Death in Venice

The plague is an outbreak of cholera afflicting Venice through the last chapter of the novella and is a significant motif in this final part of the narrative, where it is associated with The Link Between Desire and Death. The progress of the plague mirrors the trajectory of Aschenbach’s final character development toward unbridled passion and hedonism as he gives in to the “Bacchanal” urges prompted by his infatuation with Tadzio. Just as the plague sees law and order break down within the city of Venice, so too does Aschenbach flout his internal boundaries and abandon self-control. Aschenbach’s ambivalence toward the danger represented by the epidemic reflects his complacency with the harmful and degrading excesses of his passion for Tadzio. Additionally, his complicity with the corrupt officials of Venice in keeping knowledge of the outbreak under wraps reinforces the link between plague and passion. The officials hide their secret out of callous avarice for revenue of the tourist industry, while Aschenbach hides both his infatuation and his knowledge of the plague out of greed for Tadzio’s continued presence and a nebulous hope for some future intimacy should the constraints of law and order fully unravel.