Discuss the relationship between individual and society in Goethe’s The Sufferings of Young Werther. What features of Werther’s individuality make him incapable of taking up a “normal” position within society?
It is accurate to suggest that an interdependent relationship exists between the individual and society. It is also accurate to state that in order for both the individual and society to flourish, the two entities must complement one another in values, beliefs and needs. It may be perceived that through carefully constructed characterisation throughout his eighteenth century novel ‘The Sufferings of Young Werther’, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe holistically depicts the way in which the relationship between society and the individual can shape the individual, how the individual, having been rejected from society, can become a body of self destruction and the way in which relationships throughout society can be shaped in response to conflicting perspectives of the individual and society as a whole.
Due to the interdependent relationship between the individual and society, societal values can greatly influence the individual. It can be said that Goethe’s characterisation of Lotte and Werther clearly depict this notion in varying outcomes. Lotte is depicted as a compassionate and loyal character whose relationship with Werther depicts her as somewhat naive. Despite having convinced herself for the majority of the novel that her feelings for Werther are due to a brother-like connection, Lotte acknowledges her individual desires of wanting to, “keep [Werther] for herself.” (82) Throughout the novel, the heart and soul are symbolic of passionate love. With, “her heart squeezed tight, and a dark cloud [hanging] over her eyes,” Lotte ...
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... but comes back and everything is diseased/dying, recurring plot reflective of his addictive attitude
Re: ants -> see as destruction of society
• Re: Prince about creativity? Perhaps.
Re: death scene
• Horse (free from self)
• The drawn out death sequence (punishment for turning back on society perhaps)
• Imperfection... world order... pg 138
Loses self in romantic dreams - Goethe pg 129 re: intertextuality, becomes Ossian o Madman
Loved Lotte
Suggesting that freedom from society equates to happiness, but has completely lost self because they’re crazy, really. o The murder
Obsessive over lover
If I can’t have her no one can, reflective of Werther’s idea of Lotte
Both seem to see their actions (murder and suicide) as tribute of their love
• Lotte touched the gun, ergo sanctioned the suicide o Could go into religious blood sacrifice if time allows
...el, The Other Side of the Bridge by Mary Lawson accentuates the fact that society’s expectations of a character causes negative impacts upon their lives through the creation of a struggle to achieve his goal. Ian is an impeccable example of this because he is prone to adolescent tendencies due to youth. Ian struggles to achieve his goals due to the following expectations: to leave Struan, for a superior opportunity to become successful; to strive for a medical career, since he excels at the trade already; and to … Society is too abrupt in its assumptions of an individual, these assumptions often catch one unprepared, spreading chaos and confusion through one’s mind. It would be substantially more beneficial if society did not place expectations at all.
‘Society makes and remakes people, but society is also made and remade by the multiple connections and disconnections between people, and between people, places and things’ (Havard, 2014, p.67).
...clusion, Caitlin Tom’s essay Individuality vs. Fitting in, the American novel Little Women by Louisa Alcott, and the romantic yet empowering dramatic film Jane Eyre all exemplify the importance of a society pertaining individualism as it leads to overcoming societal barriers and stereotypes through recognition, it encourages individuals to bring about change through their unique individualism, and aids them in valuing the invoked change in relation to their individualist characteristics and traits. It is evident that individualism is very crucial for a society willing to maintain its civilization successfully. Thus, individualistic traits are the fuel which drive a society to its development and initiation through evolution. As a reminder, Individuals should use their unique individualistic traits and characteristics in order to help improve society as a whole.
The question “What makes us who we are?” has perplexed many scholars, scientists, and theorists over the years. This is a question that we still may have not found an answer to. There are theories that people are born “good”, “evil”, and as “blank slates”, but it is hard to prove any of these theories consistently. There have been countless cases of people who have grown up in “good” homes with loving parents, yet their destiny was to inflict destruction on others. On the other hand, there have been just as many cases of people who grew up on the streets without the guidance of a parental figure, but they chose to make a bad situation into a good one by growing up to do something worthwhile for mankind. For this reason, it is nearly impossible to determine what makes a human being choose the way he/she behaves. Mary Shelley (1797-1851) published a novel in 1818 to voice her opinions about determining personality and the consequences and repercussions of alienation. Shelley uses the ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau to make her point. Rousseau proposed the idea that man is essentially "good" in the beginning of life, but civilization and education can corrupt and warp a human mind and soul. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (hereafter referred to as Frankenstein), Victor Frankenstein’s creature with human characteristics shows us that people are born with loving, caring, and moral feelings, but the creature demonstrates how the influence of society can change one’s outlook of others and life itself by his reactions to adversity at “birth”, and his actions after being alienated and rejected by humans several times.
While critical of the attitude found in the ressentiment of slave morality, Nietzsche’s includes it as an important factor contributing to the bad conscience of man. Even though Nietzsche dislikes the negative results of bad conscience – man’s suppression of his instincts, hate for himself, and stagnation of his will -- Nietzsche does value it for the promise it holds. Nietzsche foresees a time coming when man conquers his inner battle and regains his “instinct of freedom.” In anticipation of that day’s eventual arrival, Nietzsche views the development of bad conscience as a necessary step in man’s transformation into the “sovereign individual.”
In conclusion, The Sorrows of Werther opened the creatures eyes to the immediate world around him and the pains associated with life especially when one is rejected by the people they love.
Anyone who reads The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe instantly feels the emotional intensity portrayed by Werther, the protagonist. His speculations about life are indeed unique, especially in modern times when life often goes by quickly without notice. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why his immense emotion strikes a chord with readers as coming from someone crazy or dangerous. Werther’s mental state seems incredibly alive at some times while seemingly lifeless at others. This lifeless state of mind is similar to another sorrowful character in Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five. In his story of Billy Pilgrim, a similar wonder engulfs the reader, causing us to question the cause of both his mindset and of our own. These books bring a couple of interesting questions to mind… How much emotion is too much? How little is too little? These characters struggle with powerful emotion in many ways, and are therefore judged as mad. The two protagonists engage in totally different journeys, but each of them leads the reader to discover the limits of human emotion. These limits are reached by Werther and Billy, therefore leading to both characters’ demise.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe began writing The Sorrows of Young Werther in the early part of 1774. It was written during the Sturm and Drang period in Germany. Sturm and Drang, or more conventionally known as Storm and Stress, was an attempt by people in this period to free themselves from the strict rationalism of the enlightenment period. It is about a young man, Werther, who finds himself in an impossible situation. He is in love with a young woman named Charlotte. Despite knowing that Charlotte is already engaged to another man, Werther continues to ...
Goethe, Johnann Wolfgang von. The Sorrows of Young Werther. Trans. Elizabeth Meyer and Louise Bogan. Forward by W.H. Auden. New York: Vintage, 1990.
...lay in societal change. However it was only until the works of Durkheim and Simmel that the role of individual interaction and society is brought to the forefront. Durkheim largely viewed the individual as needing society as a mechanism of constraint to the aspirations of an eternal goal. Finally, Simmel was able to expand on Durkheim’s dualism by noting that society could be viewed as more than a mechanism of constraint rather as an accumulation of individual interaction. Either through a combination or as individuals each theorist distinct view of the relationship between the individual and society demonstrates a new understanding towards the nature of social reality.
transformation of the lives of others as well as his own. In this respect, the lesson of the Romantic hero is comprised less of romance than of utility. Following the trends of the Goethe’s contemporary evolving society, the means by which Faust succeeds in accomplishing his goals are largely selfish, brutal, and unethical. This is perhaps Goethe’s single greatest reflection on the modern nature of heroism.
Von Goethe, Johann W. “The Sorrows of Young Werther.” Romanticism. Ed. John B. Halsted. New . . York: Walker Publishing Company, 1969.
The novel generally shows that those days’ values, norms of those days are, the dilemma of the weak; equality notions in class differences, richness, and marriage among people. However, my scope is only education and family institution. First of all, I need to emphasize major conflict that are David is born fatherless, and when he is seven years old his mother marries Edward Murdstone, who is unkind and offensive to David and his mother, first event that I realized in the novel. It is a confliction between norms and values because any of societies do not accept being cruel individual behaviors. As it seen, it is unfair and unacceptable because those behaviors harm integrity of family’s values. Anyhow, David protects himself in one of his stepfather’s de...
The Romanticism period is marked by changes in societal beliefs as a rejection of the values and scientific thought pursued during the Age of Enlightenment. During this period, art, music, and literature are seen as high achievement, rather than the science and logic previously held in esteem. Nature is a profound subject in the art and literature and is viewed as a powerful force. Searching for the meaning of self becomes a noble quest to undertake. In the dramatic tragedy of “Faust” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, we find a masterpiece of Romanticism writing that includes the concepts that man is essentially good, the snare of pride, and dealing with the supernatural.
To be a social being is to be human. The very existence of society can be seen as proof that the ter...