What are the motifs in Death in Venice by Thomas Mann?

Death is a recurring idea. In Death in Venice, Mann shows how the pursuit of erotic beauty, at the expense of reason and restraint, can lead to degradation and death. Before his trip to Venice, von Aschenbach clearly embodies reason and the pursuit of an austere artistic beauty in his writing. Once in Venice, however, he encounters Tadzio who, for the writer, clearly embodies erotic beauty and sexual possibility, something the writer has denied himself throughout his life. Von Aschenbach's obsession with the boy causes him to rationalize or ignore behaviors that previously would have been repugnant to him. He begins wearing jewelry, dyes his hair, and dons flamboyant clothes in an effort to attract Tadzio's attention.