Blog #7 - Werther

In all my years of practice, I have never witnessed a case as dramatic and tragic as that of Young Werther. His fault was a common one; he deeply desired something he could not obtain, the "forbidden fruit" if you will. Although it is a common flaw among many, this in no way lessens the sadness and disparity of his situation. In Werther's case, however, the "solution" did not need to be so drastic and painful.

In my opinion, Werther was not crazy. Yes, he may have seemed that way and he did have a dramatic edge and passion to his personality, but that is not necessarily out of the ordinary. I believe that the stimulus for his ultimate suicide was his refusal to leave Lotte and move away. I know from experience that being around something you desperately want day after day can drive you wild and you will never learn to move past it. Although Werther did attempt to move on and find someone else, in the end he returned to Lotte and her husband and became a burden on their relationship. By letting "what could be" possess him, he was not able to see the reality of the situation, face those facts, and continue on with the rest of his life. Examples of his mistakes include visiting Lotte's home day after day and also making himself closer to her husband. He put all three of them in a very awkward and difficult position because they were each aware of his feelings toward Lotte and he constantly tempted himself by being around her all of the time. I believe, had he been more realistic and moved away from her, his feelings would have changed and he would not have killed himself. It is truly sad when people seek out drastic solutions to an easily fixable dilemma.