Romantic Love Essay Example Examples

1. Romanticism can be described as a cult of the autonomous isolated self. Explain how Goethe's Sorrows of Young Werther exemplifies this mystique of inward personality. What role does childhood/childishness play in Werther's love? What is it the love of? What ideal does it flee? What ideal does it embrace? Why does it logically end in suicide?

Goethe's character Werther is the inward personality because he lives not in the world of the real, but in his own mind. He has not entered the real sphere and thus his whole being is defined by what is inside of him rather than the true reality. He lives his life constructing the world around him to instead of living in the real world. He is isolated because he never interacts with anything besides his own mind. In the book, Werther is definitely presented as a loner. His contention with his loner life comes from the fact that his life doesn't need any other people or things. Werther's own vision and the world in his mind allow him to reject the outside world and be a loner. Werther is a character who thinks too much and feeds his most childish and low level desires. This is part of the reason Werther is a child. He gives in to all of his easiest and low level desires when he. Werther projects his own view of someone onto those around him. This projection is why Werther never really learns who Lotte is, because for Werther she becomes whatever he thinks she is. Lotte is made into the perfect angel not because she really is, but because Werther makes her into one in his mind. As a loner, Werther is at the mercy of his own self-criticisms. These thoughts play a large role in the emotional lows Werther feels which contribute to his suicide. Werther is a child in the story who has demands and desires that must be filled. Werther is like many children in that he gets very upset and emotional when he doesn't get the things he wants. An adult comes to terms with his desires and understands that one doesn't get everything he