The Sorrows of Young Werther
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The Sorrows of Young Werther
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"The Sorrows of Young Werther" by Johann Wolfgang Goethe is an epistolary novel published in 1774. Through passionate letters to a friend, young artist Werther recounts his enchantment with a fictional village and its simple peasants. There he meets Charlotte, a beautiful young woman caring for her siblings—and falls deeply in love despite knowing she's engaged to another man. As their friendship deepens and circumstances shift, Werther's unrequited passion becomes an unbearable torment that demands resolution.
About the book
Published in 1774, The Sorrows of Young Werther is the novel that made Johann Wolfgang von Goethe famous at twenty-four. Told mostly through Werther's letters to a friend, it follows a sensitive young man who falls in love with Lotte, a woman already engaged to another man, in a country town. Goethe drew on his own unhappy infatuation and on the death of an acquaintance, and his portrait of feeling pushed to its limit became a sensation across Europe. Readers dressed like Werther and debated the book's morality, and it became one of the defining works of the Sturm und Drang movement. This edition uses the English translation by R. Dillon Boylan.
Characters
Werther — Protagonist
A passionate, sensitive young man who writes of everything he feels.
Lotte — The woman he loves
A warm and capable young woman who cares for her younger brothers and sisters.
Albert — Lotte’s fiancé
A steady, sensible man engaged to Lotte.
Wilhelm — Werther’s friend
The friend to whom most of Werther’s letters are written.
The editor — Narrator
The voice that gathers Werther’s letters and tells the rest of the story.