The Sorrows of Young Werther

Werther has just encountered the farmer lad, and he relays the story of the boy’s infatuation with his employer (the widow) to Wilhelm. The story of the widow and the farmer lad returns twice more in the book, and each time it is a barometer of Werther’s relationship to Lotte. In this instance, it foreshadows Werther’s meeting of a woman he will love but can’t have, just as the farmer lad loves the widow to no avail. What’s most notable about this quotation is that Werther is openly admitting that his imagined image of the widow might not align with reality, but he will avoid learning the reality of the widow because he prefers his beautiful illusion. This means that Werther values his own imagination of a woman more than he values her real being, and it introduces Werther’s profound lack of respect for or curiosity about women, which will continue throughout the book. This passage also casts serious doubt on Werther’s subsequent narration about Lotte. Until the end of the book, the reader has no insight into Lotte’s own thoughts or feelings, since all information about her is filtered through Werther. Knowing that Werther considers his own idealizations of women to be more important than their reality, the reader is left to question whether his observations about Lotte are rooted in fact or simply in his own desire.

Werther has just encountered the farmer lad, and he relays the story of the boy’s infatuation with his employer (the widow) to Wilhelm. The story of the widow and the farmer lad returns twice more in the book, and each time it is a barometer of Werther’s relationship to Lotte. In this instance, it foreshadows Werther’s meeting of a woman he will love but can’t have, just as the farmer lad loves the widow to no avail. What’s most notable about this quotation is that Werther is openly admitting that his imagined image of the widow might not align with reality, but he will avoid learning the reality of the widow because he prefers his beautiful illusion. This means that Werther values his own imagination of a woman more than he values her real being, and it introduces Werther’s profound lack of respect for or curiosity about women, which will continue throughout the book. This passage also casts serious doubt on Werther’s subsequent narration about Lotte. Until the end of the book, the reader has no insight into Lotte’s own thoughts or feelings, since all information about her is filtered through Werther. Knowing that Werther considers his own idealizations of women to be more important than their reality, the reader is left to question whether his observations about Lotte are rooted in fact or simply in his own desire.