In love, as in pain, in shock, in trouble.

Thus love is a state, presumably a temporary state, an aberration from

The norm. The outward symptoms of this state are sleeplessness,

distraction, loss of appetite, alternations of euphoria and depression, as

well as starry eyes (as in a fever), and agitation (Women and Romance,

Thomas Mann’s short fictional novella, Death in Venice, is laced with this disease motif disguised as love. Aschenbach, the protagonist, for his whole life was an intellectual and a writer. He falls in love with a young Polish boy, Tadzio, who embodies all that Aschen

bach never was. Tadzio is a beautifully athletic boy with curling blonde hair, while Aschenbach is a decrepit wrinkled old man lacking all his hair. He is the object of Aschenbach’s affection and obsession. Aschenbach’s love for this child is a terminal disease. It is terminal because it eventually leads him to his own demise. The disease motif plagues Aschenbach all during his stay in Venice and drives him to do all kinds of ridiculous things and eventually to his death.

Aschenbach’s relationship with Tadzio, if it can even be considered a relationship, began as a simple admiration for such an extraordinary specimen of human beauty. Aschenbach saw Tadzio as a small recreation of the Greek mythological gods. This point in the story represents Aschenbachs initial encounter with the disease. Like a disease, love is contagious. Aschenbach catches scent of Tadzio and is hooked. Though he does not show any outward symptoms of sickness, the disease is working its way into Aschenbach: “It is an essential quality of the disease that it is incurable…”(Women and Romance, 125). Aschenbach cannot escape Tadzio, the disease. The illness infiltrates the insides of the body and mind, and then it spreads to the outside actions and takes control.

Aschenbach’s encounter with Tadzio causes a major change in his itinerary. His short stay in Ven

Some topics in this essay:
Tadzio Aschenbach’s, Aschenbach Tadzio, , Germaine Greer, Death Venice, Thomas Mann’s, love tadzio, stay venice, disease love, aschenbach’s love, Women Romance, aschenbach feels tadzio, feels tadzio, disease motif, aschenbach feels, love aschenbach, sexual desire, hotel barber,