English Literature Both the Stories Term Paper

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When death finally comes it comes as a respite for Aschenbach who is so far pushed by his infatuation with the young boy that he has no control over his conscious or subconscious behavior. He sheds his dignity completely when he decides to recapture his youth with makeup much like the bumbling old fool he had spotted (and secretly laughed at) on the steamship that brought him to the city. The journey from the derisive observer to the silly old hag is painful and uncompromising. The slow collapse, which drags Aschenbach from the one state to the other, is finally completed once death disintegrates him completely.

Like Aschenbach Gabriel Conroy's collapse begins early on in the story. The initial jolt he receives from the caretaker's daughter, Lily, is furthered at every stage of the text. Many of these he seems to bring upon himself. His hesitation over quoting Browning at the speech he was to deliver at dinner was unfounded and completely avoidable, much like the smart-alec like comment he makes at Lily at the beginning of the text. As the narrative unwinds Conroy gives the impression of being a rather nervy old fellow with a calm facade. However this calmness too collapses easily once he discovers his wife's secret feelings for her former lover a certain Michel Furrey who 'died for her'. Conroy is devastated on realizing that this young boy had invaded into his wife's mind at the very moment when he was grappling with a strong, new desire for her himself.

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But his fury soon turns into hopelessness when he realizes that this young boy had given up his life for Gretta. This sacrifice he realizes is something he is incapable of and thus try as he might, in his mind, he would always fall short of the dead young Michel Furrey. This epiphanic moment brings about the complete disintegration of Conroy, who now feels defeated at every point in life.

However there seems to be an odd sense of hope, an odd expectation for 'rebirth' in both Aschenbach and Conroy. For Aschenbach this streak of hope is that one stark movement of the boy Tadzio towards him, standing knee deep in the sea after that fight with his playmates. For Conroy this hope is marked by the final return of his thoughts to his motherland, from which it seems to have deflected. Even at the face of death these splashes of hope brings a rare splendor......

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"English Literature Both The Stories" (2007, December 11) Retrieved July 1, 2025, from
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https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/english-literature-both-stories-33399>

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"English Literature Both The Stories", 11 December 2007, Accessed.1 July. 2025,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/english-literature-both-stories-33399
   

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