Sorrows of Young Werther

Author: Goethe
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-07-01
Features: The protagonist, Werther, is a young man from the bourgeois class. He arrives in a small rural town and meets a young woman named Lotte at a country dance. He falls in love with Lotte. However, Lotte is already engaged to someone else. Werther realizes that he cannot win Lotte and decides to leave, accepting a position as a secretary to an ambassador. The ambassador's conservatism, petty habits, and the dishonest relationships of the time cause great suffering to Werther, so he resigns from his post and is invited to a count's estate. Yet at the count's estate, Werther finds that his talents are still unable to be fulfilled. Love is shattered, the rigidly hierarchical society abandons Werther, and Werther also rejects that dark society. In the end, Werther takes his own life in despair.