The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The ultimate unrequited love story
When published in 1774, The Sorrows of Young Werther caused a literary sensation throughout Europe. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote the book, his first novel, at the age of 24, and it immediately catapulted him to stardom. This novel epitomizes the sturm und drang period in German literature that presaged Romanticism, the dominant literary movement of the 19th century. Though Goethe would later distance himself from Romanticism, in many ways this book was the flagship publication that launched the movement, much in the same way that Stephen Crane’s Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (1893) was the flagship publication of American literary naturalism. In hindsight, The Sorrows of Young Werther may not be one of the greatest books in Western literature, but it is likely one of the more important books for the profound influence it had on subsequent authors who either tried to emulate or repudiate it.

The book is an epistolary novel, meaning it is written in the form of letters, mostly from the young protagonist Werther to his friend Wilhelm. Werther has recently left his hometown and taken up residence near the village of Wahlheim. While attending a ball he meets Charlotte, a young woman who cares for her younger siblings since her mother has passed away. Werther falls in love with Charlotte, even though he knows she is betrothed to another man named Albert. Werther makes frequent visits to Charlotte’s home, becoming almost an honorary member of the family. He even develops a friendship with Albert. Charlotte is grateful for his platonic companionship, but when he makes open protestations of love towards her she becomes uncomfortable and asks him to visit less frequently. The situation becomes intolerable to Werther as he is gradually consumed by emotional agony over his unrequited love.

Later in the book some of Werther’s letters are addressed directly to Charlotte, and towards the end Goethe does depart from the epistolary format in favor of third-person narrative. With most of the prose penned in Werther’s own words, however, the novel amounts to an in-depth examination of this one character’s psychology, and a very perceptive and compelling one at that. Werther is a deep thinker who often expresses very profound thoughts on life, love, and nature. This makes the book a very thought-provoking read, but as Werther becomes more and more unhinged the story becomes more uncomfortable than insightful. In what should have been the book’s climactic moment, Goethe inserts an extended reading from the epic poems of Ossian. Proto-Romantics of Goethe’s era would have gladly eaten that up, but readers of today are likely to find it a disappointing narrative choice. The ending is inevitable but nonetheless moving.

As a protagonist, Werther definitely has some off-putting qualities that may not have even been intentional on Goethe’s part. A man who sacrifices himself for love certainly qualifies as a literary hero, at least from a Romantic perspective, but the behavior Werther exhibits in getting there is less than admirable. Readers of today are likely to see the novel as a penetrating study of mental illness, whereas readers of Goethe’s era, the emo hipsters of their day, may have viewed Werther’s sensitivity, petulance, and emotional histrionics as commendable expressions of a poetic soul and a steadfast heart. Even Goethe himself, who based the novel on one of his own youthful loves, had mixed emotions about the book as he got older. Though readers of the 21st century are unlikely to wholeheartedly sympathize with Werther’s plight the way those of the 18th did, there is still great literary value to this novel, and it delivers a more satisfying read than much of the later Romantic literature it inspired.
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