Death in Venice

In Thomas Mann's novella Death in Venice, a writer goes to the title city in order to find inspiration and to ease his writer's block. During his time there, he discovers and then becomes obsessed with a young boy who he sees as incomparably beautiful. Instead of physically expressing his emotions for the boy, he forces the emotions to remain internal, something which eventually leads to his destruction. Although Gustov von Aschenbach, the protagonist of the novella, actually dies of cholera which is widespread in the area, it can be seen that it is actually the internal struggle to possess and also repulse the youth that is really the reason for his death. In this conflict, Gustov represents the perspective of duality theorized by Nietzsche wherein people possess antagonistic characteristics which force the individual to be constantly at war with him or herself. The gods of Greek...
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