Loneliness nourishes both the genius and the stranger. This frees conventions, allowing for deep thought and reflection, which inevitably leads to great discoveries. However, there is a delicate balance that must be carefully respected. For without constraints (as defined by society), there are no rules (or laws) to structure and contain the wild nature of the human spirit. Chaos ensues; madness seeps in and the soul is swallowed up. Raw, uncontained passion is dangerous, insatiable and destructive. Time must not allow this to fester on its own and turn into uncontrollable impulses; it must be shaped and molded to produce mastery, because otherwise one is consumed by pure emotion and succumbs to the abyss. Artists (consciously or unconsciously) recognize the abyss and carefully curb passion and bend it to their will in order to produce. Art is a representation of human nature. He attempts to capture the very essence of humanity behind ink, paper, paint or plaster. But it’s a risk; the art immerses the observer into the mind of the producer, exposing all of the creator's flaws and all of his ungodly impulses. Sometimes these impulses are so heinous and distorted that they force the producer to withdraw from society and immerse himself entirely in his work, because art is the only way he knows how to contain his villains. In turn, the company enters into a tacit agreement with the creator; they look at what the piece says about them, rather than what it reflects about the creator himself. So, they turn a blind eye (again, consciously or unconsciously) and no one directly claims that the creator is an abomination and the artist is free from their own morality. In Thomas Mann's short story Death In Venice, Mann tackles the concept of discipline and passion...... middle of paper ......eir deepest, most personal thoughts in the room. Ironically, by creating something so personal, the work often has a universal effect due to its common humanity. Any masterpiece of art such as Death in Venice is timeless. As human interest evolves, the play will remain valid as long as human compassion and human weakness exist. The connections to the play will survive. Works Cited Mann, Thomas and Clayton Koelb. Death in Venice: a new translation, backgrounds and contexts, review. New York: WW Norton, 1994. Print. Mann, Thomas. Letter to Hedwig Fischer. October 14, 1912. MS. Germany, Bad Tölz, Bavaria.Mann, Thomas. Letter to Ernst Bertram. October 16, 1911. MS. Germany, Bavaria, Munich.Cavafy, Constantine, Edmund Keeley, Philip Sherrard and Geo%u0304rgios P. Savvide%u0304s. CP Cavafy, Collected Poems. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton UP, 1975. Print.