The Conception of Freedom
Written when the author stayed in Frankfurt, “The Sufferings of Young Werther” (1774) is one of Goethe’s well-known works. The epistolary novel analyzes the tragic love of Werther to the pretty but unattainable Lotte. Goethe’s literary works were great and eclectic, involving collections of poetry, novels, plays and research works. It is a tragic tale, wonderfully written, about a young man who turns besotted with another man’s woman – Lotte, and cannot disguise his feelings. Goethe’s first literary hero “Werther” surpasses “Hamlet” and commits suicide as a consequence not just of his sufferings but also of his goodness and of his own conception of freedom. He becomes free of his sufferings and sacrifices himself for Lotte.
The story describes Werther, a middle-class artist, who falls in love with Lotte, who is Albert’s fiancée. Although Lotte cares for Werther in return, she stays faithful to her fiancée. As he cannot be with his beloved Lotte, Werther decides to commit suicide. This book was extremely different from the previous books of the German Enlightenment. The Sturm und Drang group wanted to publish more middle-class writings and this novel is an instance of that. Werther is a very emotional man who longs to be free from the society’s prejudices. Some readers may say that Werther is a whiner, but it is not quite correct to think so. All of Werther’s emotions are intense. He takes great delight and is carried away by the countryside where he is still free and does not know what will happen to him in some time, and falls into deep depression when his love stays unsatisfied and he looses himself and sinks in this forbidden love.
“The Sufferings of young Werther” is a psychological and a very tragic story of a young man who falls in love desperately with a married woman. Werther turns out to be very clever and smart but he has not the power over his feelings and he suffers greatly because of his borbidden love. He is not a hopeless, pathetic whiner. But Werther is quite similar to all human beings. He suffers because he experiences very human emotions.
Goethe also created Werther as a semi-autobiographical character. Goethe had also fallen in love with a married woman who could not love him in return. Some time after she left him, Goethe learnt of an acquaintance that had committed suicide due to a situation of that kind. Goethe creates just before the Romantic Movement in Germany. One Romantic ideal was that the artist or man on the whole, by force of his position as a human being, can never become perfect and must always come off badly. Writers of the Romanticism epoch were obsessed with death, and particularly with sick people, because death, presumably, finally gives freedom and unites man with the Infinite. Werther loved Lotte very much because he saw something within her. One can call it the Ideal, the Devine or the Infinite. As Werther could not feel the Infinite through Lotte, he decided to become free and to reach the Infinite through death. Goethe, perhaps, wrote this novel to put his life into perspective. He could take very easily Werther’s path, but he, probably, decided that his life was still worth keeping. Werther’s death and funeral is not a magnificent spectacle. The last words in Werther are: “No clergymen escorted him”.
The last week of Werther’s life was spent reflecting on love. Lotte was his fixed idea. He was also determined about death. As the week passed on, he became silent and even more intended to die. It was Sunday, December 20th, when he wrote his first letter about his death: „…granted the good fortune to die for you, to sacrifice myself for you”. This finishes Werther’s previous identifications of himself with Christ - the crown of thorns, the blank despair on the cross and now the thought that his death is a sacrifice and a road to freedom. That evening, he came to Lotte for a short time. While talking, she asks him: “Oh, why did you have to be born with this vehemence, this unconquerable, clinging passion for everything you touch?”. He is very much in love with Lotte who is not available for him as she is married to Albert. He can do nothing with his forbidden love and he suffers greatly. The end of the novel provides a shocking contrast to the innocent idea of a reunion in the afterlife at the beginning. Werther shoots himself in the head near the eye, but instead of a quick and clean death, he ends up agonizing another twelve hours lying in his own blood. Although children surround the death couch kissing his hands, neither Albert nor Lotte come to the funeral: „Workmen carried the body. There was no priest in attendance”.
“The Suffering of Young Werther” is a sad story of young Werther’s love for Lotte, told in letters to his friend Wilhelm. Lotte is promised to marry another man and Goethe retells the story of their turbulent relationship. A classic sample of romantic literature, Werther displays violent emotions, often demonstrating passion and rage as if he were bipolar. Werther often displays reality, or nature, as a continuation of the way he feels towards Lotte. This novel is a splendid example of romanticism. It is not recommended to read it for those who think logically or those who do not like dark imagery. Nevertheless, if you are inspired by intensity, think passionately about an ideal or not agree with bans of mathematical reasoning, read Goethe’s “The Sufferings of Young Werther”.