Reason versus Emotion

But need I confess this to you, my dear friend, who have so often endured the anguish of witnessing my sudden transitions from sorrow to immoderate joy, and from sweet melancholy to violent passions?

In his letter dated May 13, Werther admits that in the past his feelings were his downfall. Even in the opening scenes, when Werther’s mood is fairly calm and contented, he is merely drifting along on a tide of mild emotions until a more “violent passion” comes along to take over his life. His meeting with the young peasant man provides the sudden transition for Werther’s “violent passion” for Charlotte, which happens practically at first sight.

‘That is quite another thing,’ said Albert; ‘because a man under the influence of violent passion loses all power of reflection and is regarded as intoxicated or insane.’
‘Oh! you people of sound understandings,’ I replied, smiling, ‘are ever ready to exclaim 'Extravagance, and madness, and intoxication!' You moral men are so calm and so subdued!’
 

In a letter dated August 12, Werther details his and Albert’s discussion about suicide. Albert’s reasonable intellect and Werther’s impulsive, emotional nature are contrasted during their long debate. Albert is horrified when Werther picks up one of the pistols and puts it to his head in a mock suicide attempt because as a person who values reason over emotion, Albert views suicide as frightening and cannot empathize with the extreme emotions that might lead someone to consider it.

I am grateful to your love, Wilhelm…Yes, you are right: it is undoubtedly better that I should depart…I am much pleased with your intention of coming to fetch me; only delay your journey for a fortnight and wait for another letter from me. One should gather nothing before it is ripe…

In his final letter to Wilhelm dated December 20, Werther yet again withholds important information from his friend because he knows that Wilhelm’s well-grounded, sensible personality is at odds with his own emotional one. Ironically, Werther is rational enough in this moment to lie to Wilhelm in order to give himself enough time to work his emotions up to the point of committing suicide.

Misunderstandings and Tensions Among the Social Classes

The eldest boy ran out to meet me: his exclamation of joy brought out his mother, but she had a very melancholy look. Her first word was, ‘Alas! dear sir, my little John is dead.’ He was the youngest of her children. I was silent.

Werther has major blind spots when it comes to the working poor, which becomes clear to him when he describes this meeting with the young mother in a letter dated August 4. Contrary to his initial opinion, her life is not simple or necessarily happy. She goes on to tell Werther that her husband has returned from Switzerland ill and penniless, and Werther departs silently and sorrowfully.

…at length the count came up to me and took me to the window. ‘You know our ridiculous customs,’ he said. ‘I perceive the company is rather displeased at your being here. I would not on any account…’

Werther’s misadventures among the nobility at court, which he details in a letter dated March 15, also result from his social class. Since he is rich, intelligent, cultured and well-educated, he believes he is just as good or better than the noblemen and ladies he meets. At Count C—’s gathering of aristocrats, Werther stubbornly ignores the fact that he is not one of them and seems oblivious to the fact that his presence makes them increasingly angry.

‘O Werther!…I knew that the count would not break with them: and now so much is said about it…I have been obliged to hear you condemned and depreciated; and I could not—I dared not—say much in your defense.’

In a letter dated March 16, Werther realizes he has misjudged Miss B—, who both lets him know that he is the subject of scandal and that she cannot possibly defend him because it would risk her own status. It comes as a shock to him that even enlightened highborn people are actually loyal to the upper crust of society to which they belong.

The Power of the Natural World

 … still thundering at a distance: a soft rain was pouring down … and filled the air around us with delicious odors. Charlotte leaned forward … her eyes wandered over the scene; she raised them to the sky, and then turned them upon me … moistened with tears…. placed her hand on mine and said, ‘Klopstock!’ … the magnificent ode….

In his letter dated June 16, Werther is at the ball with Charlotte and newly in love with her. A terrifying thunderstorm has at last subsided, and they enjoy the night air together as they stand at an open window. The thunder is now far away and the two are experiencing the calm after the storm, but Werther’s electrifying feelings will soon become as dangerous as lightning.

The full and ardent sentiment which animated my heart with the love of nature, overwhelming me with a torrent of delight, and which brought all paradise before me, has now become an insupportable torment, a demon which perpetually pursues and harasses me.

In his letter dated August 18, Werther has begun to realize that Charlotte can never be his, and he translates his despair into an inability to appreciate nature. Just as his love for Charlotte brings him only torment, he can no longer summon the soothing tranquility that he once experienced by going outdoors.

The huge trees stood there leafless and covered with hoarfrost; the beautiful hedgerows which surrounded the old churchyard wall were withered; and the gravestones, half covered with snow, were visible through the openings.

In the section From the Editor to the Reader, the narrator describes the scene where Werther realizes that the young peasant man has murdered the peasant who replaced him as servant to the young widow. It is the middle of a harsh winter, a classic scene that drives people to act on their desperation. When Werther goes to sees the murderer he passes the lime trees near where the victim’s body was carried out, and where Werther will lay once he has committed his final act of desperation.

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