The Sorrows of Young Werther

In Goethe's (2002) The Sorrows of Young Werther, we are treated to Young Werther's youthful and romantic illusions pertaining to love. Werther's great love for Charlotte is an unrequited love, one that causes Young Werther to believe he has lost the ability to feel. Because of his youth, Werther becomes suicidal over his obsessive love for Charlotte, a married woman. However, Werther commits suicide because his notions of love are not based in reality. Instead, Werther's romantic illusions are proven invalid and because of this he can no longer bear an existence which he believes offers no love.

Werther is artistic and young. Because of this, he ascribes to romantic notions and illusions that are not supported by reality. This is not to say that Werther is completely detached from reality. At one point he admits, "I am not alone unfortunate. All men are disappointed in their hopes, and deceived in their expectations" (Goethe, 2002, p. 52). However, Werther's love for Charlotte is a love that is great but not returned on the same level of passion by Charlotte.

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