One manner in which to examine the deterioration of Gustav Von Aschenbach in Thomas Mann‘s Death in Venice is through the conflict of the Dionysian versus the Apollonian. Nietzsche first coined these terms in his work, The Birth of a Tragedy. In Greek mythology, Dionysus is the God of the Earth and Apollo the God of the Sun. Therefore, the Apollonian elements are those such as form, reason, and self-control, where the Dionysian are much the opposite: destruction, chaos, emotion, irrational. Nietzsche claimed that the conflict between emotion (Dionysus) and reason (Apollo) was the cause of the age of Greek Tragedy. He also believed that the ideal person needed to maintain a balance of the qualities embodied by the two Gods.
Using these concepts, it is easy to understand Aschenbach‘s internal conflict in Death in Venice as a struggle between the Dionysian and Apollonian. In the beginning of the novella, we see how Aschenbach is an artist of Apollonian principles. He is disciplined, prides himself on self-control, and represses all irrational and emotional desires. Even though he has a desire to travel, Aschenbach is ―tempered and corrected by the reason and restraint that he [has] exercised from his younger years on.
Additionally, Mann says of Aschenbach, ―discipline [was] most important to him‖. ―He never knew the idleness and carelessness of youth, and it is evident that he has lived his whole life according to Apollonian principles. He has been able to suppress his desires and any inclination towards the Dionysian. But when he sees the man in the cemetery he is inspired to indulge his desire to travel, and takes a vacation to Venice.
While in Venice, Aschenbach encounters a young boy named Tadzio and instead of balancing the Apollonian with the Dionysian, he falls completely and immorally into the Dionysian. Having suppressed his emotions and desires (the Dionysian side of himself), for so long, Aschenbach is unable to restrain himself once he lets go of his rigid Apollonian principles. Aschenbach sees in Tadzio, the epitome of beauty and youth, and idolizes the young boy: ―The boy was absolutely beautiful. His face, pale and of a graceful reserve, surrounded by honey-coloured curls, with its straight nose, lovely lips, earnest expression, sweet and godly, all recalled Greek statues of the noblest era…
Tadzio becomes the vehicle for Aschenbach‘s Dionysian desires to become free, but as this occurs, Aschenbach lets go of his Apollonian side completely. He no longer has any self-control or discipline and because of this he deteriorates into immorality. Aschenbach stalks Tadzio, following him around Venice, and even when he hear that there is a cholera outbreak in the city, he risks his own life and the lives of Tadzio and his family, by keeping the information a secret. He considers telling the family, the reasonable action to take, but he can‘t: ―But he immediately felt he did not really want to take that step. It would lead him back, give his soul back to himself; but when one is frantic, the last thing one desires is to be oneself again.
Instead of combining the qualities of the two Gods, as Nietzsche suggested was necessary in a person, Aschenbach jumps from one extreme to the other. He begins firmly rooted in the world of the Apollonian. Suppressing his desires and sensual nature, even in his art, when he finally gives in to the Dionysian side of emotion and irrationality, he is unable to control himself at all. He turns a young boy into an idealized image of beauty and perfection. In doing so, Aschenbach becomes so obsessed with the boy and his desires and emotions overtake him. His inability to combine the Apollonian and the Dionysian causes his moral deterioration, and eventually death at the hands of the cholera epidemic. Passion can be confusing and degrading, but in Death in Venice we see what happens when a person tries to eliminate passion from his life. It is a human example of the law of physics that states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Aschenbach ís life up to his meeting with Tadzio has been extremely Apollonian; therefore his swing to the Dionysian will be equally extreme.