Falling into Insanity Essay -- Essays Papers

Falling into InsanityAs readers of great novels, we are always examining and explaining the actions and thoughts of characters. Are we the only ones? Or do the characters actually analyze their own thoughts and actions as we do? In Goethes The Sorrows of Young Werther, the protagonist, Werther, tells the story of his sack out for angel shark and the ensuing hardships through letters to his friend and confidante, Wilhelm. Through various situations and excerpts from his letters, we see Werther simply gliding through life, not pondering the motivations for his thoughts and actions, or even call into question his own state-of-mind the effects of this lack of self-awareness negatively affect him and eventually lead him to commit suicide. Throughout the novel, Werther never ponders the thoughts and motivations that cause him to first fall madly in love with Lotte, then become obsessed, and finally to commit suicide because he cannot be with her. He never really asks himself why h e allows himself to spend so much time with her, why all aspects of his previous life no longer interest him, or why he cannot even hold a job. Near the start of his love obsession with Lotte, he believes that he must spend every hour of the day with herin order to prove to her at every moment that he is wholly devoted to her (Goethe, 14-15). He doesnt pay any attention to the fact that she is already engaged to another human being Werther simply cannot fathom that he would not try to make her fall as deeply in love with him as he is with her. Its to the highest degree as if he knows he is going overboard with his affections for her, but he doesnt care. Werther believes his love for Lotte knows no limits, and he never even thinks intimately the social restrictions on woo... ...e suffering and eventual death. Throughout his short time with Lotte, Werther falls more and more deeply in love with her, and consequently, falls get on into madness. He never analyzes his own mot ivations for continuing allowing his love for Lotte to grow and he never examines the extent that it has affected his sanity. Werther finally goes completely insane afterward Lotte tells him he no longer can see her as often. He commits suicide, the ultimate manic sacrifice, as he realizes he cannot have Lotte. As readers, we constantly analyze characters acts. By not pondering the motivations for his thoughts and actions, or even questioning his own sanity, Werther is deeply affected by his love in a negative fashion, eventually ending in his own suicide. Works CitedGoethe, Johann Wolfgang von. The Sorrows of Young Werther. New York City Vintage Books, 1990.