Werther's Romance

     The reading of Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther offers a prime example of Romantic ideology and its combatant nature with the philosophy of the Enlightenment. Our young character Werther seemingly refutes all reason when he allows his emotional attachment to Lotte to fuel an internal desire that eventually leads to his suicide. Though in his own mind Werther has reasoned that ending one's life is greater than facing unrequited love, death is not the remedy for an unsatisfactory life. Yes Werther's attempt to fill a personal void with the love of Lotte is unsuccessful; however he allows this incident to cause him to overlook the greater meaning of life.

     Lev Tolstoy stated in A Confession that there were four ways in which to live life. One of them being that the individual chooses to completely ignore the fact that life is corrupt and meaningless. Another concerned epicureanism and a person's dependence upon material goods to add meaning/value to their existence. The last two, however, interested Tolstoy the most as he considered them the weakest and the strongest position an individual could achieve. The weakest person recognizes life as empty and trivial while continuing to live, while conversely the strength of an individual is apparent in their willingness to commit suicide with the understanding that life is futile. Werther believes himself to be in this position; he has claimed power over his destiny and has ended his life in order to obtain some significance. 

     Tolstoy, however, later changed his position when he understood why he so long found himself acting as a "weak individual;" he had reasoned that life had no meaning and yet he could not succumb to the logic supporting his suicide. Tolstoy found a purpose, a reason worth living for; he found faith. Werther, however, is not able to reach the same conclusion as Tolstoy because his Romantic ideals supersede the teachings of the Enlightenment. Though the Enlightenment was a movement apart from the influence of God, Tolstoy used the teachings of the Enlightenment to "reason" his rejection of reason; while Werther, is condemned to death based on his reliance upon purely Romantic notions.