Werther is a discouraged man who tries to move on with his life despite the prevailing circumstances. He finds himself in a situation where he cannot move on with life and wishes things were different. ‘Goethe’s sorrows of Young Werther’ is a love story with a tragic end. This is a typical practical view of Burke’s theory of the sublime and the beautiful. Throughout the story, we are encountered with characters who are frustrated because of romantic experiences that did not turn out well for them. The fact that they could not move on with their lives unless their hearts desires were met is what led to the tragic end of the story. In this paper, we shall mainly be focusing on one of the characters in the story, Werther and how Burke’s theory became a reality in the events that happened in his life.
Pain which is one of the features of the sublime is what best describes Werther’s predicaments. He is found in a situation where he is in love with a girl who is engaged to somebody else. Most painful however is the fact that the girl is similarly in love with him yet they cannot make that decision to be together. They hence have to dramatise their love which they both know will never be a reality. Knowing that Lotte is in love with him makes life beautiful for Werther. The assurance that he feels love for a person who feels the same becomes a sense of hope to him. It however pains him to realise that no matter how much their love grows, they will never have a chance to physically express it to each other. This is the feeling that worsens Werther’s situation and ultimately makes him to harbour thoughts of suicide and death. “Sometimes I don't understand how another can love her, is allowed to love her, since I love her so completely myself, so intensely, so fully, grasp nothing, know nothing, have nothing but her!” (goethe)
Werther has just found a person whose heart yearns for. He seems to be so much satisfied with the feeling that he never thinks of being engaged to another girl. To him, there is nothing that can satisfy him more than Lotte. The fact that Lotte has a similar feeling and that she can steal some moments just to assure him of his love is what keeps him going. He constant stumbling block however is Lotte’s fiancé who seems to be there to stay. He is the main hindrance towards their love. As long as he is still alive, Werther will never get a chance to fully express his feelings for Lotte. Werther feels sick at the fact that his love towards Lotte will remain to be a dream and drama as long as Albert is alive This therefore makes Werther to be tied in between hating himself for loving Lotte or hating Albert for being alive. “What a torment it is to see so much loveliness passing and repassing before us, and yet not dare to lay hold of it! (Goethe)
In the theory of the sublime and the beautiful, Burke describes the emotional feeling within an individual that comes from nature yet hit hard by the reality of the prevailing circumstances. In this case, it is naturally beautiful for Werther to know that he is naturally in love with a girl who feels the same for him. This causes joy and hope to the couple who clings to the fact that one fate may bring them together(Koch 82). The sublime is however expressed through the pain of knowing that things may never happen as they hoped them to happen. After holding unto hope for quite some time with no signs of change, Werther’s situation moves from hope to grace to intense pain that he can handle no more. With such overwhelming situations around him, he realises that it is time for action. To him, life is not worth living if he cannot have Lotte for himself. This reality hits him harder by the fact that Albert is there to stay.
Werther held unto hope until when he encountered people who had gone through what he is going through with no success. He meets Heinrich and the country lad who shared similar experiences. These are two gentlemen who lost themselves because they had undying passion for women they never got a chance to express their passions. Fate befalls on them and hence making Werther empathise with the same. The most intruding was the story of Henrich who was a mad man. He not only insulted him but also got to learn that he relates with his story. Realising that a mad man was once in love with the same girl he is in love with and subsequently led to his insanity makes Werther realise how impossible it will be for him to have Lotte. The story is narrated to him by Albert as a way of making him loose any hopes of ever having Lotto. The other story of the country Lad who raped a widow he desperately loved but could never have him also worsen his already bad situation.
It should be noted that Werther had reached a level where he desired Lotte more than he did before. The love had grown from just an emotional feeling to a physical desire to have Lotto. This was culminated by the sexual desires and passions he craved for Lotte. The only contact he could have with him was through the beak of a bird that Lotte would kiss and send it to him. Even though this was releavng, it creaed in him even a more passionate desire for a sexual relationship with Lotto. Her engagement to Albert will however never allow the two to engage and hence causing more pain to Werther. After hearing the true life stories of the two gentlemen, the reality of him never having Lotte hit him. It was now either he dies or Albert dies. In either way, he will have a clear hope of rejuvenating his love with the beautiful Lotte.
The sublime and the beautiful theory according to Burke requires one to face the reality by either conforming or separating. The nature in Werther’s story however makes it hard for him to separate the feeling he has for Lotte. In this situation, he had to separate himself from the reality by taking his own life. The pain was growing more each day and he was becoming helpless each day. Even though he loved Lotte, he would never blame her for loving Albert since he came before him. Werther thought that the best way of bringing such a story to an end is by taking his own life. By doing this, he was assured of many two things; the first is the fact that Lotte loved him more than she loved Albert and second, in death, he will be assured of being joined by Lotte. Even though their love would never become a reality on earth, there is hope for souls that feel so passionate for each other. “Every day I observe more and more the folly of judging of others by ourselves; and I have so much trouble with myself, and my own heart is in such constant agitation, that I am well content to let others pursue their own course, if they only allow me the same privilege.” (Goethe)
Considering the paths that his counterparts had taken and gone through, Werther had to make a decision of what will befall him. It was apparent that the passionate feeling of a woman definitely caused distress to his friends. One had gone insane and appeared useless in the face of the society. The other lad who loved a widow facilitated his own fate by shooting himself dead. Looking at the two scenarios, Werther must have thought that it was better if he died than live to be ridiculed by the society. Furthermore, he thought that by being dead, he will have the hope of being rejoined to Lotto when he is sober. The love he had for Lotte made him never think of killing Albert (Burke 54). This could also be one of the means through he would probably gain access to Lotte. However, the stigma of having to face the society with a murder case must have made him think otherwise.
Looking at the different case scenarios in Werther’s life, we realise that he is a person that was in love with nature. He loved the natural things and would not want to relate with it in any negative way. An example was when the new pastors wife showed her disregard for nature by cutting down the wall nut trees. This annoyed him considering the fact that the trees made the place appear like a beautiful paradise. It would be ironical therefore for a person who loved nature to the extent that he felt bad for cut trees to ultimately end the life of the other. Just like nature had allowed the tree to grow. He realised that nature made Lotto and Albert to be engaged. He accepted this as fate that had befallen him and mostly blamed himself for loving Lotte desperately. Werther must have come to his senses to realise that it was not the mistake of Albert to love Lotte who now had undying feelings for him. Borrowing from the story of the insane man, he realised that Lotte was a beauty to die for. It was therefore natural for Albert to treasure Lotte and ultimately give her the protection she deserved.
Burke’s theory of the sublime also takes us through the emotional stages of pain and the reason behind why Werther considered making the decision of taking his own life for the love of a woman. It would have been naturally expected that Werther fights to have Lotte even if it ultimately leads to his death. Suicide has always been considered to be a coward move by persons who are not ready to face and fight their challenges. Suicide is usually an escape to reality when a person can no longer handle the situations around them. The emotional beauty of loving a woman who reciprocated his love grew into an emotional pain by the fact that they could not physically enjoy. The more the love grew the more the emotional pain and distress for Werther. He realised that he was becoming fonder of a woman whose reality of having faded day by day. This sublime feeling made him realise that he cannot overcome it by casing pain to another party. His ultimate love had to be proved by the decisions that he made (Goethe 77). We have been told of many characteristics of love one which is love not being selfish. We are told in the story that the distress that Werther had made him think of death. Whenever he was not thinking about his own death, he was thinking about the death of Albert. This implied that the relationship will end in the death of either Albert or him.
Werther must have probably been waiting for nature to take its cause and when it didn’t, the power was now in his hands. It was a high time he ended the emotional turmoil that was sickening him. The decision was to facilitate the death of one person, his own or that of Albert. Analysing the situation, we now understand why he had to commit suicide. There was more hope in him dying for a love that he cherished than to live and face the insanity of never having to have her. With all the facts right, coupled by the experience from his counterparts, he took his own life. This is the practical impact of Burke’s theory of the sublime and the beautiful. Making tough and seemingly crazy decisions because of the emotional feeling that comes with love is one of the characteristics of the sublime. In as much as love is meant to be a beautiful feeling, its end may turn out to be tragic especially when there is no hope of achieving certain expectations. A beautiful feeling with a painful experience and tragic end is the best description of the story. “Does not man lack the force at the very point where he needs it most? And when he soars upward in joy, or sinks down in suffering, is not checked in both, is he not returned again to the dull, cold sphere of awareness, just when he was longing to lose himself in the fullness of the infinite.” (Goethe)
Works cited
Burke, Edmund. Philosophical Enquiry Into the Sublime and Beautiful. London: Routledge Classics, 2008.
Goethe, Johann. The Sorrows of Young Werther. New York: Filiquarian Publishing, LLC., 2007.
Koch, Alexandra. Edmund Burke's Theory of the Sublime and It's Reflection in Gothic Fiction: Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein". London: GRIN Verlag, 2012.
