Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's novel, The Sufferings of Young Werther portrays a young man coming to terms with his position in society, his views on life, and more importantly, his affections for Lötte. In reading the novel, and trying to reach a greater understanding of its meanings, it is important to distinguish that this is a middle-class novel, dealing with a young middle-class man in late eighteenth century Germany. Though the novel is middle-class in substance, it should be noted that it did enjoy a wide readership, which included the aristocracy. Goethe expressed these middle-class themes in the character of Werther, his social interactions with individuals in and out of his class, and in his examination of the young protagonist's sufferings.
It is clear in the novel that Werther is a young, educated middle-class German. In understanding this characterization of Werther, it should be noted that at the time when this novel takes place, the middle-class was generally divided between the educated middle-class and the entrepreneurial middle-class. Werther's education played an integral part in the development of his character. The most immediate sign of this was that the novel is written as letters to different individuals indicating that Werther was both intelligent and literate.
Werther is introduced to the reader as a naturalist, in that he takes great pleasure in the natural beauty that surrounds him. This is seen in his description of a garden, which was not designed scientifically, but to maximize that amount of enjoyment that could be derived (2). It is mentioned in the footnotes of the text that this is a part of the Sturm und Drang movement, with the preference of the natural over the scientific...
... middle of paper ...
...imself in at the end of the novel. Thus Goethe gives a passionate defense for Werther's suicide.
The Sufferings of Young Werther is a middle-class novel in the sense that it portrays an individual from the educated middle-class. This education made Werther a passionate, idealistic individual, who followed many of the tenants of the Sturm und Drang movement. It also allowed him to enter into government service and interact, on a limited basis, with members of the aristocracy. Yet being a part of the middle-class, he was separated from the "common folks" and the aristocracy. The former treated him with initial suspicion and the latter publicly erected their social barriers of distinction. Finally, Goethe treats the character of Werther as a tragic figure, whom is ennobled by his willingness to put an end to his suffering by ending his life.
In Emerson’s article, Nature, the passage shows great value of how man and nature can be similar. The article shows in many ways how man can represent nature, and how nature can represent everything. Emerson’s Nature can be related to Guy Montag’s journey into nature in Fahrenheit 451, and the author’s ways of showing similarity between man and vegetable can be presented as showing how nature is mixed in with literature and humans.
Perceptions of the natural world have fluctuated throughout humanity’s short time on this earth, going in and out of style as societies and technologies have grown and died. As is the the very nature of literature itself, literature and its authors have managed to capture these shifting views, expressed and illustrated by the art of written word. Naturally, the literature chosen for us to read based on this fluid theme of nature encompasses an array of perspectives. One of these views is that nature is sublime and above all else, a reflection of all that which is perfection. Another is that nature is cold, uncaring, and indifferent to the vanities of humanity.
Throughout the Romanticism period, human’s connection with nature was explored as writers strove to find the benefits that humans receive through such interactions. Without such relationships, these authors found that certain aspects of life were missing or completely different. For example, certain authors found death a very frightening idea, but through the incorporation of man’s relationship with the natural world, readers find the immense utility that nature can potentially provide. Whether it’d be as solace, in the case of death, or as a place where one can find oneself in their own truest form, nature will nevertheless be a place where they themselves were derived from. Nature is where all humans originated,
[In the following essay, Millhauser considers Frankenstein's monster in relation to the tradition of the noble savage in literature.]
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe began writing The Sorrows of Young Werther in the early part of 1774. It was written during the Sturm and Drang period in Germany. Sturm and Drang, or more conventionally known as Storm and Stress, was an attempt by people in this period to free themselves from the strict rationalism of the enlightenment period. It is about a young man, Werther, who finds himself in an impossible situation. He is in love with a young woman named Charlotte. Despite knowing that Charlotte is already engaged to another man, Werther continues to ...
Nietzsche begins the essay with a question about fame “Is fame actually nothing but the tastiest morsel of our self-love?” saying how fame is like a moment of illumination “it has been linked to the rarest of men and to their rarest moments. These are moments of sudden illumination” he then goes on using metaphors to describe the “illumination” and man’s relationship with fame. Believing that with fame people feel immortal because culture dictates that anything great will live on forever and the feeling of immortality will have people thinking the world is their’s to own “From now on humanity needs him.” “he believes himself to be immortal as the man of this moment.” Later in the essay he furthers his
As Wertheim finishes his criticism with the final section of the story, he brings in several arguments about the fault of the Swedes death and the punishment of the gambler. He brings in the argument about the "affirmation of the Howellsian doctrine of complicity" and "the existential necessity for human brotherhood in a viable society.
Gray, Jessica H. . "Creating Nature." English 610- British Romanticism. Professor J. Jennifer Jones, 25 10 2005. Web. 12 Mar 2010. .
Strayer gives multiple interesting points about nature and it’s connection to the health of the mind. He gives examples of people of history who used nature in a calm and relaxing way to heal and preserve. Cyrus the Great, for example. He built relaxation gardens. (56) This is an interesting point because these people who lived years and years
Just like Edgar Allen Poe created mirror images of himself in his work, for some of his readers, they could share similar emotions he felt, and connect to his work themselves. There are some people today that, “All [they] lov’d, [they] lov’d alone” (Poe). Poe expresses that he felt this way in his reflective poem, Alone, in a way that readers that have felt lonely or are outcasts can level with. A contributing factor to Romanticism becoming such a big movement was that unlike the books of science and logic that quantitatively explained processes of life such as most literature did in the Age of Enlightenment, people would read romantic literature and feel a connection in their hearts that simply could not be measured with numbers. Additionally, an audience that felt they had a, “secluded life,”or an, “intense application,” that, “had an effect on both [their] mind and body,” like many students these days, could empathize with Gottfried Wolfgang in Irving’s, The Adventure Of The German Student. It is important that many of the readers can apply this to their life because the actions that later follow the initial causes of Wolfgang’s insanity may be a somewhat stretched representation of how they feel inside at some points of their lives. If some one’s studies impairs their health or causes their imagination to become, “Diseased,” then
Of course it is clear that Werther is not a professional historiana and the things that he looks for to identify others as a member of the community are present day features; it could be said that he falls for some of the fears that the other writers address as problems with historical perspective but at the end of the day he is seeking history , not with the intent of creating a perfect picture, but the intent to inspire feelings in others and give them the idea that no matter what is said by the dominant culture that they have a place in the world. Perhaps Werther sacrifices the technical for feeling but that is a very human intent that isn't unfamiliar to those within marginalized communities where sometimes the most important history may be the one that inspires confidence and courage rather than the most
...rban. The novel is classified by Hardy under the category of Novels of Ingenuity. Nevertheless, the novel is an expression of the class divisions within the society. This is supported statistically by the vector profiles of this group. This argument is again supported by Page (2000) and Widdowson (1998; 1989). They stress the idea that class awareness is a major theme in The Hand of Ethelberta.
As we have seen through my analysis of this novel, the ideals of Lacanian psychoanalysis can be applied to situations found throughout the novel in order to interpret the actions of the main character. We have seen that Goldmund has developed through the different phases of development set forth by Lacan in his work. We also have identified that the ‘desire’ of the main character is to meet his mother, while his ‘signifiers’ are the many women that he has brief relationships with. From this interpretation of Goldmund and his desire, you can see that Lacanian psychoanalysis is an effective and exceptionally useful way to approach critically examining literature.
transformation of the lives of others as well as his own. In this respect, the lesson of the Romantic hero is comprised less of romance than of utility. Following the trends of the Goethe’s contemporary evolving society, the means by which Faust succeeds in accomplishing his goals are largely selfish, brutal, and unethical. This is perhaps Goethe’s single greatest reflection on the modern nature of heroism.
Hermann Hesse's Steppenwolf presents a paradoxical picture of the bourgeoisie. The main character, Harry Haller, acknowledges his bourgeois upbringing and frequently has a bourgeois view about various aspects of society; however, at the same time, he condemns the bourgeois lifestyle and all that it represents because of his perceived alienation from it.