The Sorrows of Young Werther

The Sorrows of Young Werther is an epistolary novel written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in 1774 and in two weeks. Goethe was 25 years old when he wrote this novel.

The Sorrows of Young Werther is about the painful relationship of a young man named Werther with an engaged woman, Lotte, until his suicide.

Werther, who settled in Wahlheim, fell in love with Lotte, the beautiful daughter of a noble family, whom he met there. Lotte also likes Werther but is engaged to Albert. Promises and moral values ​​are important to Lotte, that's why she marries Albert. Werther continues to meet Lotte and Albert as family friends. Lotte thinks she can't control her emotions as she continues to see Werther. Later Lotte informs the young man that they should never meet again. Werther can't stand being separated from Lotte and writes her a letter and ends his life.

In this novel, Goethe depicts his unrequited interest in the betrothed woman named Charlotte Buff, whom he falls in love with, by transforming it into a literary-independent form. The suicide of his friend Karl Wilhelm Jerusalem and the birth of this tragic love inspired Goethe. Jerusalem has fallen in love with a married woman whom he knew he could never be with. Lotte, the hero of the novel, also resembles Maximiliane La Roche, whom the young Goethe met while writing the book.

The novel, which made Goethe suddenly famous in Germany in 1774, caused many young people to commit suicide after its release.