The Sorrows of Young Werther Themes

The idea that the mind and body are distinct entities is one that originated in seventeenth century philosophy and has informed cultural attitudes ever since. Goethe accepts this divide in The Sorrows of Young Werther; he depicts emotion and intellect as conflicting and irreconcilable forces, with the heart incessantly needing love and attention, and the mind trying to moderate these needs to little avail. Rather than coming down in favor of the rational influence…

The Sorrows of Young Werther contains characters of nearly all ages, but its primary concerns rest with Werther, Lotte, and Albert, three youths at the threshold of adulthood. As Goethe depicts it, young adulthood is a dangerous time: the authorities of youth (parents, teachers, elders) become less powerful, while the young adult’s own perceptions begin to seem like the only reliable, true guide in the world. Werther is a classic example of…

Although the story unfolds mostly as a series of letters from one man to another, women play a central role in The Sorrows of Young Werther. Goethe sometimes portrays them stereotypically as mothers, domestic servants, and wives or widows. At other times, though, he sketches women as intellectual equals, beings of tremendous resolve, and people of great emotional depth. But the work Goethe puts into creating varied and well-rounded female characters is lost on…

Goethe wrote The Sorrows of Young Werther at the end of the Enlightenment, a time that saw the role of religion drastically diminished in favor of reason and science. But despite the waning power of religion in Europe, Goethe’s Germany remained largely Christian, with an audience who was generally against suicide on moral grounds. Still, suicide is a theme that circulates repeatedly in The Sorrows of Young Werther, and it’s Werther’s infamous suicide that…