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Death in Venice by Thomas Mann and Greek myths
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Recommended: Death in Venice by Thomas Mann and Greek myths
Thomas Mann´s ¨Death in Venice¨ presents a provocative love story between an older man and a young boy. It captures the life of an elderly German writer named Gustave von Aschenbach who, while on vacation, in Venice falls passionately in love with a young Polish boy named Tadzio. However, Aschenbach´s love is unreciprocated and no real relationship is born. Although the romantic involvement between the characters is one sided, the novel has stilled managed to generate diverse and often controversial interpretations. Many critics, such as Anthony Heilbut have interpreted the novel as one of the first literary works openly dealing with homosexuality (Heilbut 251). Other critics, such as Andre Brink argue that Tadzio is not representing a masculine character. On the contrary, they argue that Tadzio represents a ¨feline and feminine¨ figure (Brink 175).
However, the reader can examine the novel independently of these two viewpoints. Even though their views lie on opposite sides of the spectrum, both Heilbut and Brink describe ¨Death in Venice¨ as portraying an abnormal and destructive relationship. Heilbut argues that Aschenbach´s relationship with Tadzio is pedantic and spiteful (Heilbut 249). That it portrays Aschenbach as ¨obscene, frivolous and banal¨ (Helibut 257). Brink argues that Aschenbach´s and Tadzio´s relationship is ¨menacing, dangerous, destructive¨ because Tadzio´s feminine disposition serves as a form of revenge on Aschenbach’s masculine world (Brink 176). However, these viewpoints failed to view ¨Death in Venice¨ in a more neutral light because they focus too much on outside perspectives such as homosexuality or the struggle between a female and male force, rather than on the relationship itself. On the contrary, ¨D...
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Sensuality was a favorite theme of William Shakespeare. Unfortunately, Romeo And Juliet is absolutely witless in terms of Shakespeare's usual conservative politics. In this paper, I will show that Romeo And Juliet is the most brilliant example of reactionary writing ever created. This claim is buttressed by three points: (1) the Surrealist theme of loss of innocence in Romeo And Juliet, (2) Shakespeare's adversarial relationship to the Symbolist school while writing the book, and (3) the author's brave employment of sensuality depite the influence of the Modernist school.
Literary generations accomplish to one another. There is a trend for the realism of one she to look like romance to the readers and writers. One of the problems the plagues critics and writers of romantic fiction is it's main popularity as a genre. An analysis of the life of the affections is a Romantic fictions absolute th...
Scene 1. At her wedding Hero, is publicly accused of being a cheater by he fiancé Claudio. After being denounced by Claudio Hero faints, while she is on the ground her father Leonato says: “Do not live, Hero, do not ope thine eyes, For, did I think thou wouldst not quickly die, Thought I thy spirits were stronger than thy shames, Myself would, on the rearward of reproaches, Strike at thy life”(4.1.131-135). Leonato is hoping that his daughter Hero is dead, and if she is not, he will risk the punishment and kill her himself. Although he has no evidenced of Hero’s crimes, and Hero tells him she is innocent Leonato choses to believe Claudio over Hero. He is so angry at what his daughter has allegedly done he is prepared to kill her. It is seen here that in this time period men are much more trusted then women. This scene also shows how serious it was for a woman to have premarital sex. Leonato had no trouble believing his daughter was unfaithful with no evidence, and was ready to kill her because she had sex out of wedlock and dishonored his
Although many arguments could take place over the blame of Othello’s fate, the one murderer no one doubts is jealousy. Although Othello’s insecurities and “blindness” along with one of the most duplicitous villains in all of literature definitely catalyze the deaths at the conclusion of the play, in the end Othello must suffer the consequences manipulated or not. Despite the number of uninteresting characters in the play, Othello, the Moor of Venice contains one of the most intricate characters in any of Shakespeare’s plays, and will be discussed and intensely argued forever.
Love, passion, lust, jealousy, and infidelity—these words ring as sources of many thematic works that have spanned across the ages. The intriguing aspects of passion and the personal connections between people have always endeared many viewers and readers to a story. This is why soap operas, passionate crime series, and romantic stories are created, to allow respective audiences into a tumultuous world of crimes of passion and smoldering embraces. William Shakespeare’s Othello delves into the type of drama that is still read today, even if the play itself goes back to hundreds of years ago. Othello is jealousy and passion incarnate; Desdemona is the frantic damsel whose innocent love is shattered; Roderigo is the lusty fool in a lover’s triangle; Cassio is the unsuspecting victim to a more sinister plot; and Iago is the catalyst of all these sparked emotions. When melded together, the characters’ interactions create such a story that would entertain the past and modern audiences.
There are two reasons why this paper dismisses the notion of homosexuality between Antonio and Bassanio in The Merchant of Venice. First throughout the play there is no evidence that Antonio and Bassanio have had a physical intimate relationship. The reason why Bassanio wants to go to Belmont “for a lady richly left” is to have this physical intimate relationship with Portia, thus dismissing the notion that Bassanio has homoerotic feelings for Antonio. And secondly the word love can multiplicity of meaning which if not understood properly can lead one to see Bassanio and Antonio’s friendship as homoerotic. For the purpose of this discussion, we will define the word love in terms of two Greek words, both of which means love, but in two different senses. The two that are relevant to this paper are phileo and eros. Love –phileo “means to have affection (sentiment, or feeling) for. A fondness based in the heart. What the Greeks meant by Phileo love is what we normally think when say "brotherly love" (E...
Arnett (2000) explains the nature of romantic relationships in adolescence as tentative and transient where dating has more of a social component rather than romantic. He also describes dating in adolescence as often taking place in groups, where “adolescents share recreation such as parties, dances, and hanging out” (p. 473). It is evident that romantic relationships in adolescence are unstable, short-lived, and lack the mature component seen across adult romantic relationships. Arnett conveys that exploration in love becomes more serious and intimate during emerging adulthood. As opposed to adolescent romantic relationships, dating in emerging adulthood “is more likely to take place in couples, and the focus is less on recreation and more on exploring the potential for emotional and physical intimacy” (473). For instance, an adolescent in high school may seek a romantic partner to gain some sort of social status or experience in the process of romantic exploration whereas a senior in college may seek a long-term and mature partner to build a life with in adulthood. Exploration in the area of love during emerging adulthood “tends to involve a deeper level of intimacy, and the implicit question
Mann, Thomas, "Death in Venice" and Other Stories, trans. H. T. Lowe-Porter, (New York: Vintage).
Tragedy, despair, jealousy, deception, manipulation, and hatred are just a few terms to describe Shakespeare’s thriller of a play, “Othello”. From start to finish, the readers are on the edge of their seats due to the impeccable storytelling of Shakespeare. In his play, there are two characters (Othello and Iago) who have a complex relationship with each other and their surrounding people. Iago manipulates Othello in making him believe anything he tells him therefore allowing Iago to close in on his objective. While Othello starts to have a lack of confidence, he slowly starts to trust Iago which ultimately leads to his downfall. In this play, readers are shown a pesky Iago doing whatever he can to undermine Othello’s authority and he goes through a good amount of work to achieve this goal.
William Shakespeare’s play, “Othello, the Moor of Venice” depicts many themes including marriage, jealousy, and deception. Throughout the play different characters deceive one another while also deceiving themselves. This domestic tragedy shows how deceiving others can go too far in the end with the murdering of Desdemona and the death of Othello and how jealously can fuel the actions of a man’s heart. Othello grants the lieutenant’s position to young Cassio instead of Iago and because of that he devises a plan to hurt Othello and cause mischief between him and the other characters including his wife Desdemona. Overall, every character within the play is affected by Iago’s deceptive plan in one way or another.
Marzola (1997) takes a look at the drama, “Merchant of Venice” from multiple perspectives. His main focus is on the issue of identity crisis of Shylock and racial prejudice of the other characters towards him. Another point focused in his discussion is the role of Bassanio, who intends to marry Portia just to gain control on both her body and wealth but his character is still treated in a positive manner. Moreover, he tries to prove that the drama exposes the bitter and inhumane attitude of Shylock juxtaposed against the affectionate and behavior of the other characters in the
Studying Mann's personal experiences reveal from where he derives his attitude toward death. Certainly, he is not unfamiliar to its lurid face; at an early age, both of his sisters committed suicide. When he was only seventeen, his father passed away due to blood poisoning. The raw material of Death in Venice came from his vacation in the Lido, a beach in Venice. Oddly enough, this trip was taken in May of 1911, the same month ( and possibly year) when Aschenbach's story begins.