To What Extent Is Death In Venice A Tragic Vision Of A Flawed Artist? Essay, Research Paper

Aschenbach

was certainly an artist. A very decent one. He had his life planned out, was

very accurate and organized. Perhaps even a bit boring, monotonous. He was a

hard-working man, he had that certain motus animi continuus. He was seen as a

genius. From the beginning, he wanted to become known, to become famous, but

his life was empty. He yearned for a change of pace, for some action, adventure

and unpredictability of what might come. He was afraid of ‘breaking out’, yet

he was also afraid of being trapped.Then he

goes to Venice, where all will change. In his hotel, he sees a young boy by

whom he is fascinated. The young boy is the perfect image of a happy, idle

child that has all it desires, all Aschenbach never had; his childhood was

rather gloom since it was spent mostly at home and indoors, he didn’t meet many

people and he certainly never had that laisser aller attitude that the young

boy so obviously possessed. Aschenbach studied the child and found out that his

name was Tadzio. The sound of his name was almost musical. Aschenbach would sit

on the beach and watch him play, the young child that, in his point of view,

looked like the god Apollo. Slowly but surely, he became obsessed with Tadzio,

with his youth, beauty, effortlessness and his idleness. Whilst

being obsessed with this young boy with whom Aschenbach has no connection or

relation, around him disease broods. The plague is sweeping over Venice,

unnoticed at first and denied by the Venitians. They are all lying, denying and

acting as to make sure the tourist business will continue to thrive through

this period of silent turmoil. People are dying around Aschenbach, while he is

alive in the midst of death.If he

would have been wise, he would have left as soon as he started considering the

fact that there was indeed a plague in Venice. Yet he could not leave. He was

so immensely drawn to Tadzio, he could not make himself leave. After he finally

takes the step to leave the wretched place of contagion, his bags go missing,

giving him the opportunity he subconsciously longed for; to stay longer with a

cause. Even when his luggage is returned, he has no intention of trying to

leave again. Instead, he stays to be close to Tadzio, with whom he believes to

have a bond. When the boy looks at him, he feels that the boy is interested in

him, but it might as well have been a random look at which their eyes met for

an instant. Tadzio’s family is now aware of Aschenbach keeping a peculiarly

close eye on Tadzio. Aschenbach has changed from a dignified artist to a scary

old man, lurking in the dark.One thing

he does notice about Tadzio though is that his teeth look very unhealthy and

bluish. Tadzio looks sickly, fragile. And Aschenbach is glad. He is glad that

Tadzio is unhealthy and will probably not live to an old age. That way he will

die beautiful and young and not become like Aschenbach; a man yearning to

return to the his former glory.At this

point, Aschenbach’s life goes out of hand. He no longer is under control of it.

When he takes the gondola, a foreign gondolier takes him across the waters. The

black gondola, reminding him of a coffin, is a grave sign of what might come for

him in just a few days time. The

gondolier seems to ignore the orders given to him and goes his own direction: a

direction Aschenbach didn’t ask to go to. His life is now being controlled by

someone else, he has lost grip of where he is going, what he is doing and the

consequences. Aschenbach is indecisive, will he let himself be directed or will

he take action and rebel against this injustice? He decided to sit back and let

himself be carried over the waters by a complete stranger. He’s out of control

and he realizes it. He is so

obsessed with Tadzio that he actually sits on the terrace with a drink

‘pretending’ to enjoy it, while in fact he is neither enjoying or drinking. He

is there for Tadzio. He’s devoting and dedicating all his time to this stranger

that he has not even had the courage to speak to. He watches the performance

being performed, his face fixed in a painful smile, while he is inwardly only

thinking about Tadzio.Trying to

stay as clean and decent as possible, Aschenbach is now a frequent customer at

the barber shop. Besides his hair getting cut and getting a shave, the barber

suggests for him to restore what belongs to him: his youth. He dyes his hair

the colour of the night, as black as it once was. His eyebrows were also

tampered with, they turned into youthful arches and the eyes become larger and

more brilliant by use of some delicate touches. His skin glowed again and his

lips were full. As he looked in the mirror, he saw a young man looking back at

him. But he did not realize he turned into that which he loathes, he now looks

just like the old man he saw on the boat when he traveled to Venice at the

beginning of his trip. Tadzio

sees him and Aschenbach believes that he is being admired, but he is actually

being ridiculed. The plague

is now everywhere. Reckless and careless as he is, Aschenbach ignores the fact.

A simple act brings him closer to his death; he buys strawberries, they were

overripe and soft, but he ate them. Did he realize they carried the plague?Every

great man has a flaw, Hamlet was indecisive, MacBeth had too much ambition,

Othello was jealous.and Aschenbach was obsessed. His obsession led him to

forget about his own well-being and life. That’s what led him to his unlucky

end. An end that is not even as satisfactory as it could’ve been. An end he

didn’t deserve.