Thomas Mann in his "Death in Venice" has created a polarity of the conscious will versus the passionate drive within his character Mr. Gustav Aschenbach. One main way that the author does this is by setting the story in the adventurous city of Venice, Italy. Mann goes further in creating characteristics of Mr. Aschenbach that are similar to those of literary Venice. We see the strongest similarities of this through Venice's sensuality and exoticism, its literary past and its form and metaphor of corruption and decay, as well as its characteristic of being a place of artifice.
Venice stands geographically at a mid-point between Asia and Europe, on the point where the perceived sensuality and exoticism of the East blends with the more restrained and "civilized" Europe. It is, therefore, symbolically fitting that Venice be the city where Aschenbach abandons his restraint and gives way to his sensual, passionate side. Aschenbach to me seems to be a man who is looking for himself......
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