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''The Sorrows of Young Werther'' ((ドイツ語:Die Leiden des jungen Werthers)) is an epistolary, loosely autobiographical novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, first published in 1774. A revised edition appeared in 1787. It was an important novel of the ''Sturm und Drang'' period in German literature, and influenced the later Romantic movement in literature. Goethe, 24 years old at the time, finished ''Werther'' in six weeks of intensive writing in January–March 1774.〔 It instantly put him among the first international literary celebrities, and remains the best known of his works to the general public.〔〔 Towards the end of Goethe's life, a personal visit to Weimar became a crucial stage in any young man's Grand Tour of Europe. ==The plot== Most of ''The Sorrows of Young Werther'' is presented as a collection of letters written by Werther, a young artist of a sensitive and passionate temperament, to his friend Wilhelm. These give an intimate account of his stay in the fictional village of Wahlheim (based on Garbenheim, near Wetzlar), whose peasants have enchanted him with their simple ways. There he meets Charlotte, a beautiful young girl who takes care of her siblings after the death of their mother. Werther falls in love with Charlotte despite knowing beforehand that she is engaged to a man named Albert eleven years her senior. Despite the pain it causes him, Werther spends the next few months cultivating a close friendship with them both. His pain eventually becomes so great that he is forced to leave Wahlheim for Weimar, where he makes the acquaintance of ''Fräulein'' von B. He suffers great embarrassment when he forgetfully visits a friend and has to face the normal weekly gathering there of the entire aristocratic set. He then returns to Wahlheim, where he suffers still more than before, partly because Charlotte and Albert are now married. Every day becomes a torturing reminder that Charlotte will never be able to requite his love. She, out of pity for her friend and respect for her husband, decides that Werther must not visit her so frequently. He visits her one final time, and they are both overcome with emotion after he recites to her a passage of ''Ossian''. Even before that incident, Werther had realized that one member of the love triangle – Charlotte, Albert or Werther himself – had to die to resolve the situation. Unable to hurt anyone else or seriously consider murder, Werther sees no other choice but to take his own life. After composing a farewell letter to be found after his death, he writes to Albert asking for his two pistols, on the pretext that he is going "on a journey". Charlotte receives the request with great emotion and sends the pistols. Werther then shoots himself in the head, but does not die until twelve hours later. He is buried under a linden tree that he has mentioned frequently in his letters. The funeral is not attended by any clergy, or by Albert or Charlotte. The book ends with an intimation that Charlotte may die of a broken heart. "I shall say nothing of... Charlotte's grief.... Charlotte's life was despaired of," etc. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Sorrows of Young Werther」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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