Book review of The Sorrows of
1 Introduction
The Sorrows Of young Werther was the very first German book to become an international success. The book presented a previously unknown but widespread impulse to leave behind the Classicist aesthetic and the unprecedented youth-culture energy. And it contains all the components of early Romanticism. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was only twenty-four years old when it was published in 1774. As the hastily written first novel of a young writer, it was an instant best-seller in Germany, France and England and was quickly translated into every European language, and was soon reprinted, pirated, imitated, and stolen from. Then came the pop products and paintings. It also engendered the Werther fever and Werther-style love suicide. The theme of outsize desire, self-destruction and the need to feel urban civilization were considered dangerous, therefore, the book was soon banned in several European cities. Such obstacles only intensified the Werther craze. The book flooded its relationships with the readers and had an incalculable influence on other writers and the society.
2 Summary of the Content
The book told an old story: Werther, a beautiful youth with worship to nature and art, who seems to carry some sort of sadness within him, fell in love with a girl named Charlotte. But she was already Albert’s fiancee, Werther immediately became very upset and left for a job in embassy. However, Werther cannot fit into the sophisticated society and the complex workplace. Being in this kind of double despair , Werther finally chose to commit suicide.
3 Analysis of Text
Goethe adopted the diary form to create young Werther. The story is basically narrated from Werther’s perspective, which thoroughly show his mental activity. This may be one of the reasons why the book “flooded its relationship with the readers long before it became clear that it would be one of Western Civilization’s Great Books.”(Marcelle Clements,2005)
The arrangement of costars in the whole story is also ingenious, every minor actors has its special effects and imply Werther’s fate in particular. For example, before Werther encountered Charlotte, he meet a peasant boy who fell in love with his widowed hostess. Werther was moved and captured his innocence and tenderness in the depths of his heart. Then Werther himself went through a similar love experience. When his fantasy for love was destroyed by its unrealistic nature, he met the boy again and came to know the boy’s misfortune. Similarly, the misfortune of the young mother, the craziness of the poor mental patient and the poets of the bard are all implication of Werther’s tragedy, and they have the same sincere hearts as Werther. These minor actors add richness and readability to the book, in the meantime, they highlight Werther’s tragedy in a potential way.
In addition, The book has its romantic and lyrical language style, in which way writer boldly narrated the story without inhibition. For instance, Werther wrote just before his death: “Your profile, which was so dear to me, I return to you.” The word “profile” has the beautiful poetry and bring pure enjoyment for readers. In another case Goethe wrote “I smile at the suggestions of my heart, and obey its dictates.” The sentence make Werther’s heart a lively thing, and the verbs “smile”, “obey”create an artistic effect.
4 Evaluation of the Text
The book itself is a combination of all the early Romanticism. “Anyone with an interest in this era of fantastic transition can chart the territory: the awed passion for nature, even human nature; the will to access the unconscious; the celebration of imagination and transgression; the sense of sublime; the transfiguration and exaltation of pain; martyrdom; the reverence for art and the worship of artists as heroes, of the rapturous, of the exulant of the chaotic, of the dark.”( Marcelle Clements,2005). These themes are easily seen in the book.
Werther’s praise for the nature is one of the significant components that is through the full-text, Werther has an natural ability to connect himself with the earth, for instance, he described: “Heaven and earth seems to dwell in my soul and absorb its power, like the form of a beloved mistress.”, he can simply enter the tranquil nature and feel the presence of the Almighty. This is actually a call for the return to the nature. We are born as a part of nature, it is a human instinct to be integrated with it for it is the source of our spirits and consolation.
The sense of sublime is another topic of the content, and Werther’s lofty character makes him charming and adorable in that turbid society. The youth ought to have the capacity to promote integrity of behavior and sincerity of thoughts, and a man with self-love should reserve the best moral characters for himself. Werther is a young man with high noble feelings, we can see this from some parts of the story. When he was excluded by the so-called aristocracy in the Count’s assembly, he said: “ I was going , sometimes ago, but my evil genius detained me.”, then he smiled, bowed and took his leave. He was the only sincere and noble man in the assembly for his sincerity and true principle for he never took the social class into account, but what the world sent back to him was baffling and distressed.
The transfiguration and exaltation of pain is prominent in the book as well. Werther’s sorrow is so infectious that readers could feel the strong affliction in his body. When he returned to his hometown and stood under the same elm, he just signed for a world he did not know. Scenes and places do not change, but people sure change, Werther entered the world “where he hope to find every pleasure and enjoyment which his heart could desire”, however, his disappointed hopes and broken heart brought him back. This is one of the saddest pain in one’s life, a pain can not be expressed and one have no alternative but accepting it. Another kind of sorrow in the story is the intense pain of the impossible love. Werther realized that his own bosom contains the source of all his sorrow, as it previously contained the source of all his pleasure. In the second half of the story, Werther began to reveal his helpless state of mind and felt himself lose the interest towards anything, and he thought “It becomes autumn with me and around me, my leaves are sere and yellow.” Under this sort of affliction, he stopped the fountain of vitality. Completely controlled by his helpless affection, he regards Charlotte as the core of his life, for he thought all that he possesses is nothing compared with her. Eventually he swallowed the bitter pill, and all his complex sorrows which have the attributes of young man give a strong impact.
Werther shows the significant of one’s heart, he expressed “All the knowledge he possesse every else can acquire, but his heart is exclusively myself.” And their are quite a few sentences in the book that highlight this, such as“Dear friend,how strange is the human heart!” .These reminds people to reset their view of value and judge others by inner personalities. The more important point is to feel and experience with your whole heart. The sensible heart which Werther owns is so passionate that make him feel the pure happiness as well as profound pain.What appealing me is that Werther lives his life by participating heart and soul in every joys and sorrows. I was totally absorbed in this sort of passion and thought that young man owns uniquely.
Such a beautiful, energetic young man ended his life in a extreme way, only left the strong mental impact behind to readers.While, I can not find any habitat for him, since the newborn power in his mind in actually contradictory to the old concept. In this huge contradiction his struggle is kind of fruitless, however people can certainly hear the call of liberation and freedom. The change need to be made to ensure that next Werther would not sacrifice his precious life to certify his belief.
Young Werther’s sorrows is a typical representative of the sorrows shared by all adolescents. Young as we are, there is something that grow swiftly deeply in our hearts, it is the desire of finding ourselves,being free from all constraint, and seeking the true meaning of life. In accordance with the voice from the hearts of the youth, the disdain to the sophisticated society, the appreciation to nature’s beauty and power, and the pursue to true affection and eternal love consist the cone of this book. All coming form the young Werther’s deep heart, this words are straight-forward and full of emotions which are dramatic and pure. When being expressed in such a direct way, the sorrows can not just arouse a common feeling of all adolescents, but also bring out a desire , or a latent fire from heart for the pure affections for everyone.
Moreover, the tragedy of Werther uncovered the tragedy of the whole feudal era. It profoundly revealed the fact that people’s spirit and thought are in a repressed state in 18th century. The sorrows is a microcosm of the pain and affliction of the whole society. What Werther chases is the admiration to the nature, precious freedom of thought, and liberation of human nature. It is quite fair to say that the book itself is a powerful attack from the youth in German towards the whole feudal system.
We know that the twenty-four-year old Goether write Werther in only four weeks, which means the book contains floods of emotions and imaginations that expressed freely.In my opinion, the spirit Werther conveyed also exists in other similar literary works , take the movie Dead Poet Society for an example, they both try to break the severe limitation and let the flowers of genuine life bloom freely. Werther’s story in some degree waked numbers of people up, and today it still regenerates encourage youth to open their minds, break up the fixed restrictions , and to find out the hidden true meaning and passion beneath the surface of life.
Nevertheless, a good writer never create a perfect protagonist without any flaw, it is reasonable to evaluate Werther critically. “Many of Werther’s qualities, augmented in the revised version, indicate that Goethe did not want us to embrace Werther uncritically, it is also clear that he did want us to feel for his protagonist.”(Elisabeth Krimmer,2013) Werther certainly possess some of the problematic qualities. His tragedy is also linked with his personalities. “If Werther were a man with feebler naad for harmony and transcendence, he would be less troubled. His failure does not originate in the nature of his desire, in his goal, but rather in his inability to fulfill them or to compromise.”(Elisabeth Krimmer, 2013) His death is the largest compromise he had made, since he dragged himself to the edge of death.
In conclusion, Werther’s romantic spirit and sincerity of heart are historical breaks. It remind us to cultivate ourselves at a active direction with strong desire and love, while we should pursue harmony at the same time in our life in order to be a strong-minded person.
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