Werther Analyis
To most people, analyzing The Sorrows of Young Werther is a simple task. Relying on the worldview of a pragmatic, technology-driven, and self-assured society, they look at Werther and see a young, romantic who, because of personal weakness, developed an obsession with a woman probably because he knew he could not have her. Gradually, as he realized the folly of his attraction, his fanciful emotions turned into a psychosis and a desire to hurt those who had rejected him through suicide. The perverse mental disease underlying the his wild yearnings is thus revealed and the wickedness of his actions thoroughly understood. This description of Wertheris obsession and his "perverse mental disease" is hardly any less sympathetic than Albertis when he calls Wertheris passion "intoxication". Dismissing Werther comes easily for most people. They may call him a tragic figure or a spurned lover but their sympathy denies the motivations at the heart of his obsession. Many probably read the story and immediately put it away because they feel Wertheris passion has no bearing on their lives. Their dismissal of Werther is conspicuous. They seem to want to suppress him like some sort of strange rebel representing passion, romance, and all sorts of
Werther, then, does not commit suicide because he wishes to hurt himself, Lotte, or Albert but because he is afraid to live while isolated from society. As an artist with strong opinions about the arrogance of aristocrats and the monotonous drudgery of lower class labor, Werther is completely incapable of forming meaningful relationships with people he did not regard as his equals. His resulting loneliness and lack of a group identity makes him passionate and emotional but leaves him without an outlet of empathic love for either his passion or his emotions. Desperate, he subconsciously creates an ideal in Lotte who nevertheless can never love him, not only because she was engaged but because she had a family to love her. In the end, The Sorrows of Young Werther expresses the complexity and futility of the emotional battles all people face. Some people Some people conceal their emotions through defense mechanisms such as arrogance or try to flee through them through toil. Others, like Werther, recognize the folly of such behavior and tread onward despite the risk of inadvertently isolating themselves from society. Neither group in this basic dichotomy can ever escape the need for empathic love. Even the most arrogant aristocrat probably experienced feelings of loneliness similar to Wertheris. Titles, reason, work, or nature can never release man from the longings of his soul. Familiarity with those longings provides, at best, a frustrating sense of separation from the ordinary mass of men. Suffering through loneliness may lead to wisdom but even wisdom cannot ease pain. None of these virtues or pretenses can ever remove man from a fate tied ultimately to his emotions. The only real defense anyone has is strength and hope until a real, empathic love can finally relieve the burden of their suffering. The necessity of empathic love is Goetheis greatest lesson for man in The Sorrows of Young Werther. "Without doubt, the only thing that makes Manis life on earth essential and necessary is love" (64). Some comment on the accuracy of Wertheris social critique is necessary. Hardly anyone would disagree with Wertheris negative opinions of the aristocracy. The pompous extravagance of the wealthier classes has devastated societies for thousands of years even through today. Elites in American politics and culture still continue to assume an air of superiority over "the rabble". Speaking generally, the interpretation of aristocratic arrogance as a hollow emotional defense applies to many other forms of pretense, ill-humor being only one other example. The ability of man to delude himself and others into believing he is above his emotions and weaknesses is truly remarkable. Americans are better at this technique than perhaps any culture in the history of the world. Popular culture, religious fervor, intellectual airs, cultural snobbery, and male assumptions of dominance (as well as female assumptions of subservience) are a few of the most useful means of escaping the vicissitudes of the soul. In fact, the pretenses mentioned above have developed into ideologies designed solely to help Americans suppress their feelings. The vanity necessary to maintain these ideologies is no less repulsive than aristocratic form observed by Werther. Moreover, societies still rely on similar ideologies to encourage, as Werther notes, the less prosperous classes to toil constantly but never seek any meaningful satisfaction in their lives. The dominance of the Puritan work ethic has wavered but never vanished. People continue to take great pride in their careers as a the means of achieving the fabled American Dream. Yet, the task of maintaining the society-driving ideologies of lifelong toil has become more difficult than ever before. Advanced technology allows businessmen, whose grandparents were probably day laborers, to take their work wherever they go. Understanding the world has grown increasingly complex in an age of regional trading blocs and uneasy
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 4117
Approximate Pages = 16 (250 words per page double spaced)
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