Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s classic epistolary novel, “The Sorrows of Young Werther,” is one of the saddest ever written. Its themes of ill-fated love resonated with generations of post-adolescent men and women discovering the joys and miseries of that first great romance in the years following the novel’s publication in 1774. It is said that “Werther” caused hundreds if not thousands of suicides as sensitive young lovers sought to emulate the title character who, faced with an intolerable situation, takes his own life.
Because the subject matter is so fraught and melancholy, we will admit that the novel presents some difficulties if we are to give it a happy ending. It is not simply a matter of cutting it off at the right time as with “La Boheme.” The plot (and, indeed, the title) must be altered but, in keeping with our basic principles, without undue violence to the fundaments of the story.
Here then, the happy version of “The Sorrows of Young Werther.”
THE UPS AND DOWNS OF YOUNG WERTHER
Werther, a young artist of a highly sensitive and passionate temperament, visits the picturesque village of Wahlheim in search of inspiration. He is enchanted by the simple ways of the peasants there. He meets and falls instantly in love with Lotte, a beautiful young girl who is taking care of her siblings following the death of their mother. Lotte is, however, already engaged to a man named Albert, who is in fact 11 years her senior.
Despite the pain this causes Werther, he spends the next few months cultivating a close friendship with both of them. Seeking a confidente with whom he can share his troubles, he makes the acquaintance of the aristocratic widow Fräulein von B. Moved by Werther’s plight, she visits Albert in his humble cottage and explains the situation to him. Albert, who has grown fond of Werther and instantly recognizes the truth of what Fräulein von B tells him, resolves to release Lotte from her marriage vows so that the lovers can be together.
The widow is, in turn, struck by Albert’s simple decency, which she finds refreshing after the artificialities of Hessian high society. Together, they leave Albert’s cottage to tell Werther and Lotte the good news. The reader is left with the distinct impression that there may be not one, but two, weddings in the very near future.
THE END
It is worth nothing a contemporary of Goethe’s, the German writer Frederich Nicolai, wrote a satiric pastiche entitled, ‘The Joys of Young Werther” a few years after the publication of the original, which ignited a furious literary feud between the two men. In Nicolai’s version, Werther shoots himself but is uninjured because Albert has loaded the pistol with chicken blood. We feel our version is “less German.”
