"The Sufferings of the Young Werther" is a novel in
letter form in the
tradition of French and English sentimental letter novels such as
Richardson's 'Pamela' and Rousseau's 'Nouvelle Heloise'. Until we reach
the last tragic events, which the protagonist can't report himself
anymore, the whole narrative is told in letters from Werther to his
friend Wilhelm. Werther is a young man who doesn't quite yet know what
he wants to do in life. He comes to town W to sort out an iheritance
for his mother, and probably to also get away from his usual
surroundings. He enjoys roaming around in nature and he draws. One day
he is invited to a ball, and accompanies Lotte, a local magistrate's
daughter. Lotte has been looking after her siblings since her mother's
death. Werther already knows that she is engaged
but he surpresses this knowledge and falls in
love straight away.
During the ball there is a storm which reminds them both of the same
Klopstock poem and so they notice as they watch the drama of nature
through the window that they have a deep connection with each other.
From now on Werther
visits the Magistrate's
daughter almost daily and
spends a lot of time with her. But when Albert, Lotte's fiance, returms
from a business trip Werther's
feelings change. The presence of the
fiance makes him aware of the hopelessness of his love. Although Albert
is a nice, good-natured fellow, the realtionship between him and
Werther remains tense - because of the rivalry over Lotte and also
because the solid Albert has different views to the fancilful Werther.
He
notices that his strong and hopeless feelings for Lotte could be
dangerous for him and so he decides to leave the town to save himself.
When a Count offers him a post as an envoy, Werther sees an opportunity
to remove himself both physically and emotionally from Lotte's
influence. But the pedantry of business, the trifles and the narrowness
of the etiquette and finally the
neglect shown by the honourable classes' outlook
destroy his hopes. Disappointed, Werther returns to the place
which his soul calls home, to Lotte. But in the meantime Lotte
and Albert have married. Albert is very busy and is therefore
sometimes morose and Werther notices that Lotte misses her former
intimacy with him. He concludes that she is not happy with her
husband. One evening when Albert is out, Werther visits her. He
reads aloud from Ossian and suddenly they embrace and kiss each
other. Werther throws himself on the floor in front of her, Lotte
flees into a neighbouring room to not succumb to Werther's passion and
she doesn't want to see him any more. After this Werther is in
the ultimate state of despair. He writes a farewell letter, finds
an excuse to borrow two pistols from Albert and shoots himself.
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