Category: The Sorrows of Young Werther

‘The Sorrows of Young Werther’ is a novel from the German Sturm und Drang and one of the most popular novels in the world history. It’s an epistolary novel composed out of letters divided into two parts. The letters are from Werther to his friend Wilhelm in whom he seeks support. Mostly the book contains Werther’s letters so we get the impression like we’re reading a diary and Wilhelm’s answers can be anticipated out of Werther’s letters. Wilhelm tries to reason with him all the time but Werther is carried away by his emotions and mood changes.

All the letters are for Wilhelm except 2; one is dedicated to Lotta and the other one to Albert and they were written on May 4th, 1771 and December 2nd, 1772. The novel is a first person narrative and the publisher addition is in the third person (the editor didn’t think Werther deserved attention because he wasn’t an ordinary man)

The novel is about the faith of a person not fitting in with the society, estranged, unaccepted and unhappily in love who sees the only exit in the classic Romantic getaway. The novel has a parallel composition and it is divided into two parts:

1. Departure, encounter with Lotta, love, emotional rupture, runaway caused by the strong emotions
2. Arrival, another encounter with Lotta, love that’s unable to control, emotional sobriety, guns, and departure caused by feelings of emotional suffocation

In the beginning, the publisher speaks to the readers by saying how he gathered everything about the history of poor Werther and that he knows the readers will be thankful to him.

The young Werther still isn’t sure what he wants to do in life. He comes to the city W. under the excuse he has some unfinished business concerning his mother’s inheritance.

He came to a city of extraordinary beauty which influences the development of his artistic skills. By nature, he is kind and simple so he wins over the hearts of the citizens.

One day Werther is invited to a ball where he meets Lotta. She is the daughter of the seigniory’s estate administrator and takes care of her eight siblings after her mother’s passing away. Werther lays eyes on her immediately because of her inner beauty.

Despite the fact that he knows she is engaged to Albert, Werther fell in love with her. During the ball, a storm starts raging on and the two of them spend a night looking at the sky but thinking about each other. They are linked even more by a poem by Friedrich Gottlieb. From that night, Lotta and Werther spend a lot of time together.

When Albert came back from his trip the three of them spend many days enjoying each other’s company and the natural beauties of the town. Werther starts doubting Lotta’s love and realizes he will never be with her.

Albert is a pleasant and a nice man that has the patience to put up with Werther’s show of sympathies towards Lotta. Werther becomes more in love with her and friendship isn’t good enough for him anymore. He starts thinking he got ill because of Lotta’s love.

As a birthday gift, Werther received an edition of Homer decorated with a red ribbon from Lotta’s dress that she wore the night they met. His love for Lotta gets stronger by each day. He didn’t want to influence the harmony of the engaged couple so he left and became a secretary in another city.

He was there for a while but since his superior was extremely petty it destroyed the little will he had for a work that was never even appealing to him. He felt like he didn’t belong anywhere because he couldn’t identify himself with the nobility or the high society. Nobody had any consideration for his artistic soul.

He was stuck in a high society that treated him like a commoner and he got hurt by their behavior. They showed clearly that he was unwanted and he resigns his joy. He starts working again but can’t handle the job so he quits.

His failed attempt to work made his love for Lotta, who got married to Albert in the meantime, even stronger. He felt unfulfilled with his work and couldn’t handle the emotions he had for Lotta.

He came back to the city W. and his condition becomes unbearable. Werther becomes miserable and frustrated. he was unable to hide the repulsion he felt towards Albert and his thoughts about Lotta not being happy with Albert.

Albert sensed his love and asked Lotta to spend less time with him. Even she started noticing that his feelings weren’t ordinary. She asked Werther not to visit her for a few days while she prepares for Christmas. Werther gets into many conflicts with the people around him and Lotta wants to get out of that situation but doesn’t know how. He thinks about suicide and decides to get prepared for it.

Despite his intentions to take his life away he visits Lotta before Christmas. He read to her and the emotions got the best of him. He kissed and hugged Lotta. Both of them got carried away but Lotta got her act together and told Werther he shouldn’t show his face in front of her ever again. Her words strengthen his intention to kill himself.

Werther sends Albert a letter asking him to borrow his guns because he is taking a trip. Lotta had a hunch of his intentions but didn’t react. She was the last one to touch the gun that was sent to Werther. The same night Werther took away his life after writing a letter. He was found the next morning in a blue-yellow suit that reminded him of the day he met Lota. Next to him was the opened book Emilio Galotti’s. His death caused grieve and he was buried in the place he wanted to be – between two lindens in the end of the cemetery. Lotta’s family was present at the funeral but there was no priest.

Werther – the main character. In the time, this book came to life he symbolized the dissatisfaction towards the society and institutions. He lived in pain, sufferings and dissatisfied with his life. Werther found comfort in nature that was his getaway. His character represented citizens and ordinary people who got along well with him. Aristocracy was something he could never adapt to. Lotta was the synonym of happiness, bright future and everything he could only dream of before he met her. He neglected the fact she was engaged so we can conclude that he lived with his head in the clouds. Love for Lotta took over him so much he couldn’t think straight or work. When he starts thinking about suicide, Albert counteracted his opinions which made his decision to kill himself even stronger. When Lotta gets married he sees it as the only salvation from the emotions that got the best of him. Despite his religiosity, he took his own life and tried to justify himself before God. The author used Werther to criticize the society.

Lotta – she loved people, children, literature and she was very much like Werther. She lost her mother when she was young and lived a hard life but despite it, all small things made her happy and cheerful. She was very sensitive but, unlike Werther, she manages to adjust her emotions to the situations. AS soon as she met Werther, she fell in love with him. Werther saw an angel in her because of her beautiful virtues. Even though she was in love, she was well aware of the responsibilities she had regarding her family and Albert. She lived by the rules and society regulations when she realizes Werther love was growing she tried to push him away to diminish his sufferings. When he declared his love she told him never to come to her again because she didn’t want to put her social position in danger. She condemned him to death and herself to pain and suffering.

Albert – the complete opposite of Werther. He was smart and well educated. Albert was a completely reliable person that could ensure someone’s safety. Even though the author created him to create Werther’s opposition he wasn’t described as a negative character. Even though Werther saw a rival in him, he wasn’t that at all because he met Lotta long before Werther did and had all right to court her. His feelings for Lotta were never stated but his actions showed he will love and respect her forever. Werther was a good friend of his despite him knowing how Werther felt for Lotta.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer and statesman. Born in Frankfurt in 1749, Goethe’s body of work is extensive, including, aside from his poetry and four novels, over 10.000 letters and nearly 3.000 drawings.

Goethe was an avid botanist, anatomist and was once a law student. He was made a nobleman in 1782 after the success of his first novel. During his lifetime, Goethe sat on the Duke’s privy council and was responsible for the reopening of silver mines in Ilmenau and several administrative reforms in the nearby University of Jena.

Goethe was one of the goliaths of writing in German culture. All through a long and full life he exhibited his productive virtuoso in a wide range of zones. Goethe formed abstract works and built up a creative rule that impacted his counterparts all through Europe, and which are still looked to as models. The position he holds in the improvement of German writing resembles what Shakespeare has in most English-speaking nations.

In 1806, Goethe married Christiane Vulpius, who had been his mistress for a year and with whom he already had a son.

Some of Goethe’s most important works include, ‘Gotz von Berlichingen’, a tragedy based on the historical account of the poet Gottfried, ‘The Sorrows of Young Werther’, an autobiographical novel and ‘Faust’ a play about a scholar who makes a deal with the devil in order to sample immortality and life’s greatest pleasures.

By the time he died of heart failure in 1832, Goethe was a very respected, influential writer in German literature. His novels and plays made a great impact on German writers of his time and continue to make an impact even today.

The Sorrows of Young Werther is mostly made up of a series of letters that Werther, the title character, sends to his friend Wilhelm. In these letters, Werther shares his artistic endeavors and his philosophies on life. For example, Werther believes that feeling deep emotions is the best way to experience life. He also believes in being artsy and creating rather than being bogged down by an industrial job that he doesn’t want. In fact, Werther moves to a small town in the countryside (Wahlheim) in order to get away from modern city values and go back to what he believes is the simpler life in the country, where he makes friends with some of the locals.

One of the friends that Werther makes is a woman named Lotte. He falls in love with her because she is caring and responsible; she takes care of her family and her sick mother, and Werther recognizes that she is faithful and devoted. Unfortunately for him, Lotte is already engaged to be married. Werther becomes more and more infatuated with Lotte anyway; he thinks that they are meant to be together and have much more in common than she does with her husband-to-be, Albert. However, since Lotte is, in fact, faithful and devoted, she refuses to leave Albert and Werther is so overcome with sadness and frustration that he leaves town for a job in the royal court at Weimar.

However, things get worse for Werther at Weimar. He does not enjoy his job, and though he makes friends with two aristocrats named Count C and Fraulein von B, the fraulein snubs him at a party and embarrasses him, which is the last straw for Werther at Weimar. He moves on to spend a bit of time with a friend before going back to Wahlheim in order to see if he can get Lotte to return his love one more time.

In Wahlheim, he finds that one of his friends is dead and that Lotte and Albert are still together. Werther’s insistence on trying to be more than friends with Lotte ruins his relationship with Albert and eventually, Lotte tells Werther that he must stop coming around her after he tries to kiss her instead of remaining platonic friends.

Since Albert has won Lotte’s heart, Werther decides that he would rather die than remain miserable. Werther sends a letter to Lotte asking for Albert’s pistols, saying that he’s going on a journey and will need them. Lotte sadly sends them over, not knowing what Werther plans to do, and Werther uses the pistols to commit suicide. In the end, he dies after being in a coma for twelve hours, watched by Lotte and Albert, and he is buried without a church service underneath a tree.

Werther is a young, educated, middle-class gentleman setting out to earn a living and make his mark on the world. His family expects him to get a job, and his friend, Wilhelm, networks with his contacts to find opportunities in government service. Werther nurtures a desire to be an artist, a pastime that doesn’t pay the bills but suits his keen powers of observation and imagination. Werther leaves home in the spring of 1771 and writes letters to Wilhelm over a twenty-month period as he travels.

As Werther intersects with the world, he paints a picture of the monotony of daily existence relieved by the lofty beauty of the natural world. In nature’s vistas, he finds relief from his own introspective, melancholy thoughts. At an estate his family manages, Werther befriends the local townspeople and feels especially drawn to children. The people there lead simple lives, however, and he misses the intellectual stimulation he enjoys from the educated classes.

After Werther relocates to Walheim, he meets Charlotte, the beautiful daughter of a local district judge. Charlotte’s mother has recently died, leaving behind nine children. On her deathbed, the mother entrusted the children to Charlotte’s care and gave her blessing to Charlotte’s engagement to Albert, a successful businessman. Albert is traveling on business when Werther and Charlotte dance the night away at a ball. Werther finds a kindred spirit in Charlotte and falls madly in love with her. He visits daily and develops a close relationship with Charlotte’s siblings, who enjoy his roughhousing and storytelling. Charlotte doesn’t reconsider her commitment to marrying Albert, and Werther respects the boundaries of their friendship. However, due to Werther’s frustrated longing for a closer relationship and a recognition that he has no future with her, his infatuation with Charlotte slowly becomes an obsession. When Werther begins having suicidal thoughts, he realizes he must break from the vicious cycle.

In the fall, Werther relocates from the country to the court when he takes a position as an attaché to an ambassador. Werther invests himself in his work, but he finds himself at odds with court culture. The emphasis on class rank among the people who surround the count disgusts Werther, who judges the worth of people, whether peasant or noble, based on their accomplishments. Soon, Werther’s promising start in government service begins to unravel. His dismissive criticism of petty social climbing blows back on him. When Werther fails to observe strict class protocols at the count’s home, the resulting ostracism among his friends and associates causes him to resign his commission. A nobleman sponsors Werther with a stipend to stay awhile with him while he considers his future. He counsels Werther against joining the army, and Werther abandons that career path and passes his time improving his drawing skills.

Werther’s melancholic thoughts turn once again to Charlotte, whom he still loves despite the news he received in February of 1772 that Charlotte and Albert married. He returns to Walheim hoping to recapture some of the optimism and energy he felt there. Instead, life’s difficulties press in on him. A child whom he once drew and cared about has died. The beautiful old walnut trees in the square have been cut down. Werther often visits Charlotte, but their platonic relationship drives him increasingly into a suicidal depression.

Werther’s behavior becomes increasingly unstable. When he mounts a manic defense of a confessed murderer, Albert wants no more to do with him. Albert’s request that Charlotte terminate all contact with Werther forces her to confront her complex feelings for Werther. On December 20, she tells Werther that he may only visit when invited, trying to set boundaries that would allow the friendship she values so much to continue while still showing solidarity with Albert. She invites Werther to join their family’s Christmas Eve celebration, and she assumes he will abide by her wishes. Charlotte tells Albert she has the situation under control, and he leaves on an overnight business trip the next morning.

Werther, however, has already planned to take his life, and he disregards Charlotte’s instructions, arriving unannounced the next evening during Albert’s absence. Charlotte hastily tries to summon friends to join them, but in the meantime, she suggests that he read to her from his translation of Ossian, an epic poem that describes a hero’s death. Charlotte understands that Werther intends to end his life. The tragic events depicted in the poetry create an emotionally charged picture of their doomed love affair, and they exchange a passionate kiss for the first time. Overcome with grief for Werther and horror at her betrayal of Albert, Charlotte locks herself in an adjoining room until Werther leaves.

Werther’s joy at realizing Charlotte does love him only confirms his plan to end his life rather than live without her. He embraces death as a sacrifice for their marriage. Werther calmly wraps up his affairs and writes letters to Wilhelm and Charlotte, and the next day he shoots himself with a pistol he borrowed from Albert. He survives the head wound for twelve hours before succumbing to the brain injury from the bullet entering his skull. Local field hands inter his body in a grave that Werther had specified, unattended by any mourners or clergy.