The Sufferings Of Young Werther And Candide: Literary Analysis

In the two novels The Sufferings of Young Werther and Candide, the authors create characters with absolute world views for the purpose of a starker contrast when their fantasy inevitably falls apart. Candide begins with the belief that “everything is for the best” and that this is the “best of all possible worlds” (Voltaire 101). Of course, this belief is shattered when he ventures out into the world and is consequently destroyed by reality in every possible fashion. However, Candide shoulders the struggles of life, showing resistance when he decides to “cultivate our garden” (Voltaire 159). In this way, Candide resolves to “bear a life of misery with fortitude” (Goethe), the very idea that Albert, representing the Enlightenment, argues for

in The Sufferings of Young Werther. Like Candide, Werther begins with a fantastical worldview. Werther sees the world in a romantic yet egotistical way, and shatters when Charlotte refuses to confirm this egotistical view. Unlike Candide, Werther does not resolve to cultivate his garden, instead opting to cultivate his skull with a bullet. This displays the height of Sturm und Drang, Werther’s opposition to society and the Enlightenment. Candide would likely view what Werther did as weakness, while Werther would view Candide’s method as giving up on his own freedom.