This essay examines the theme of self-deception in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther, arguing that Werther's tragedy is not simply the result of unrequited love but of a deeply delusional mind that actively cultivates suffering and self-injury. Drawing on Durkheim's concept of egoistic suicide and the conventions of Romantic literature, the paper traces how Werther systematically misreads Lotte's words and actions to sustain his illusions, takes pride in his perceived genius, and courts a fatalistic end. The analysis shows that Romantic ideals linking genius with madness and suffering provide the ideological framework through which Werther justifies and accelerates his own destruction.
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Romanticism was deeply interested in creating art and literature of suffering, pain, and self-pity. With poets pining for a love long gone and authors falling for unavailable people, it appears that romantics in literature were primarily concerned with self-injury and delusion. In Goethe's novel The Sorrows of Young Werther, we find another romantic character fulfilling his tragic destiny by falling victim to extreme self-deception.
Werther's story may appear simple and even trite to some — a young man falls in love with a woman he can never be with and deludes himself into believing that she loves him too, only to be severely disappointed in the end. When nothing is left to look forward to, Werther kills himself. Durkheim describes this type of suicide as egoistic suicide, in which a person kills himself to make other people feel sorry. "Egoistic suicide," Durkheim writes, "results from man's no longer finding a basis for existence in life" (258). But on closer analysis, this story is anything but simple. It is a psychologically complex tale that fully unearths the extreme internal mental conflict that a person in such a situation would undergo. Many claim that the story is autobiographical in nature, but that is beyond the scope of the present discussion.
Romantic literature was on the one hand concerned with tragedy and on the other it dwelled on sympathy. It was the aim of most romantic writers and poets to develop characters that would attract sympathy and pity. However, in this novel, while sympathy, pity, or self-injury may have served as one of the motivating forces behind the creation of Werther, it also appears that psychological exploration of the mental state of a person caught in this unfortunate situation was the primary aim.
Werther's character is seriously delusional. He deceives himself regularly, making himself believe that Lotte — the woman he had fallen in love with — was also in love with him. He appears to study her every move and every glance, then decodes them in his own way in a manner that further aids his self-deception. Werther keeps finding different reasons to believe that Lotte loved him or that he was an inimitable being with a uniquely tragic fate. For example, he uses Lotte's sympathetic attitude toward him as justification for engaging in deeper self-pity, delusion, and self-injury. It was as if he took pride in his suffering and wanted to die in order to attract attention to his unfortunate state. "She knows how I suffer. Today her eyes looked deep into my heart." He then tells himself:
"Sometimes I tell myself my fate is unique. Consider all other men fortunate, I tell myself; no one has ever suffered like you. Then I read a poet of ancient times, and it is as though I were looking deep into my own heart. I have to suffer much. Oh, has any human heart before me ever been so wretched?" (95)
Romanticism also had a serious interest in portraying genius going to waste due to unfortunate circumstances — mostly unrequited love. In this case as well, we see Werther taking pride in his talents and then agonizing over the fact that they were withering away. He also began contemplating suicide even before the end was in sight, which is reminiscent of the Romantic lunatic streak found appealing in young heroes of that era. In a letter to his correspondent William, Werther writes: "It is a tragedy. My creative powers have been reduced to restless indolence" (64). He also expresses a "sweet feeling of freedom" arising from the knowledge that he could leave the prison of the body at any time he liked (29).
It appears that even before he had met Lotte, Werther was mentally preparing for his death by unnatural means. In his delusional quest to consider himself unique and then prove it, he had only used Lotte as an excuse. When it becomes clear that Lotte is not interested in him, Werther still keeps deceiving himself by decoding her words and actions. In one scene, after his frustrated outburst, Lotte sternly reprimands him: "I was, please, to think of myself." Werther then interprets her words as: "Angel! For you I have to live!" (48). At the very first perceived sign of her interest, Werther declares: "[She] loves me… and how precious I have become to myself, how I — I can say this to you, who have understanding for such emotions — how I worship at my own altar since I know that she loves me!" (50–51).
"Werther links genius to madness and fate"
"Lotte directly names Werther's self-deception"
Near the end of the novel, Werther expresses his desire to be buried in a grave far removed from other graves, signaling his final embrace of martyrdom and isolation: "It would be too much to expect a faithful Christian to lie beside a poor unfortunate like me. Oh, how I wish you could bury me by the wayside or in a lonely valley, so that priest and Levite might bless themselves as they pass the stone marker and the Samaritan could shed a tear there." (126)
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