摘要

In Thomas Mann’s early novella, Death in Venice, male protagonist Gustav Aschenbach resolves to be a great master of knowledge like Plato. Sticking to Platonism, he makes strict demands on himself. However, everything changes since his journey.This thesis attempts to analyze why Aschenbach faces the struggle between reason and passion by using Plato’s ideas. Being a follower of pseudo-Platonism, he is doomed to experience disharmony between sense and sensibility, even death.