Werther, the Poète Maudit: Representations of the Ego in “Edenic” Wahlheim Anonymous College

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther depicts the life of the psychologically troubled Werther, the young protagonist and artist. The novel was one of the earliest examples of the prototypical Romantic figure in literature and highlights the follies of a passionate temperament and the harm that may cause others. This idea is encapsulated in the “sturm und drang” literary and cultural movement, where it was important to express individual subjectivity, and freely express (extreme) emotions that were otherwise restricted by the concurring Enlightenment movement. Werther causes people to suffer because he is portraying the persona of the tortured artist, or the “poète maudit”. This occurs through a love of the self that is strong enough for Werther to develop unrealistic expectations of the people in his life. I will argue that through egoistic suicide, romanticizing peasant life, and projecting Eden-like imagery onto his surroundings and its citizens, Werther creates an imaginary reality that not only causes his ultimate demise but also subjugates Lotte to suffer; this makes Werther the a characteristic Romantic figure.

Werther utilizes something that Tobin Seibers calls “egoistic suicide” in his article...