Unrequited Love and Gestures of Consecration

A detailed Summary of Unrequited Love and Gestures of Consecration

Unrequited Love and Gestures of Consecration

Young Werther searched for meaning in everything around him, yearning in his relentless love for Lotte. It was not a mistake that a copy of Emilia Galotti was found by Werther's deathbed, this text's content mirrors much of Werther's "sorrows." Werther idolized and pined over Lotte as Prince Hettore Gonzaga did Emilia Galotti. Both male characters sought to relinquish his hopeless passion by attempting to win over the woman that they loved in a desperate manner, and whom lost their loves in one form or another. Both Lotte and Emilia represent the Romantic ideal for women, who were both concerned with keeping their womanly virtues in tact due to an influence from a male figure in their lives. In both stories, death played an important role where it acted as an ultimate gesture of consecration for the beloved.

Young Werther originally set out on his travels to seek solitude in nature. However, after meeting Charlotte Lotte, it seemed as though Werther's agenda totally changed. Werther fell in love with Lotte at first sight. Werther vocalized his passion in the letters that he sent to his dear friend Wilhelm, where his adoration for Lotte would grow as time passed. "An

"One thing is certain: that she was quite determined to do everything to remove Werther from her presence... Yet during this period she was under increased pressure to be firm; her husband maintained a complete silence concerning the relationship, and so she felt she needed to prove by her actions her feelings were worthy of her husband's respect." (Goethe, 114)

2.von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. The Sorrows of Young Werther. London: Penguin Books, 1989.

Marinelli proposed that the Prince should send Count Appiani on a mission, so that he could confront Emilia alone and eventually have her for himself. The prince would take advantage of the absence of Appiani and pursued her during mass. After the prince confronted Emilia, she frantically went back to her mother and reported what had transpired. "Oh, if lonely loud thunder had kept me from hearing more! It spoke of beauty, of love- if it did even that- would decide its unhappiness forever. It implored me- I had to hear all of this." (Lessing, 25) The prince was totally captivated with Emilia, he dreamed of having her as his own, and motivated by lechery, he comprised a plan to abduct her and to kill Count Appiani. If Werther had his way, there is no question that he did not have a conscious or unconscious wish that Albert would go away and never return. When Appiani rejected the prince's proposal to send him away on his wedding day, he died at the hands of the prince's men.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1804
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English