Greek Mythology in "Death in Venice"

Death, in Death in Venice, could only happen in the classical world embedded in the decaying city of Venice. Thomas Mann made a specific choice of location for his story to come to life. The city of Venice embraces the rebirth of a history; the classical world of Greece, its philosophers, the art and architecture, its culture, and its myths. Mann compiles a thread of the classical world throughout his novella to present the claim that beauty alone gives people a visible reminder of ultimate reality. Mann’s allegation therefore is that this experience of art over morality separates the wise from the merely sensual.
Death in Venice is a story of a middle-aged man named Aschenbach who is the epitome of self discipline, and believes the most genuine art of the world is only created against the will of passion. Mann was also influenced greatly by a philosopher Freidrich Nietzsche, who believed that only in the balance between passions and the conscious can art take place. Nie...