Moscow State University them. M.V. Lomonosov

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Faculty of Journalism.

Genre features of Goethe's novel "Suffering" young Werther».

Teacher: Vannikova N.I.

Essay by a 2nd year student

Moscow 2004

One of the most important works Goethe is an epistolary novel “The Sorrows of Young Werther” (1774) - one of outstanding works 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 artistic the opening of the XVIII centuries, 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 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 a new life goal to which everything is subordinated, 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 most common features: the depiction of a person in complex forms of the life process, the multilinearity 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 the sufferer young man, And love triangle, and intrigue, and, as mentioned above, a sharp social theme- human 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 predominantly psychological character, in the second - mainly social, everyday. 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 a “lyrical diary” inspired by a “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 confession diary of a man in love. It is interesting to note that if in a sentimental novel emotionality is a special mental make-up, subtlety of feelings, vulnerability, complex moral standards, which 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, 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 “concerning 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.

“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 effect of this story was great, one might say enormous, mainly because it came at a time when just one piece of smoldering tinder was enough to detonate a large mine, so here the explosion that occurred among the readership was so great because 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 at that time: after all, the question of whether philistinism was worthy of being the subject of artistic depiction was just being resolved. 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 have 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 worldview 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, which 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, first of all, as a lyrical work in which the tragedy of the heart and love occurs, 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 area and nature surrounding him: “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 experience such happy Days, which the Lord reserves for his holy saints, and no matter what happens to me, I will not dare to say that I have not known 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, selfishness, 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 - literary image, 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, turned the whole the world, 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 dead person! 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. I’d better 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 the 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. This means that the question is not whether he is strong or weak, but whether he can endure the extent of his suffering, whether mental or physical strength and, in my opinion, it is just as wild to say: a coward who takes his own life, as to call a coward a person dying of a malignant fever.” Vereter transfers a person’s fatal illness and physical exhaustion to the spiritual sphere. He says
Albert: “Look at the man with his withdrawn 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 pain and joy of writing a line.

The motif of love in Goethe’s work never ceased, just like love itself. In addition, he kept returning to his young 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 time 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.

L-forms of bacteria, their characteristics and role in human pathology. Factors promoting the formation of L-forms. Mycoplasmas and diseases caused by them.

U-shape and performance characteristics of a synchronous motor

Brief recap:

“The Sorrows of Young Werther” is an epistolary novel, the action of which takes place in one of the small German towns in late XVIII V. The novel consists of two parts - these are letters from Werther himself and additions to them under the heading “From the publisher to the 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 the world around him evokes in him.

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 the girl’s close friends’ name, - 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, in order 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 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 old 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 a girl he knew, B., 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. At this point the young man’s letters end, and about him 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 Farewell letter his beloved, 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.

The work was written in the epistolary genre, popular for the 18th century, in which Rousseau and Richardson had already distinguished themselves. Rousseau also chose this genre in order to trace internal changes, the struggle of passions, thoughts, feelings in a person, because constant letters seem to be a kind of diary, moreover, addressed not to oneself, but to another person, and then more detailed and clear. Goethe tried to reflect the experiences, the “suffering” of a young man, under the flow of feelings, intense jealousy, love, making the decision to die, but this is not perceived by the main character as an escape, but as a protest, liberation from the chains of passions and torment (in a conversation with a reasonable and sober-minded Albert, who calls suicide weakness - after all, it is easier to die than to endure torment with firmness, Werther says: “If the people, groaning under the intolerable yoke of a tyrant, finally rebel and break their chains, will you really call them weak?”). In his letters, Werther is reflected in his own definitions himself, however, the publisher’s more calm and “concise” tone, describing last days Werther, no less clearly allow us to reflect the character and vivid experiences of the hero, because The reader already manages to get acquainted with the motivation of his actions and the inner world of the hero from Werther’s letters. And thanks to this, it becomes easier to perceive Werther’s behavior even after he stops writing his “diary letters.” 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, which ends in a tragic denouement - suicide.

The novel was written in 1774 under the impression of the earlier suicide of a man Goethe knew - a young official, unable to bear his humiliated position and unhappy love, committed suicide, and an open book “Emilia Galotti” was found on his table (the same detail is also mentioned when describing the circumstances of Werther's death).

Throughout the novel, the hero's vision of the world changes - from an idyllic perception, full of optimism and joy, from reading the heroic and bright Homer, the hero, gradually losing his beloved, whose friendly feelings are not enough for him, then realizing his low position when his presence at a social meeting turns out to be to the unpleasant guests of Count von K., - plunges into the dark abyss of passions and suffering, he begins to read and translate “foggy Ossian” (he reads his own translation of a passage of Ossian (made by Goethe) together with his beloved, but unable to reciprocate his feelings, Lotte). At the same moment of spiritual tension and excitement, Lotte and Werther simultaneously remember Klopstock’s ode. 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 to 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 time for him begins in the fall, Lotte’s last dying letter is wrote on December 21. Thus, Werther’s fate reflects the flourishing and dying that occurs in nature, just as it was with mythical heroes.

Werther's character is contrasted with the character of the groom, and later Lotte's husband - the pragmatist Albert, cold, calm, sober look which does not coincide with the opinions of Werther and causes controversy between them. However, both characters respect each other, and Werther's suicide affects Albert, since even on the night when Werther asks Charlotte for pistols, Albert assures his wife that this cannot happen.

One interpretation of Werther’s action is “a protest of an extraordinary, restless nature against the squalor of German reality.”

The innovation of L. Stern’s “paradoxical” novels. Stern as a representative of sentimentalism.

The poetry of N.M. Karamzin as an example of Russian sentimentalism.

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 later 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 surrounding life, people, and 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, which ends in a tragic denouement - suicide.

Werther is a man of feeling, he has his own religion, and in this he is like Goethe himself, who with youth 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.

Before our eyes, the complex process of the hero’s mental life is developing. 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 “what narrow limits the creative and cognitive powers of mankind are limited” (May 22) and from the fact that the awareness of these limitations did not allow him to conduct active, active life- He doesn’t see the point in it. So he gives in to the desire to leave this life and plunge into himself: “I withdraw into myself and open 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 by unsuccessful love, but also by the fact that, as in personal life, and in life, social 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, unverified 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 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. It's about 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 exacerbates his tendency to extremes, sudden transitions of one state of mind in the opposite way, it 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 due to the peculiarities of his nature, in which personal drama and oppressed social status gave an advantage 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 - these are 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 the world around him evokes in him.

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, and draws. At a country youth ball, he meets Charlotte S. and falls madly in love with her. Lotta, as the girl’s close friends call her, is the eldest daughter of the princely ruler; 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.

One day, in order 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 argument 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.

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. Werther's appearance 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. At this point, the young man’s letters end, and we learn about his future fate from the publisher.

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. At a youth ball outside the city, he meets Charlotte, who is a substitute for his brothers and sisters. deceased mother. 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 is getting 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. One day he met Lotte on the eve of Christmas, but she asks him not to visit them until 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 her to leave.

Johann Wolfgang Goethe and Charlotte Buff: the suffering of young Werther. Analysis of the novel “The Sorrows of Young Werther” (I

"The Sorrows of Young Werther"