The sufferings of the young Werther. The suffering of the young Werther characterization of the image of Werther

Written in 1774. Based on biographical experience. In Wetzlar, G. met a certain Mr. Kästner and his fiancee Charlotte Buff. Another fellow official was in love with this Charlotte, who then committed suicide. The reason is unhappy love, dissatisfaction with one’s social position, a feeling of humiliation and hopelessness. G. perceived this event as a tragedy of his generation.

G. chose the epistolary form, which made it possible to focus on the inner world of the hero - the only author of the letters, to show through his eyes the life around him, people, their relationships. Gradually, the epistolary form develops into a diary form. At the end of the novel, the hero’s letters are addressed to himself - this reflects a growing feeling of loneliness, a feeling of a vicious circle that ends tragic ending- suicide.

Werther is a man of feeling, he has his own religion, and in this he is like Goethe himself, who from a young age embodied his worldview in the myths created by his imagination. Werther believes in God, but this is not at all the god to whom they pray in churches. His god is the invisible, but constantly felt by him, soul of the world. Werther's belief is close to Goethe's pantheism, but does not completely merge with it, and cannot merge, for Goethe not only felt this world, but also sought to know it. Werther is the most complete embodiment of that time, which was called the era of sensitivity.

For him, everything is connected with the heart, feelings, subjective sensations that strive to blow up all barriers. In full accordance with his mental states, he perceives poetry and nature: looking at the rural idyll, Werther reads and quotes Homer, in a moment of emotional excitement - Klopstock, in a state of hopeless despair - Ossian.

By means of his art, Goethe made the story of Werther’s love and torment merge with the life of all nature. Although the dates of the letters show that two years pass from the meeting with Lotte (Charlotte S. - the girl with whom V. was in love) until the death of the hero, Goethe compressed the time of action: the meeting with Lotte takes place in the spring, the happiest time of Werther’s love is summer , the most painful thing for him begins in the fall; he wrote his last dying letter to Lotte on December 21. Thus, Werther’s fate reflects the flourishing and dying that occurs in nature, just as it was the case with mythical heroes.

Werther feels nature with all his soul, it fills him with bliss, for him this feeling is contact with the divine principle. But the landscapes in the novel constantly “hint” that Werther’s fate goes beyond the usual story of failed love. It is imbued with symbolism, and the broad universal background of his personal drama gives it a truly tragic character.

A complex process is developing before our eyes. mental life hero. Initial joy and love of life are gradually replaced by pessimism. And all this leads to phrases like: “I can’t do this,” “And I see nothing but an all-consuming and all-grinding monster.”

Thus, Werther becomes the first herald of world sorrow in Europe long before a significant part of romantic literature was imbued with it.

Why did he die? Unhappy love is not the main (or far from the only) reason here. From the very beginning, Werther suffered from “how narrowly the creative and cognitive powers of mankind are limited” (May 22) and from the fact that the awareness of these limitations does not allow him to lead an active, active life - he does not see the meaning in it. So he gives in to the desire to leave this life and immerse himself: “I go into myself and discover the whole world!” But a reservation immediately follows: “But also rather in forebodings and vague lusts than in living, full-blooded images” (May 22).

The reason for Werther's torment and deep dissatisfaction with life is not only in unhappy love. Trying to recover from it, he decides to try his hand at public service, but, as a burgher, he can only be given a modest post that does not correspond to his abilities.

Werther's grief is caused not only failed love, but also by the fact that both in his personal life and in his social life, the paths turned out to be closed for him. Werther's drama turns out to be social. Such was the fate of a whole generation of intelligent young people from the burgher environment, who found no use for their abilities and knowledge, forced to eke out a miserable existence as tutors, home teachers, rural pastors, and petty officials.

In the second edition of the novel, the text of which is usually printed, the “publisher”, after Werther’s letter of December 14, limited himself to a brief conclusion: “The decision to leave the world became increasingly stronger in Werther’s soul at that time, which was facilitated by various circumstances.” The first edition spoke about this clearly and clearly: “He could not forget the insult inflicted on him during his stay at the embassy. He rarely remembered it, but when something happened that reminded him of it, even remotely, one could feel that his honor remained as before hurt and that this incident aroused in him an aversion to all sorts of affairs and political activity. Then he completely indulged in that amazing sensitivity and thoughtfulness that we know from his letters; he was overcome by endless suffering, which killed in him the last remnants of the ability to act. Since nothing could change in his relationship with the beautiful and beloved creature, whose peace he had disturbed, and he fruitlessly wasted his forces, for the use of which there was neither purpose nor desire, this finally pushed him to commit a terrible act.”

Werther fails not only because of the limitations of human capabilities in general or because of his heightened subjectivity; because of this, among other things. Werther fails not only because of the social conditions in which he must live and cannot live, but also because of them. No one will deny that Werther was deeply offended when he had to leave aristocratic society because of his burgher origin. True, he is insulted more in his human than in his burgher dignity. It was the man Werther who did not expect such baseness from refined aristocrats. However, Werther is not indignant at the inequality of people in society: “I know very well that we are not equal and cannot be equal,” he wrote on May 15, 1771.

The central conflict of the novel is embodied in the opposition between Werther and his happy rival. Their characters and concepts of life are completely different. Werther cannot help but admit: “Albert fully deserves respect. His restraint is sharply different from my restless disposition, which I cannot hide. He is able to feel and understand what a treasure Lot is. Apparently, he is not prone to gloomy moods... " (July 30). Already in the quoted words of Werther, a cardinal difference in temperaments is noted. But they also differ in their views on life and death. One of the letters (August 12) details a conversation that took place between two friends when Werther, asking to lend him pistols, jokingly put one of them to his temple. Albert warned him that it was dangerous to do this. “It goes without saying that there are exceptions to every rule. But he is so conscientious that, having expressed some, in his opinion, reckless, untested general judgment, he will immediately bombard you with reservations, doubts, objections, while nothing to the essence of the matter.” will not remain" (August 12). However, in the dispute about suicide that arose between them, Albert adheres to the strong point of view that suicide is madness. Werther objects: “You have ready-made definitions for everything: now it’s crazy, now it’s smart, now it’s good, now it’s bad!.. Have you delved into the internal reasons for this action? Can you accurately trace the course of events that led, should have led to him? If you had taken on this work, your judgments would not have been so rash" (ibid.).

It is amazing how skillfully Goethe prepares the ending of the novel, posing the problem of suicide long before the hero comes to the idea of ​​taking his own life. At the same time, there is so much hidden irony here in relation to critics and readers who will not notice what made Werther’s shot inevitable. Albert is firmly convinced that some actions are always immoral, no matter what their motives. His moral concepts are somewhat dogmatic, although for all that he is undoubtedly a good person.

The mental process leading to suicide was characterized with great depth by Werther himself: “A person can endure joy, grief, pain only to a certain extent, and when this degree is exceeded, he dies... Look at a person with his closed inner world: how they act he is impressed by what obsessive thoughts take root in him, until an ever-growing passion deprives him of all self-control and brings him to death" (August 12). Werther quite accurately anticipates his fate, not yet knowing what will happen to him.

The controversy, however, reveals more than just differences in views on suicide. We are talking about the criteria for moral assessment of human behavior. Albert knows well what is good and what is bad. Werther rejects such morality. Human behavior, in his opinion, is determined by nature: “A person will always remain a person, and that grain of reason that he may possess has little or no meaning when passion is rampant and he becomes cramped within the framework of human nature.” Moreover, as Werther claims, “we have the right to judge in conscience only what we ourselves have felt.”

There is one more character in the novel who cannot be ignored. This is the "publisher" of Werther's letters. His attitude towards Werther is important. He maintains the strict objectivity of the narrator, reporting only the facts. But sometimes, when conveying Werther’s speeches, he reproduces the tonality inherent in the hero’s poetic nature. The "publisher's" speech becomes especially important at the end of the story, when the events preceding the death of the hero are recounted. From the “publisher” we also learn about Werther’s funeral.

Young Werther is Goethe's first hero who has two souls. The integrity of his nature is only apparent. From the very beginning, he senses both the ability to enjoy life and a deep-rooted melancholy. In one of his first letters, Werther writes to a friend: “It’s not for nothing that you have never met anything more changeable, more fickle than my heart... You have so many times had to endure the transitions of my mood from despondency to unbridled dreams, from tender sadness to destructive ardor!” (may 13). Observing himself, he makes a discovery that again reveals his inherent duality: “... how strong is the desire in a person to wander, to make new discoveries, how open spaces attract him, but along with this there lives in us an internal craving for voluntary limitation, for roll along the usual track, without looking around." Werther's nature is characterized by extremes, and he admits to Albert that it is much more pleasant for him to go beyond the generally accepted than to submit to the routine of everyday life: “Oh, you wise men! Passion! Intoxication! Insanity! And you, well-behaved people, stand calmly and indifferently on the sidelines and blaspheme drunkards, you despise madmen and pass by like a priest, and, like the Pharisee, thank the Lord that he did not create you like one of them. I have been drunk more than once, in my passions I have always reached the brink of madness and I do not repent of that. in no other way" (August 12).

Werther’s tragedy also lies in the fact that the forces boiling within him are not put to use. Under the influence of unfavorable conditions, his consciousness becomes more and more painful. Werther often compares himself with people who get along quite well with the prevailing system of life. So is Albert. But Werther cannot live like this. Unhappy love aggravates his tendency to extremes, sudden transitions from one state of mind to the opposite, changes his perception of the environment. There was a time when he “felt like a deity” in the midst of the lush abundance of nature, but now even trying to resurrect those inexpressible feelings that previously elevated his soul turns out to be painful and makes him doubly feel the horror of the situation.

Over time, Werther's letters increasingly reveal disturbances in his mental balance: Werther’s confessions are also supported by the testimony of the “publisher”: “Melancholy and annoyance took root more and more deeply in Werther’s soul and, intertwined with each other, little by little took possession of his entire being. His mental balance was completely disrupted. Feverish excitement shook his entire body and affected him a destructive effect, leading to complete exhaustion, with which he fought even more desperately than with all other misfortunes. Heartfelt anxiety undermined all his other spiritual strength: his liveliness, his sharpness of mind; he became unbearable in society; misfortune made him the more unjust, the more unhappy he was. was."

Werther's suicide was the natural end of everything he had experienced; it was determined by the peculiarities of his nature, in which personal drama and oppressed social position gave precedence to the painful beginning. At the end of the novel, one expressive detail once again emphasizes that Werther’s tragedy had not only psychological, but also social roots: “The coffin was carried by artisans. None of the clergy accompanied him.”

In this pre-revolutionary era, personal feelings and moods vaguely reflected deep dissatisfaction with the existing system. Werther's love sufferings were no less public importance than his mocking and angry descriptions of aristocratic society. Even the desire for death and suicide sounded like a challenge to a society in which a thinking and feeling person had nothing to live with.

Johann Wolfgang Goethe

"The Sorrows of Young Werther"

It is this genre, characteristic of literature of the 18th century, that Goethe chooses for his work; the action takes place in one of the small German towns at the end of the 18th century. The novel consists of two parts: letters from Werther himself and additions to them under the title “From Publisher to Reader.” Werther's letters are addressed to his friend Wilhelm, in them the author strives not so much to describe the events of his life, but to convey his feelings that arouse in him the world.

Werther, a young man from a poor family, educated, inclined towards painting and poetry, settles in a small town to be alone. He enjoys nature, communicates with ordinary people, reads his beloved Homer, draws. At a country youth ball, he meets Charlotte S. and falls madly in love with her. Lotta, that’s what the girl’s close friends call her, - eldest daughter princely amtman, in total there are nine children in their family. Their mother died, and Charlotte, despite her youth, managed to replace her with her brothers and sisters. She is not only visually attractive, but also has independent judgment. Already on the first day of meeting Werther and Lotte, a similarity of tastes is revealed, they easily understand each other.

From now on, the young man spends most of his time every day in the amtman's house, which is an hour's walk from the city. Together with Lotte, he visits a sick pastor and goes to look after a sick lady in the city. Every minute spent near her gives Werther pleasure. But the young man’s love is doomed to suffering from the very beginning, because Lotte has a fiancé, Albert, who has gone to get a respectable position.

Albert arrives, and although he treats Werther kindly and delicately hides the manifestations of his feelings for Lotte, the young man in love is jealous of her for him. Albert is reserved, reasonable, he considers Werther an extraordinary person and forgives him for his restless disposition. For Werther, the presence of a third person during meetings with Charlotte is difficult; he falls either into unbridled joy or into gloomy moods.

One day, to get a little distraction, Werther is going on horseback to the mountains and asks Albert to lend him pistols for the road. Albert agrees, but warns that they are not loaded. Werther takes one pistol and puts it to his forehead. This harmless joke turns into a serious dispute between young people about a person, his passions and reason. Werther tells a story about a girl who was abandoned by her lover and threw herself into the river, because without him life for her had lost all meaning. Albert considers this act “stupid”; he condemns a person who, carried away by passions, loses the ability to reason. Werther, on the contrary, is disgusted by excessive rationality.

For his birthday, Werther receives a package as a gift from Albert: it contains a bow from Lotte’s dress, in which he saw her for the first time. The young man suffers, he understands that he needs to get down to business and leave, but he keeps putting off the moment of separation. On the eve of his departure, he comes to Lotte. They go to their favorite gazebo in the garden. Werther says nothing about the upcoming separation, but the girl, as if anticipating it, starts talking about death and what will follow. She remembers her mother, the last minutes before parting with her. Worried by her story, Werther nevertheless finds the strength to leave Lotte.

The young man leaves for another city, he becomes an official under the envoy. The envoy is picky, pedantic and stupid, but Werther made friends with Count von K. and tries to brighten up his loneliness in conversations with him. In this town, as it turns out, class prejudices are very strong, and the young man is constantly pointed out about his origin.

Werther meets the girl B., who vaguely reminds him of the incomparable Charlotte. He often talks with her about his former life, including telling her about Lotte. The surrounding society annoys Werther, and his relationship with the envoy is getting worse. The matter ends with the envoy complaining about him to the minister, who, being a delicate person, writes a letter to the young man in which he reprimands him for being excessively touchy and tries to direct his extravagant ideas in the direction where they will find the right application.

Werther temporarily comes to terms with his position, but then a “trouble” occurs that forces him to leave the service and the city. He was visiting Count von K., stayed too long, and at that time guests began to arrive. In this town, it was not customary for a low-class person to appear in noble society. Werther did not immediately realize what was happening, besides, when he saw the girl B. he knew, he started talking to her, and only when everyone began to look sideways at him, and his interlocutor could hardly carry on a conversation, the young man hastily left. The next day, gossip spread throughout the city that Count von K. had kicked Werther out of his house. Not wanting to wait until he is asked to leave the service, the young man submits his resignation and leaves.

First, Werther goes to his native place and indulges in sweet childhood memories, then he accepts the prince’s invitation and goes to his domain, but here he feels out of place. Finally, unable to bear the separation any longer, he returns to the city where Charlotte lives. During this time she became Albert's wife. Young people are happy. The appearance of Werther brings discord into their family life. Lotte sympathizes with the young man in love, but she is also unable to see his torment. Werther rushes about, he often dreams of falling asleep and never waking up, or he wants to commit a sin and then atone for it.

One day, while walking around the outskirts of the town, Werther meets the crazy Heinrich, who is collecting a bouquet of flowers for his beloved. Later he learns that Heinrich was a scribe for Lotte’s father, fell in love with a girl, and love drove him crazy. Werther feels that the image of Lotte is haunting him and he does not have the strength to put an end to his suffering. On this letter young man break off, and about it future fate We'll find out from the publisher.

Love for Lotte makes Werther unbearable for those around him. On the other hand, the decision to leave the world gradually becomes stronger in the young man’s soul, because he is unable to simply leave his beloved. One day he finds Lotte sorting through gifts for her family on the eve of Christmas. She turns to him with a request to come to them next time no earlier than Christmas Eve. For Werther, this means that he is deprived of the last joy in life. Nevertheless, the next day he still goes to Charlotte, and together they read an excerpt from Werther’s translation of Ossian’s songs. In a fit of unclear feelings, the young man loses control of himself and approaches Lotte, for which she asks him to leave her.

Returning home, Werther puts his affairs in order, writes a farewell letter to his beloved, and sends a servant with a note to Albert for pistols. At exactly midnight, a shot is heard in Werther's room. In the morning, the servant finds a young man, still breathing, on the floor, the doctor comes, but it is too late. Albert and Lotte are having a hard time with Werther's death. They bury him not far from the city, in the place that he chose for himself.

Goethe chooses this one, characteristic of literature XVIII century genre for your work. The action takes place at the end of the 18th century in one of the towns in Germany. The novel has two parts - Werther’s letters and additions to them with the title “From the Publisher to the Reader.”

Secluded in a small town, an educated young man from a poor family, communicating with ordinary people, enjoys nature, draws, reads his beloved Homer. On youth ball outside the city, he meets Charlotte, who replaced the deceased mother for her brothers and sisters. Werther and Lotta discovered a similarity of tastes and mutual understanding.

Werther spends most of his time with Lotte, participating in joint charity, feeling the pleasure of communicating with her and suffering from the fact that Lotte already has a fiancé, Albert. He comes to the town, is delicate and friendly, but Werther has a hard time with Albert’s presence on dates.

While going on horseback to the mountains, Werther borrowed pistols from Albert and jokingly puts one of them to his forehead, which caused a serious dispute about the man, his mind and passions. For his birthday, Albert gives Werther a package with a bow from Lotte’s dress, this caused a surge of suffering in the young man’s soul and he decides to leave. On the eve of his departure, he meets Lotte in his favorite gazebo, they talk, anticipating separation, Lotte remembers her mother, but Werther finds the strength to part with Lotte.

The young man leaves and becomes an official in another city under an envoy who is stupid, picky and pedantic. The town turned out to be difficult, with strong class prejudices, where origins are constantly pointed out. Werther meets a certain girl who is somewhat reminiscent of Charlotte and spends time with her, at the same time his relationship with the envoy becomes worse. Werther comes to terms with his position for a while, but after the “trouble” that happened, he had to leave both the service and the city. He happened to be present in a noble society, which was unacceptable for a person of low class. This led to the need for resignation and departure.

Werther first goes to his native place, but still returns to the city where Charlotte lives. She married Albert, but the appearance of Werther brings discord into her family life. His love for Lotte made him unbearable for those around him. Werther also lost his peace. Gradually, his decision to leave this world becomes stronger. Once he met Lotte on the eve of Christmas, but she asks him to come to them no earlier than Christmas Eve next time. Werther perceives this as depriving him of the last joy in life, but still he goes to Charlotte the next day. The young man loses control - in a fit of emotion he approaches Lotte, but she asks to leave her.

Moscow State University them. M.V. Lomonosov

© 2006 “ABSTRACTS FOR JOURNAL STUDENTS”

HTTP://JOURNREF.NAROD.RU

Faculty of Journalism.

Genre features of Goethe's novel “The Sorrows of Young Werther”.

Teacher: Vannikova N.I.

Essay by a 2nd year student

Moscow 2004

One of Goethe’s most important works is the epistolary novel “The Sorrows of Young Werther” (1774) - one of the outstanding works of German and European sentimentalism. According to Engels, Goethe achieved one of the greatest critical feats by writing Werther, which cannot in any way be called just a simple sentimental novel with a love plot. The main thing in it is “emotional pantheism”, the hero’s desire to realize at least in his “heart” a natural state. The impossibility of achieving it logically leads to a denouement - the untimely death of Werther.

The form of the novel in letters became an artistic discovery of the 18th century; it made it possible to show a person not only in the course of events and adventures, but also in the complex process of his feelings and experiences, in his relationship to the environment to the outside world. All letters in the novel belong to one person - Werther; Before us is a novel-diary, a novel-confession, and we perceive all the events that take place through the eyes of this hero. Only the brief introduction, the passage “From the publisher to the reader” and the ending are objectified - they are written on behalf of the author.

The reason for the creation of the novel was Goethe's love for Charlotte Buff. He met her in June 1772 while serving at the Imperial Court in Wetzlar. Goethe had good friendly relations with Charlotte's fiancé, Kästner, who also served in Wetzlar, and when he realized that his feelings for Lotte were disturbing the peace of his friends, he left. “I leave you happy, but I do not leave your hearts,” he wrote to Charlotte. We see approximately the same words in Werther’s farewell letter.

Goethe himself left his beloved, but did not die, but the prototype of the suicidal lover is also taken from real events. Another Wetzlar official, known to Goethe, found himself in similar circumstances in Jerusalem, having fallen in love married woman, but not finding a way out, he committed suicide. It is interesting to note that while sympathizing with Jerusalem, he first of all writes with indignation about the people around him who drove him to suicide: “Unfortunate! But these devils, these vile people, who do not know how to enjoy anything except the waste of vanity, who have erected idols of voluptuousness in their hearts, idolaters, who hinder good undertakings, who know no measure in anything and undermine our strength! They are to blame for this misfortune, for our misfortune. They should get the hell out of their brother!”

Thus, we see that the content of the novel goes beyond the autobiographical; this work cannot be considered only as a reflection of the spiritual “Wetzlar drama”. The meaning of the characters and generalizations developed by Goethe is much deeper and broader. The novel goes back to a certain tradition (from Richardson to Rousseau), while at the same time being a new artistic phenomenon of the era. In him, feeling is organically fused with character.

It is also important to note that the tragedy is not only a story of unfulfilled love; At the center of the novel is a philosophically meaningful theme: man and the world, personality and society. This is what gave Thomas Mann the basis to classify The Sorrows of Young Werther as one of those books that predicted and prepared the French Revolution. Yes, Goethe himself said that “Werther” was “stuffed with explosives.” Possessing a powerful rebellious charge, he could not help but evoke a response in a country that was preparing for revolution.

About the love described by Goethe we can say in the words of Stendhal:

«<…>Love in Werther's style<…>this is new life goal, to which everything submits, which changes the appearance of all things. Love-passion majestically transforms all of nature in the eyes of man, which seems to be something unprecedentedly new, created only yesterday.”

So, Goethe, defining the genre of his work, himself calls it a novel. “The novel is a large form epic genre literature. Its the most common features: depiction of a person in complex forms of the life process, multi-linearity of the plot, covering the destinies of a number of characters, polyphony, hence the large volume compared to other genres. It is clear, of course, that these features characterize the main trends in the development of the novel and manifest themselves in extremely diverse ways.” Goethe's Werther meets these few requirements. Here is an image of the feelings of a suffering young man, and love triangle, and intrigue, and, as mentioned above, a pressing social topic is raised - man and society. Thus, there is also a multi-layered plot (the theme of love, the theme of a suffering person in society). Both themes are constantly intertwined with each other, but the nature of their development and artistic generalizations is different. In the first case, motivations acquire a predominantly psychological character, in the second - mainly social, everyday ones. The entire novel is brought down by love; love itself is the reason for “the suffering of young Werther.” In revealing the second theme, an episode is indicative in which Count von K. invited the hero to dinner, and just that day noble gentlemen and ladies gathered with him. Werther did not think that “subordinates have no place there.” They tried not to notice his presence, acquaintances answered laconically, “the women were whispering to each other at the other end of the hall,” “then the men began to whisper too.” As a result, at the request of the guests, the count was forced to tell Werther that society was unhappy with his presence, i.e. basically just asked him to leave.

IN modern literary criticism"Werther" is often interpreted as a "sentimental-romantic" novel, as a phenomenon of pre-romanticism. It seems that, despite the fact that “Werther” paves the way for the romantic (in particular, confessional) novel, the integrity of its poetic system is determined by educational aesthetics. This is a contradictory and dynamic work in which ideas about the harmony and disharmony of the world, sentimentalism in unity with the Stürmer ideal, educational poetics and its emerging crisis coexist.

“Werther” is called a “novel in letters,” but these notes belong to the pen of one person - Werther, he tells the story on his own behalf. Werther writes to his good old friend Wilhelm (“You have long known my habit of settling down somewhere, finding shelter in a secluded corner and settling down there, being content with little. I have chosen such a place for myself here too”), to whom he tells everything he feels. It is interesting that it is implied that Wilhelm gives him some advice, answers, expresses his opinions, we see this accordingly in Werther’s notes:

“You are asking whether to send me my books. Dear friend, for God’s sake, save me from them!”

“Goodbye, you will like the letter for its purely narrative character.”

“Why don’t I write to you,” you ask, and you are also considered a scientist. I could have guessed myself that I was quite healthy and even... in a word, I made an acquaintance that vividly touched my heart.”

“I by no means decided to listen to you and go with the envoy to ***. I don’t really like having a boss over me, and here we all still know that he’s a crappy person. You write that mother would like to assign me to business.”

“Since you are very concerned that I should not give up drawing, I preferred to avoid this issue rather than admit to you how little I have done lately.”

“I thank you, Wilhelm, for your heartfelt participation, for your kind advice, and I ask only one thing - don’t worry.”

But let's return to the characteristics of the genre. It would be more correct to call the novel " lyrical diary", an inspired "monologue". And it matters. It was to letters of an intimate nature that Werther could entrust his most frank thoughts and feelings:

“Her lips have never been so captivating; it seemed that, opening slightly, they greedily absorbed the sweet sounds of the instrument, and only the most tender echo flew from those pure lips. Oh, is it possible to express it! I couldn't resist; bowing down, I swore an oath: “I will never dare to kiss you, lips overshadowed by perfume!” And yet... you understand, there is definitely some kind of line in front of me... I need to step over it... taste bliss... and then, after the fall, atone for sin! Is that enough, is it a sin?

Werther quotes his thoughts and ideas, not only describes life events, he also compares his emotions with the emotions of book characters:

“Sometimes I say to myself: “Your fate is unparalleled!” - and I call others lucky. No one has ever suffered such torment! Then I start reading an ancient poet, and it feels like I’m looking into my own heart. How I suffer! Oh, were people really this unhappy before me?”

So, “The Sorrows of Young Werther” is a sentimental diary-confession of a man in love. It is interesting to note that if in a sentimental novel emotionality is a special mental makeup, subtlety of feelings, vulnerability, a set of moral norms that are determined by the natural essence of a person, then in a confessional novel emotionality becomes a lyrical prism of perception of the world, a way of understanding reality. It seems to me that in Werther’s notes we see features of both the first and the second, observing the very development of feelings, the mental torment of the hero through his own eyes, formulating it in his own words. Such a combination, a change...it is precisely with the help of this that new content and originality of thinking are realized (“...form is nothing more than the transition of content into form”).

In this context, it is important to consider the structure of Werther. The novel has a linear composition, the author is separated from the hero, other characters are important to describe the hero's life. In Werther, notes and comments from the publisher constantly intrude into the text: at the beginning, middle and end. Moreover, at the beginning the image of the author-adviser appears before us - he makes it clear that he found this story because it will be interesting to the reader and useful especially for “the poor fellow who has fallen into the same temptation.” In the chapter “From the Publisher to the Reader,” the publisher notes that “regarding the characters of the characters, opinions differ and assessments vary.” If Albert and friends condemn Werther, then in the tone of the publisher condemnation and compassion are inseparable, and in the confession itself Werther is completely aestheticized. Thus, it is important to note that there are no already open moralizing tendencies, no overt judgment. This allows us to talk about the first steps towards a new relationship between author and hero, which will be embodied in romantic poetics.

Goethe had no idea about the connections that connected the judge’s daughter with the secretary of the Hanoverian embassy. And when at some point he was left alone with Lotte, he could not stand it, leaned over her hand and pressed his lips to it. The fleeting touch awakened a lot of hope in him...

Ball

The passenger carriage drove across the Lahn stone road and stopped under the linden trees near the post station. Goethe stepped onto the pavement. Wetzlar am Lahn, where he arrived, a beautifully located, but small and poorly built town, made a dull impression. But around, he noticed this from the carriage window, the landscape was striking in its splendor. Goethe remembered this day - May 24, 1772.

The next morning, the young man signed up to be present with the rank of referendar. He had to engage in further study of jurisprudence, or more precisely, become an intern at the Imperial Court of Justice. Such was the will of the old gentleman in a powdered wig, who once decided that his only son, who six months ago returned from Strasbourg to his native Frankfurt as a law licentiate, should doom himself to vegetate in Wetzlar.

Very soon, however, it became clear to Goethe that nothing special awaited him in seedy Wetzlar. Isn't it better to wander through the valleys and forests, contemplate the beautiful rural landscape, enlivened by a friendly river, stretching like a pure silver thread in the valley, and indulge in sweet dreams? Or paint the surrounding landscapes, finding in them an echo of your moods, and perhaps a wonderful kinship, an inner consonance with them, when the painter’s gaze merges with the poet’s gaze?

Years will pass, and Goethe will remember with reverence the environment that became so dear to his heart, which so decorated his stay in the Lana Valley. But is it only the landscape, is it only the feeling of kinship with nature that has gripped him here that will be the reason for this?

One day, at the beginning of July, Goethe was returning from a walk. In his hands is a folder with drawings, under his arm is a volume of Homer.

A clattering sound was heard on the country road. Goethe turned around. A horseman was catching up with him. When he caught up with him and, jumping to the ground, bowed awkwardly, he recognized him as a servant of Count Einsiedel, the young owner of Garbenheim, a village near Wetzlar.

Who are you looking for, Wilhelm?

“You, sir,” he answered and handed over the note. It was an invitation to a country ball.

Thank your owner and tell him that I will be happy to take part in the celebration.

And Goethe hurried into the city; he still had to pick up two girls, the count’s cousins, and on the way capture one of their girlfriends.

She, by at least, pretty? - he asked curiously when the carriage, having passed a wide forest clearing, drove up to a squat, rural-type house with a tiled roof, bordered by chestnuts and elms.

“Pretty,” he heard in response. “Unfortunately for you, she is already engaged,” said Marianne, one of his companions, dressed like her cousin Kötchen, slyly. latest fashion, - both gentle, fresh and carefree.

He did not have time to answer, because the carriage stopped and he had to help the ladies get out. The maid who opened the gate asked him to wait: Fraulein Lotchen would be ready in a minute. Goethe looked around. Spacious yard, solid, strong house. Three gentle steps led up to the porch. The screams of children could be heard from behind the slightly open glass door. Looking into the hallway, Goethe saw a picture that he forever remembered: “In the hallway, six children from eleven to two years old surrounded a slender girl in a simple white dress with pink bows on the chest and sleeves. She held a loaf of black bread in her hands, cut off a piece for the kids around her, according to their age and appetite, and affectionately gave it to each one, and each one stretched out his little hand and shouted “thank you” long before the bread was cut off, and then they all hopped joyfully they ran away with their dinner, while others, the quieter ones, quietly walked to the gate to look at strangers and at the carriage in which their Lotte would leave.”

This picture of home comfort, which appeared before him in all its touching simplicity, fascinated Goethe, who froze on the threshold. But he was especially struck by the light, graceful appearance, voice, and movements of a young girl whom the children called Lotte. He immediately recognized in her a pure, healthy nature, full of cheerful energy. It was clear that she was modest, unpretentious and created not to inspire desperate passions, but to attract all hearts. Fresh, joyful air blew near her. In a word, Lotte was endowed with qualities that, as Goethe admits, always attracted him, and he clung to those who possessed them.

When the carriage drove up to the ballroom in Wolpertshausen, Goethe was, as he said, as if in a dream. Dreaming, lulled by the evening gloom and the proximity of his charming companion, he did not hear the music thundering from above, from the illuminated hall. But even there, in the light of sparkling chandeliers, it began to seem to him even more that all this was happening in a dream. Seeing nothing around, he waltzed, holding the most beautiful girl in his arms. Her face, directed towards him, the gentle smile wandering on her lips, the aroma of her beautiful golden hair, the sparkle of her blue eyes, which openly expressed the most sincere, innocent pleasure - everything was intoxicating and bewitching.

Outside the window, over the valley, thunder rumbled loudly, but he did not hear its angry grumbling, just as he did not pay attention to his sword, which slightly interfered with his dance. Indeed, Charlotte Buff, it was so full name his charming partner, by general opinion, was great that evening. The men watched with admiration the dancing lover, who was so beautiful in her airy white dress with pink bows, and envied her gentleman. Alas, not to him, Goethe, who turned out to be only a temporary partner of the young beauty, but to the one into whose house she was soon to enter as a wife - Johann Christian Kästner.

Hope

During the two weeks that Goethe lived in Wetzlar, he seemed to have penetrated all the secrets of the small town. He also knew the nickname that Wetzlar society awarded to Mr. Councilor Kästner - “the groom.” But the fact that it was this thirty-year-old official, the first secretary at the Hanoverian embassy, ​​who was Charlotte Buff's fiancé, was a surprise to him. Only now did he remember the words uttered by one of the cousins ​​in the carriage, to which he had not attached any significance then, that Lotte was engaged. However, the engagement had not yet officially taken place, and young Kästner had not yet asked Judge Buff for his daughter’s hand in marriage, but no one in Wetzlar was mistaken about this: in six months or a year, Charlotte would be called Mrs. Kästner.

However, that evening, entering the festive hall arm in arm with Fraulein Buff, Goethe had no idea about the connections that connected the judge’s daughter with the secretary of the Hanoverian embassy. And when at some point he was left alone with Lotte, he could not stand it, leaned over her hand and pressed his lips to it. The fleeting touch awakened a lot of hope in him. Inspired, he asked Lotte for permission to visit her.

However, the next day, going to the ship, Goethe already knew about Kestner and the relationship that existed between him and Lotte. Nevertheless, dressed in a new tailcoat, custom-made in Frankfurt in the English style - with lapels and cuffs, he nevertheless appeared under the trees of the old house of Judge Buffa.

Where did his carelessness and ineradicable frivolity go, which, according to his friends, made him look like a carefree sparrow? With quiet admiration, the young lover looked at his Eloise, was happily unhappy next to her, feeling no other desire than to enjoy her presence day after day, catch her gaze, hear her voice, fulfill her desires.

One day, approaching the house under the trees, Goethe noticed a cocked hat and immediately recognized the one about whom he had been trying not to think all these days. In the courtyard next to Lotte stood Councilor Kästner, who had recently returned from a trip to Hanover. The thought flashed: how good it was that he didn’t see their meeting. Goethe still had time to turn back, but instead he bowed. In front of him stood his Lotte's fiancé, a diligent employee, reserved and, in the German manner, absolutely imperturbable.

Kästner returned the greeting politely, then, extending his hand, the other embraced him like a brother. Lotte's face lit up with a smile. At this moment, a strange Wetzlar trio arose - all three henceforth became inseparable. Indeed, it was a strange love match.

It was a wonderfully beautiful summer, they wandered among the ripe grains, enjoying the freshness of the dewy morning; the song of the lark and the cry of the quail gladdened their souls; in hot hours, when terrible thunderstorms broke out, they only clung closer to each other; there seemed to be no end to the constancy of feelings, and in general they did not understand how they could manage without each other. It was a real rural idyll: innocent, poetic against the backdrop of beautiful, almost fabulous nature.

With a heart tormented by frustration, Goethe spent hours pondering the unusual nature of this situation. True to the habit of trusting his state of mind to paper, he makes notes, which will later be so useful to him, and writes poetry. It also happened that, jumping on a horse, he ran into the mountains and disappeared for several days. When he returned, he found a pile of notes from Charlotte on his desk: “When will you visit us again?” Unable to resist the desire to see her, the next day he returned to his strange love. And again his gaze met the innocent blue eyes of Fraulein Buff.

“Oh, dear Lotte, I wanted to ask you for a favor,” he babbles, confused and stuttering with excitement more than usual, which makes his Frankfurt accent with his already careless, blurred diction simply unbearable. - For God's sake, don't get your notes wet with sand. Imagine that yesterday, as soon as I raised your letter to my lips... - after a pause, I looked searchingly at Charlotte with my brown, close-set eyes - when the damned sand creaked on my teeth.

To his chagrin, she didn’t even raise an eyebrow at these words. Did Fraulein Buff understand him at all? Or is the hope that sweet Lotte will share his affection a vain illusion? At times it seemed to him that he had realized everything completely and it was time to end this ambiguity, stop meeting with her and her fiancé. And although the latter deserved all praise and behaved in highest degree nobly - never once in the presence of his rival did Kästner exchange any kindness with Fraulein Buff - despite this, Goethe could hardly restrain himself. Finally he realized that he had no chance of success. Lotte will remain true to her choice.

He stood in front of the house under the elms and looked at the sun, last time before his eyes, setting over the valley and the quiet river.

Farewell, Charlotte, said Goethe, farewell, Kästner.

See you tomorrow, my friend,” he heard in response.

Early in the morning on a fine day, Goethe left Wetzlar and walked along the Lahn. He walked along charming shores, surprisingly varied, free by virtue of his decision, but constrained by state of mind when the proximity of living and silent nature becomes truly beneficial. His gaze contemplated near and far, mountains overgrown with bushes, castles on rocky ledges and mountain ranges blue in the distance.

He had sent his luggage to Frankfurt in advance, so he walked lightly, indulging in his feelings and fantasies.

A few days later he reached Ems, where he boarded a boat and, descending the river, sailed up the Rhine on a yacht, returning to Mainz. However, this journey is described in detail by the author in his autobiography, so there is no particular need to dwell on it.

Let's go back to Wetzlar for a while and see what's happening there.

On the same day that Goethe fled the city, Charlotte received a letter written not very legibly. On a bench in front of the house, she unfolded it and read: “My things are packed, dawn is coming. When you receive these lines, know that I have left... Now I am alone and have the right to cry. I decided to leave of my own free will before the unbearable circumstances drove me away. Always be joyful and cheerful, dear Lotte. Goodbye, goodbye a thousand times!”

How did she take this news? Was she filled with belated regret or, on the contrary, did she breathe a sigh of relief? Perhaps you felt guilty? After all, by accepting his attentions so casually, she involuntarily encouraged her admirer. And although Charlotte, like real woman, managed to keep him in check, however, showing sincere interest in Goethe, she unwittingly, by her behavior, forced the poet to admire her even more. Having weighed everything and thought it over carefully, she, as befits a person endowed with common sense, concluded: “It’s for the best that he left.”

As for Councilor Kästner, the news of their friend’s escape had a very definite effect on him: he decided to speed up the wedding day. Respected and respectable by everyone, he did not at all want, albeit belatedly, to become an object of ridicule and gossip.

Healing

Goethe stands at the window and, lost in thought, looks at the Frankfurt rooftops. They just brought him a cardboard box from under his hat. Opening it with trembling hands and seeing the pink and white wedding bouquet, he realized: Charlotte had become Mrs. Kästner.

Actually, for him it was not such a surprise. After all, at the request of those named, he himself chose and sent them wedding rings. And he promised that on their wedding day he would remove a silhouette depicting Charlotte from the wall of his room. The same cute silhouette with which he had spoken more than once in recent months, after escaping from Wetzlar, as he walked around the room. And yet he was informed about the wedding after the marriage took place. Was Kästner really afraid of his presence? Or maybe the lovers kept silent about the day of the ceremony, deciding to spare his feelings? Then why did Lotte send him her bridal bouquet - fleur d'orange? So that he would shed tears over it, inhaling memories of happiness? But for this, the pink bow she had previously given him from the dress in which he saw her for the first time was enough for him. And suddenly it dawned on him: the bow marked the beginning, the bouquet meant the end.

The tiled roofs outside the window were bright red from the recent rain. And, as if refreshed by its coolness, the poet shook off his stupor. He seemed to step back from the turbulent events of his recent life, looking at her from the outside with the soulful gaze of an artist. The stage has come when poetry will help him free himself from himself.

And, as happened more than once, Goethe found healing from love in creativity. This was the case in early years, when his infatuation with Kätchen Schönkopf, the innkeeper’s daughter, tore several Anacreontic revelations from his soul, and then. His idea was always connected with experience; he, by his own admission, wrote love poems only when he fell in love. Admiration was one of the main incentives for creativity for him. In order to overcome a heart ailment, to get rid of a passion, be it Frederica Brion or Charlotte von Stein, Lily Schonemann or Marianne von Willemar, Minna Herzlieb or Charlotte Buff, he needed to “burn passion into the spiritual,” transform reality into poetry and so way to achieve purification.

This was the case much later, when the elderly poet was visited by his last love for nineteen-year-old Ulrike von Levetzow. Like a painful dream, the lines of the famous “Marienbad Elegy” escape from his chest:

I was happy, I was engaged to a beautiful woman.

Rejected by her, perishing, doomed.

But a strange thing, having completed work on the elegy, Goethe felt that there was deliverance from the illness that was burning him, “healing from the spear with which he was wounded” had come. And S. Zweig was right when he wrote in his short story dedicated to Goethe’s last love that the poet was saved by his elegy. The poems, composed in early September 1823, during a trip to Marienbad, saved, or rather, cured him from “the deepest pain.”

Likewise, a small volume that tells about the epic of the heart young author, having cured him of his love illness, threw Goethe into the “embraces of the world,” and in an instant made his name widely known. Goethe's genius rose on the horizon of world literature, and his success was not at all explained by the shape of the poet's nose, as the “prophet from the banks of the Limmat,” the notorious physiognomist Lavater, insisted. And first of all, because “Werther” is an excellent example of lyrical prose, a work that had a huge influence on all subsequent literature. And also because in such a seemingly personal book, the poet was able to express his time so clearly and accurately, essentially creating a spiritual confession of the son of the century.

Recalling his then state during the period of writing, Goethe calls it a sleepwalking epiphany. Transferring into his book what he experienced and suffered, he believed: everything that was in real life, cannot be deciphered, because, an unknown young man, he experienced all this, if not in secret, then, in any case, without publicity.

However, is this so? Did you manage to avoid publicity?

One afternoon, September 25, 1774, a package was delivered from Frankfurt to Mrs. Kästner, who now lived with her husband in Hanover. Charlotte unwrapped the package. There was a book in it. “The Sorrows of Young Werther,” she read on the cover. Apparently, this is the same novel, she was delighted, on which Goethe, as he wrote, had been working lately, creating it to spite God and people.

Young Mrs. Kästner was burning with desire to quickly find out its contents. In the evening, my husband started reading aloud.

After reading a few pages, Mr. Advisor stopped. His gaze expressed first embarrassment, then alarm, and finally indignation. It seemed to him that Goethe had gone mad.

What do you say about this, Lotte?

Yes, it’s terrible,” she barely said. The couple sat one next to the other, and next to them lay a small book of more than a hundred pages, which plunged them into bewilderment. No, they were not deceived, despite the fact that the author attributed the events described to 1771, that is, a year earlier than all three of them met in Wetzlar. This is a trick for children; Isn’t it clear that the heroine is Charlotte (the writer didn’t even bother to change her name!), the adviser Kästner is turned into Albert, and Werther is, naturally, Goethe himself. Everything, everything, right down to the details of the intimate relationships of the Wetzlar betrothed couples, was put on public display in the novel. Even the most insignificant details were, as it seemed to the Kästner couple, borrowed from genuine reality; so this is what Goethe meant when shortly before, in June, he wrote to them: “...soon I will send you a friend who is very similar to me; I hope you will receive it well; his name is "Werther". It turns out he meant this disgusting little book. No, it is positively dangerous to have a writer as your friend.

As for Goethe, he was really worried about how the Kästners would receive his novel, and did not want to offend them, much less offend them. He hoped for understanding on their part. What is it! They continued to be angry, especially Mr. Councilor. Just think, so many details of their relationship - Lotte, Kästner and Goethe - were included in the book unchanged! And what is the meaning of the phrase that in Lotte’s eyes on the eve of her wedding with him, Kästner, Goethe read unfeigned concern for himself and his fate. This is too much!

But there we're talking about about black eyes, Hans,” Charlotte timidly remarked to her husband. - As you can see, mine are blue.

Is it all about the eyes? - Kästner cried and threw the book away in despair. However, Charlotte, not without annoyance, noted this discrepancy between the eye color of her and Goethe’s heroine. The unmistakable feminine instinct did not deceive her, but she quickly coped with the feeling of jealousy that arose. Meanwhile, Madam Advisor was not far from the truth. The author created his Lotte from the appearances and characteristics of many women (hence the black eyes), although the main features were borrowed from his beloved. And we must also take into account the property of Goethe, which C. Sainte-Beuve pointed out in his time - the ability to distance himself from his characters in time, even in those cases when he himself was their prototype.

But Mr. Kästner had nothing to do with Goethe's ability to create images by merging different prototypes; he saw in Lotte only his wife, and in Alberta - a personal portrait, not at all flattering, portraying him as pathetic mediocrity. Such a book, it seemed to Kästner, had no chance of success. And if so, then is it worth quarreling with the author over some immodest novel, the adviser reasoned. And, taking up the pen, Kestner wrote a conciliatory letter.

Soon an answer came, where Goethe asked his offended friends for forgiveness. And they forgave him, and Charlotte did it with joy, because she secretly felt flattered to become the inspiration for the author of such a book!

“The world kills the kindest, the gentlest and the strongest indiscriminately. And if you are neither one nor the other and not the third, then you can be sure that your turn will come, just not so soon.”

E. Hemingway "Gertrude Stein"

“For the poet there is not a single historical person; he wants to depict his moral world”

In her memoirs, M. Shaginyan describes how in her youth she experienced unhappy love and attempted suicide. She was pumped out and placed in the hospital for a while. Her nanny, looking for a way to calm her down, said: “Look how many women there are here. Where are the men who die of love?

“The Sorrows of Young Werther” is a small book. Having written it, the twenty-five-year-old author “woke up world famous” the next day.
“Werther” was read everywhere. And in Germany, and in France, and in Russia. Napoleon Bonaparte took her with him on his Egyptian campaign.

“The action of this story was great, one might say enormous, mainly because it came at a time when just one piece of smoldering tinder is enough to detonate a large mine, so here the explosion that occurred among the readership was so great because the young world I’ve already undermined my own foundations.” (V. Belinsky)

What is this book about? About love? About suffering? About life and death? About personality and society? And about this, and about the other, and about the third.

But what caused such unprecedented interest in her? Attention to the inner world of a person. Creating a three-dimensional image of the hero. Detail of the image, psychologism, depth of penetration into the character. For the 18th century, all this was a first. (The same thing happened in the painting of that time. From the local writing of Giotto - to the detailing of the Dutch, where every petal, drop on the hand, tenderness of a smile is visible.)

The Sorrows of Young Werther was a great step towards realism in both German and European literature of the 18th century. Already the sketches of burgher family life (Lotta surrounded by her sisters and brothers) seemed like a revelation then: after all, the question is whether philistinism is worthy of being the subject of artistic display I was just deciding. Even more disturbing was the portrayal of the swaggering nobility in the novel.

The epistolary genre in which the novel is written is one of the components of success and interest in the novel. A novel in the letters of a young man who died of love. This alone took the breath away of readers (and especially female readers) of that time.

In his old age, Goethe wrote about the novel: “Here is the creation that I nourished with the blood of my own heart. There is so much internal stuff put into it, taken from my own soul, felt and rethought..."
Indeed, the novel is based on personal emotional drama writer. IN
Wetzler played out Goethe's unhappy romance with Charlotte Buff (Kästner).
A sincere friend of her fiancé, Goethe loved her, and Charlotte, although she rejected his love, did not remain indifferent to him. All three knew this. One day
Kestner received a note: “He is gone, Kestner, when you receive these lines, know that he is gone...”

Based on my own heartfelt experience and weaving into my experiences the story of the suicide of another unhappy lover - the secretary of the Breunschweig embassy at the Weizler Court Chamber, young
Jerusalem, Goethe and created “The Sorrows of Young Werther”.

“I carefully collected everything that I managed to find out about the history of the poor
Werther..." wrote Goethe, and was sure that readers "will be imbued with love and respect for his mind and heart, and will shed tears over his fate."

“Invaluable friend, what is the human heart? I love you so much. We were inseparable...and now we parted..." Goethe created his works in line with the philosophical constructs of Rousseau and especially Herder, so revered by him. Due to his own artistic perception of the world and refracting Herder’s thoughts in his work, he wrote both poetry and prose only “from the fullness of feeling” (“feeling is everything”).

But his hero dies not only from unhappy love, but also from discord with the society around him. This conflict is “ordinary.” It testifies to the unusualness and originality of a person. Without conflict there is no hero. The hero himself creates the conflict.

Some critics see the main reason for Werther’s suicide in his incredible discord with the entire bourgeois-aristocratic society, and his unhappy love is regarded only as the last straw that confirmed his decision to leave this world. I just can't agree with this statement.
It seems to me that the novel should be considered primarily as lyrical work, in which there is a tragedy of the heart, of love, even if divided, but unable to unite the lovers. Yes, it is undoubtedly necessary to take into account Werther’s disappointment in society, his rejection of this society, the incomprehensibility of himself, and hence the tragedy of the loneliness of the individual in society. But we should not forget that the cause of suicide is Werther’s hopeless love for Lotte. Really,
Werther initially becomes disillusioned with society, not with life. And it is impossible not to share this opinion. The fact that he seeks to break off his relationship with a society alien to him and despised by him does not mean that he does not see any meaning and joy in life. After all, he is able to enjoy nature, communication with people who do not wear masks and behave naturally. His rejection of society does not come from a conscious protest, but from a purely emotional and spiritual rejection. This is not a revolution, but youthful maximalism, the desire for goodness, the logic of the world, which is characteristic of, perhaps, everyone in youth, so one should not exaggerate his criticism of society. Werther is not against society as a society, but against its forms, which conflict with the naturalness of the young soul.

In Werther's tragedy the love is primary, and the social is secondary. With what feeling did he, even in his first letters, describe the surrounding area and nature: “My soul is illuminated with unearthly joy, like these spring mornings, which I enjoy with all my heart. I am completely alone and blissful in this land, as if created for people like me. I am so happy, my friend, so intoxicated by the feeling of peace...I am often tormented by the thought: “Ah! How to express, how to breathe into a drawing what is so full, what lives so reverently in me, to give a reflection of my soul, as my soul is a reflection of the eternal God!

He writes that either “deceptive spirits, or one’s own ardent imagination” turns everything around into paradise. Agree, it is very difficult to name
Werther is a man disillusioned with life. Complete harmony with nature and ourselves. What kind of suicide are we talking about here? Yes, he is cut off from society. But he’s not burdened by this, it’s already in the past. Not finding understanding in society, seeing its countless vices, Werther refuses it. Society is disharmonious for Werther, nature is harmonious. He sees beauty and harmony in nature, as well as in everything that has not lost its naturalness.

Love for Lotte makes Werther the happiest of people. He's writing
Wilhelm: “I am experiencing such happy days that the Lord reserves for his holy saints, and no matter what happens to me, I do not dare to say that I have not known the joys, the purest joys of life.” Love for Lotte elevates Werther. He enjoys the happiness of communicating with Lotte and nature. He is happy to know that she and her brothers and sisters need him. Thoughts about the insignificance of society, which once overwhelmed him, do not at all darken his boundless happiness.

Only after the arrival of Albert, Lotte's fiancé, does Werther realize that he is losing Lotte forever. And by losing her, he loses EVERYTHING. Critical view
Werther's attitude to society does not prevent him from living, and only the collapse of love, a dead end
“soulful and loving” leads him to the end. Often in critical articles Lotte is called Werther's only joy. In my opinion, this is not entirely true.
Lotte, Werther’s love for her, managed to fill his entire soul, his entire world.
She became not his only joy, but ALL! And the more tragic is the fate awaiting him.

Werther understands that he must leave. He is unable to look at happiness
Albert and next to him feel his suffering even more acutely. Werther, with pain in his heart, decides to leave, hoping, if not for healing, then at least to drown out the pain. Having temporarily cast aside his conviction about the meaninglessness of any activity in such a society, he enters service at the embassy, ​​in the hope that at least the work will bring peace and tranquility to his soul. But bitter disappointment awaits him. Everything that he had previously observed from the sidelines and condemned - aristocratic arrogance, egoism, veneration for rank - now surrounded him with a terrible wall.

After being insulted by Count von K., he leaves the service. An infected society cannot become a cure for the passion that torments it. (Can there be such a medicine at all? Especially for such a subtle and sensitive person as Werther.) Society, on the contrary, like a poison, poisons Werther’s soul. And here, perhaps, only here can society be accused of direct involvement in Werther’s suicide. We must not forget that Werther should not be considered as real person and identify with Goethe himself.
Werther is a literary figure, and therefore, in my opinion, it is impossible to talk about how his fate would have developed if he had seen the need for his activities for society. So, society is unable to give him either happiness or even peace of mind. Werther cannot extinguish the flame of love for Lotte. He still suffers, suffers immensely. That's when thoughts of suicide begin to come to him. There is no longer any light or joy in his letters to Wilhelm, they are becoming darker and darker. Werther writes: “Why should what constitutes a person’s happiness at the same time be a source of suffering?
My powerful and ardent love for living nature, which filled me with such bliss, turning the entire world around me into paradise, has now become my torment and, like a cruel demon, haunts me on all paths...
It was as if a curtain had been lifted before me and the spectacle of endless life turned for me into the abyss of an ever-open grave.”

Reading about Werther’s suffering, one involuntarily asks the question: what is love for him? For Werther this is happiness. He wants to swim in it endlessly. But happiness is sometimes moments. And love is bliss, and pain, and torment, and suffering. He cannot withstand such mental stress.

Werther returns to Lotte. He himself realizes that he is moving with inexorable speed towards the abyss, but he sees no other way. Despite the doom of his situation, sometimes hope awakens in him: “Some changes are happening in me every minute. Sometimes life smiles on me again, alas! Just for a moment!...” Werther is becoming more and more like a madman. His meetings with Lotte bring him both happiness and inexorable pain: “As soon as I look into her black eyes, I feel better…” “How I suffer! Oh, were people really so unhappy before me?

The thought of suicide increasingly takes hold of Werther and he thinks more and more that this is the only way to get rid of his suffering. He himself, as it were, convinces himself of the necessity of this act. This is clearly evidenced by his letters to Wilhelm: “God knows how often I go to bed with the desire, and sometimes with the hope of never waking up, in the morning I open my eyes, see the sun and fall into melancholy.” December 8th.

“No, no, I’m not destined to come to my senses. At every step I encounter phenomena that throw me off balance. And today! Oh rock! O people!
December 1.

“I am a lost man! My mind is clouded, I haven’t been myself for a week now, my eyes are full of tears. I feel equally bad and equally good everywhere. I don't want anything, I don't ask for anything. It’s better for me to leave completely.” December 14.

Even before the last meeting with Lotte, Werther decides to commit suicide: “Oh, how I feel at peace that I have decided.”

In his last meeting with Lotte, Werther is firmly convinced that she loves him. And now nothing scares him anymore. He is full of hope, he is sure that there, in heaven, he and Lotte will unite and “will remain in each other’s arms forever in the face of the eternal.” So Werther dies because of his tragic love.

Reflections on suicide in Goethe's novel appear long before his hero comes up with the idea of ​​committing suicide. This happens when Werther comes across Albert's pistols. In a conversation, Werther puts a pistol to his head as a joke, to which Albert reacts extremely negatively: “I can’t even imagine how a person can reach such madness as to shoot himself: the very thought disgusts me.” On this
Werther objects to him that one cannot condemn a suicide without knowing the reasons for such a decision. Albert says that nothing can justify suicide; here he strictly adheres to church morality, arguing that suicide
- this is an undoubted weakness: it is much easier to die than to endure martyrdom. Werther has a completely different opinion on this matter. He talks about the limit of human mental strength, comparing it with the limit of human nature: “A person can endure joy, grief, pain only to a certain extent, and when this degree is exceeded, he perishes. So the question is not whether he is strong or weak, but whether he can endure the extent of his suffering, regardless of mental or physical strength, and, in my opinion, it is just as wild to say: a coward who takes his own life is as well as to call him a coward a man dying of a malignant fever." Deadly disease Vereter transfers a person, his physical exhaustion, to the spiritual sphere. He says
Albert: “Look at a person with his closed inner world: how impressions act on him, how obsessive thoughts take root in him, until an ever-growing passion deprives him of all self-control and leads him to death.” Werther believes that the decision to commit suicide can undoubtedly only be strong man, and he compares it with a people who rebelled and broke their chains.

How did Goethe himself feel about suicide? Of course, he treated his hero with great love and regret. (After all, in many ways
Werther - himself). In the preface, he calls on those who have fallen “to the same temptation to draw strength from its suffering.” He in no way condemns Werther's actions. But at the same time, in my opinion, he does not consider suicide to be the act of a brave person. Although he does not make any final verdicts in the novel, but rather presents two points of view, it can be assumed (based on his own fate) that his fate
Werther was one of the possible ones. But he chose life and creativity. After all
Goethe, in addition to happy and unhappy love, also knew the agony and joy of writing a line.

The motif of love in Goethe’s work never ceased, just like love itself. Besides, he always returned to his youth. love stories. After all, he wrote “Faust” when he was no longer a young man, and Margarita was in many ways a reflection of Friederike Brion, whom he loved in his youth and whom he was afraid to marry at one time because he did not want to give up his freedom (hence the tragedy of Margarita in “ Faust"). So for him, love and youth were the “engine” of creativity. After all, when love ends, creativity ends.

It is no coincidence that poets shoot themselves after thirty. Lilya Brik wrote: “Volodya didn’t know how he could live when he wasn’t young.” (Of course, it’s not just about age, but about the youth of the soul and preserving the energy of love. Goethe himself last fell in love, according to his biographers, at the age of 74 with a seventeen-year-old girl). Anyone who has run out of this energy of love and who is not a poet can commit suicide. Who doesn’t have the divine gift to pour it all out into lines?

LIST OF REFERENCES USED

Goethe “The Sorrows of Young Werther” BVL, Moscow, 1980

I. Mirimsky “On the German classics” Moscow, 1957, his article “The Sorrows of Young Werther” intro. article for Georg's novel
Lukács, 1939

V. Belinsky “On Goethe” Collected works. Volume 3 Goslitizdat, M., 1950

Wilmant "Goethe" GIHL., 1956

A. Pushkin PSS, vol. 7, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, M., 1949.