In the form of a semi-autobiographical epistolary novel, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) composed in a few weeks the very moving Die Leiden des jungen Werther. Aptly known as the "Briefroman" in German, the novel is a compilation of letters from Werther to his friend Wilhelm, and is collected from May 4, 1771 to December 1772 by an unknown third narrator, who concludes the novel after Werther took his life. It is this narrator who mentions the presence of Lessing's tragic play, Emilia Galotti, open to an unnumbered page on Werther's desk as he slowly dies on the floor. The meaning of this reference to Emilia Galotti is hotly debated, with theories ranging from political to personal reasons as to why Goethe incorporated bourgeois tragedy. Analysis of key letters written to Wilhelm shows Werther's deteriorating mental state and how his anxiety and depression led to his death. Compared to the concept of suicide in 18th-century Europe, Werther's suicide focuses on pathology and is independent of religion or theological discourse. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Werther's suicidal thoughts occur throughout the novel, suggesting Werther's propensity for instability in his mental health and his opening line “Wie froh bin ich, dass ich weg bin!” » (How happy I am to have left!) suggests a propensity for escape (Goethe 2). From his letter of May 22, Werther reflects on the limits of man and the activities that only prolong the “miserable” human existence. He glorifies everyone's capacity to commit suicide, writing: "And then, despite all his limitations, he still has in his heart the sweet feeling of being free and of being able to leave this prison whenever he wishes" (Appelbaum 15). Werther's pessimistic attitude prevails despite his bursts of happiness, he asserting that these moments of happiness will be short-lived and lamenting to Wilhelm: "Must what makes a man happy later become the source of his misfortune? (77). Lotte, Wilhelm's source of happiness and unhappiness, chastises him for his excessive compassion (Goethe 50). In truth, Werther has more empathy for the world than he can handle, and these emotions weigh on him with a heaviness that contributes to his depression. He describes his lack of interest in reading, nature, and art, his previous hobbies, and concludes with a melancholy: “When we lack ourselves, we lack everything” (Appelbaum 81). In addition to his depression, Werther yearns for something more - like applying for a position at the embassy - but his anxiety inhibits him. Trapped between these opposing feelings, Werther turns to thoughts of self-harm, with imaginative scenes such as sticking a knife in his heart (109). The reader may notice that Werther's suicidal tendencies are discussed with increasing frequency and complexity, as he uses analogies to describe his tormented feelings. This is what we can find in the entry from March 16: “Naturalists speak of a noble breed of horses which instinctively open a vein with their teeth, when they are overheated and exhausted by a long journey, in order to breathe more freely” (111). This description also foreshadows his arm needlessly bleeding after his suicide (201). Werther bluntly expresses his desire for permanent respite with “I am often tempted to open a vein, to procure for myself eternal freedom” (111). The mysterious third-person narrator returns to recount Werther's laborious death scene,in which Emilia Galotti de Lessing is opened on Werther's desk. Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781) was Goethe's literary predecessor and, although the two intellectuals never met, Goethe considered him a source of inspiration (DeGuire). There are many theories regarding Goethe's intentional omission of Lessing's name. Given the absence of any reference to which act, scene or page number the play opens to, the most logical reason is that Goethe wanted the reader to focus on the essence and overall message of Emilia Galotti. Many interpretations of Emilia Galotti in Werther are political and a criticism of the bourgeois. Dr. Mary DeGuire argues, however, that "Goethe's inclusion of Emilia Galotti at this textual site marks Goethe's aesthetic disagreement with Lessing's ideas concerning pain and beauty in death" (94-5). This is a valid argument, given that Emilia's death is quick, her beauty is preserved, and her father lays her on the ground while Werther is discovered with paralyzed limbs and brains spilled out, but the pulse continues to beat six hours later (Lessing 68; Appelbaum 201). This truly sickening scene destroys the romanticization of suicide that Werther had previously painted. It is only twelve hours after committing the act that Werther is finally freed from his suffering (Appelbaum 201-3). Despite the graphic discrepancies between Werther and Emilia, the two death scenes share similarities in motives and circumstances, such as the existence of a love triangle. Death is their only escape from the entanglement between passion and sin – through Emilia's feelings of impurity stemming from Werther's last romantic encounter with Lotte. Additionally, Emilia and Werther hope that their deaths will benefit their loved ones. While Emilia sacrifices herself to maintain her virtue, as is her father's will, Werther sacrifices himself to restore contentment and serenity to Lotte's life. In final comparison, borrowed weapons are the means by which every suicide is committed and are handled by the one each victim wishes to appease. As Emilia's intermediary suicide is suitably carried out by her father's hand, Werther rejoices in Lotte's touching the guns; the one whose death Werther wished to receive (197). As a contrary interpretation, there may be no symbolism between Emilia Galotti and Werther. It may be that Goethe simply modeled the end of Werther on a real suicide, namely that of Karl Wilhelm Jerusalem (1747-1772). The son of a theologian, Jerusalem met Goethe in 1765 in Leipzig during his law studies. Jerusalem had Gotthold Ephraim Lessing as its patron, a continuation of his father's friendship with the author of Emilia Galotti. Goethe and Jerusalem did not like each other and so became lost until a chance meeting in 1772, the same year Goethe met the inspiration for Werther's love, Charlotte (Lotte) Buff, and her fiancé, Johann Georg Christian Kestner. Before Jerusalem committed suicide, he wrote a letter to Kestner asking to borrow his pistols. Goethe used Jerusalem's exact words in Werther's request to Albert, writing: "Would you lend me your pistols for a journey I intend to make?" Farewell and be happy! (Appelbaum 191). Similar to Werther, not only did Jerusalem suffer from failures in the romantic and diplomatic fields, but more importantly, the last book he read before his suicide was Emilia Galotti. Although Goethe did not address the plagiarism of The Death of Jerusalem, he described the Briefroman as "an innocent mixture of truth and fabrication" in a letter to Charlotte (Appelbaum vi-iii). In this way, theThe meaning of the reference to Emilia Galotti can only amount to a tribute to a man whom Goethe barely knew, even if one assumes more generally that Goethe wanted the reader to evaluate Werther's suicide on the basis of the morals of 'Emilia Galotti. The condemnation of self-harm, which was formally based on religious beliefs, underwent a shift in thinking during the Age of Enlightenment. Goethe considered suicide a necessary topic for discussion, and his use of the taboo subject embodies Werther as Sturm und Drang literature, an Enlightenment movement that advocated nature, opposition to the established order, and daring (Appelbaum vi ). Despite the few reports of alleged copier suicides – also known as the "Werther effect" – which resulted in the novel being banned from publication in various locations, there is no evidence proving any epidemiological consequences (Niederkrotenthaler ). The concept of self-harm, known as suicide since the 1650s, was common well before the 18th century and was characterized as a crime, in addition to being considered an expression of pathological insanity (Bähr). Due to St. Augustine's statement that the 5th commandment "Thou shalt not kill" applied to suicide as well as murder, suicides were subject to moral and religious implications. Lutherans believed that suicide was the result of the devil, with Martin Luther arguing that suicides were simply the damned "overpowered" by evil and who could still be saved by God, although God's discernment on this matter was ultimately equivocal ( Stuart). On the other hand, Catholics call this act a mortal sin, since suicide cannot be absolved by confession. It was from the fear of eternal damnation that the idea of ​​suicide by proxy was born. This involved the murder of an innocent person, usually a child, in order to save them from the damnation of life and allow the murderer to make a confession before execution. Although murder is the most common form of vicarious suicide, suicidal people may commit another capital offense or falsely confess to such a crime. The first recorded suicide by proxy occurred in 1612 and this phenomenon continued until the 18th century, when German jurists designated the act "mittelbarer Selbstmord". The remains of suicide victims were handed over by Catholics and Protestants to the authorities for disposal. The location of suicide graves varied from region to region in Germany, but were usually cremated, thrown into the river, or thrown into a mass grave under the gallows (Stuart). These religious sanctions were mentioned in Werther, as the protagonist writes. to Lotte in his suicide letter that he wished to be buried in an isolated place, between two lime trees in the church courtyard, explaining: "I do not want to give pious Christians the inconvenience of laying their body next to an unfortunate man.” (Appelbaum 199). Additionally, when recounting Werther's burial, the third-person narrator writes that no clergy were present, consistent with the Catholic belief that suicides did not deserve a proper burial (Goethe 202) . As stated by Dr. Andreas Bähr, the concept known today as "suicide" reflects a gradual and complex historical process of pathologization and decriminalization of the act of committing suicide. Before the German term “Selbstmord” and the relative normalization of suicide, “Selbstentleibung,” or self-disembodiment, was used to describe self-murder. In the German Dictionary of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, the German writer Joachim Heinrich Campe/20457368.