Introduction
Realism is a literary movement distinguished by its unique depiction of human nature by depicting specific people in a specific time and place, also known as a slice of life. This is accomplished using vernacular to create a convincing yet true depiction of a culture. Similarly, psychological realism employs these traits to simulate human nature, but it focuses on textual techniques such as interior monologue. Thus, the internal thought processes of a character illustrate the depiction of a specific culture shunned by society, as with Von Aschenbach, the protagonist, and pedophile in Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice.
Discussion
There are at least three metaphorical levels on which Venice is significant. First, it is situated in Asia and Europe, where the supposedly exotic and sensuous East meets the more subdued and “civilized” Europe (Mann). Therefore, it is symbolic that Aschenbach abandons his discipline and gives in to his sensual, passionate side in Venice. Second, Venice is regarded as a decaying Location: The city is constructed on a lagoon, and each year it recedes a little more into its marshy origins; in literature, it is frequently the scene of moral corruption.
A tale about the artist and the nature of art is found in Death in Venice. While having a latent sensuality, Gustav von Aschenbach is shown in the novella as a man who has always kept his desires under control, never letting them manifest in his life or art. Aschenbach is, in Freudian terminology, “repressed,” a state of such imbalance that, it was thought, could not long remain stable nor produce truly inspired art (Armstrong). He embodies the bourgeois European culture of the turn of the century. However, after keeping his passions in check for so long, Aschenbach starts to let down his guard, and they redouble their efforts to take over his life.
Aschenbach’s moral principles crumble as soon as he accepts sensuous beauty into his life, symbolized by the young Tadzio. He then becomes a slave to beauty and desire, becoming debased. As a result, Aschenbach completely switches between one extreme of art and the other, moving from the mental to the physical and from pure form to pure emotion. The story by Thomas Mann forewarns the dangerous consequences that either extreme can provide.
Because Modernism was partially an aesthetic movement, and Venice is a city of magnificent surfaces, the belief that art, in a city famously and tirelessly painted, could transcend the disorder and chaos of the modern appears most fertile. Even in a city with few gardens, in a place protected from the automobiles and bellowing factories of industrialized society. Careful admiration of these surfaces was a critical part of visiting the city. The Modernists, therefore, used the city’s famous facades as a stage set to allow their protagonists to connect to their innermost realities. Venice’s true structure or foundation is hidden, so visitors must wander the city either staring up along its seemingly two-dimensional facades or down into the reflective canals (Armstrong). The physical distinctiveness of the city facilitates the modernist protagonist’s transition from the more traditional, mythologized world of Venice into a newly realized inner world.
Interior monologue is a narrative technique used in the stream of consciousness, but it differs in its punctuation and natural flow from one thought to the next. Achenbach’s character uses this technique to justify his attraction to the young boy, Tadzio, particularly with references to Greek mythology and the setting in Venice, to convey his justification for pedophilia. This is demonstrated in Chapter 4, where Aschenbach feels transformed due to his experience in Venice.
He claims that Tadzio’s attractiveness inspired him to appreciate life, but before starting this voyage, he felt imprisoned by the onomastic dregs of labor. Aschenbach responds by contrasting Tadzio’s beauty with comparisons to Greek deities and mythological characters, such as Ganymede, also known as “the Trojan shepherd,” who served as Zeus’ lover and cupbearer (Mann). Aschenbach frequently brings up Greek mythology throughout the book as an attempt to defend the divinity and near-transcendence he experiences while being inspired to write by Tadzio’s ethereal divine beauty.
Aschenbach’s response to the realization that he is too much in love with his intoxication of Tadzio’s presence and does not wish to return to reality is another example of his justification through inner monologue. He was perplexed by this and worried that someone, maybe the caretaker on the beach, might have seen him. He then returns to his justification for his attraction by connecting to the Greek tragedy Phrynichus. He refers to the fallacious argument that it would be unwise not to continue Tadzio’s pursuit from a distance because of people’s perceptions (Mann). Thus, adhering to the psychological realism goal illustrates Aschenbach’s cognitive process to justify his acts.
Conclusion
Death in Venice illustrates Aschenbach’s psychological struggle between right and wrong, illustrative of humanity’s rationalization of their cognitive processes, however, wanted. His moral compass becomes distorted as the novel goes on, and he finds himself toeing the thin line between admiration, pedophilia, and artistic inspiration. The usage of interior monologue in the story demonstrates Aschenbach’s inner conflict by explaining why he acts in such ways, such as following a little boy. Death in Venice is a societal reflection on how people can use their minds to rationalize bizarre, abnormal actions.
Works Cited
Armstrong, Tim. Modernism: A Cultural History. Polity, 2005.
Mann, Thomas. Death in Venice.