Baedeker combines the myth with reality–stressing the good view from the top of the mountain–signalling to the reader the need to rise above the pettiness in which most of the novel's characters are entrammeled in order to see clearly. Venusberg is thus an anti-Tannhäuser: an anticlimactic, anti-Wagnerian, anti-romantic tone pervades a story in which everyone is somehow let down.
Baedeker's strategy of combining myth and reality serves as a commentary on the importance of perspective, urging readers to look beyond the trivialities that often characterize human relationships. In contrast, Venusberg's narrative tone is deliberately subdued, rejecting the romanticism and drama typically associated with Tannhäuser.