Death in Venice: Style 1 key example

Aschenbach's tendency to view the world around him through the lens of classical myth is evident in a scene in which he perceives Tadzio as Hyacinth, a Spartan prince in Greek mythology who dies in a discus-throwing contest with his lover, the god Apollo: 

Often, when the sun went down behind Venice, he sat on a bench in the park to watch Tadzio, who, dressed in white with a sash of some bright color, was enjoying himself playing ball on the rolled gravel court; and it was Hyacinth whom he thought he saw, Hyacinth, who was fated to die because two gods loved him. Yes, he felt Zephyr’s painful jealousy of his rival, who forgot his oracle, his bow and his cithara so that he could constantly sport with the beautiful boy; he saw the discus, directed by cruel jealousy, striking the lovely head [...] 

Cite this Quote

When he watches Tadzio "playing ball on the rolled gravel court," he imagines him instead as Hyacinth, "who was fated to die because two gods loved him." In one account of the Greek myth, Zephyr (also spelled "Zephyrus,") god of the West wind, is responsible for Hyacinth's death, blowing the discus violently towards Hyacinth out of jealousy of his relationship with Apollo, an image echoed by Aschenbach's sudden vision of "the discus, directed by cruel jealousy, striking the lovely head" of Hyacinth and, by extension, Tadzio. This tendency of Aschenbach to perceive the world through the lens of classical art and myth reflects his characteristic inability to engage with the real world directly.