in until his death.