In the form of a semi-autobiographical epistolary novel, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) composed the emotional Die Leiden des jungen Werther in the space of a few weeks. Appropriately known as "Briefroman" in German, the novel is a collection of letters from Werther to his friend Wilhelm, and is assembled from May 4, 1771 to December 1772 by an unknown third narrator, who ends the novel after Werther has taken his life. It is this narrator who mentions the presence of Lessing's tragic play Emilia Galotti, open on 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 describes the deterioration of Werther's mental state and how his anxiety and depression lead 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 Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Werther's suicidal thoughts occur throughout the novel, suggesting Werther's propensity for unstable mental health and his opening line "Wie froh bin ich, dass ich weg bin!" (How happy I am to be gone!) portends a propensity to escape (Goethe 2). Already in his letter of May 22 Werther reflects on the limitations of man and on the activities that do nothing but prolong the "miserable" human existence. He exalts the ability to take his own life, 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 wants” (Appelbaum 15). Werther's pessimist prevails despite his outbursts of happiness, with him stating that these moments of bliss will be short-lived and complaining to Wilhelm: "It must be so that whatever makes man happy must afterwards become the source of his misery?" (77). Lotte, Wilhelm's source of happiness and misery, admonishes him for his excessive compassion (Goethe 50). In truth, Werther has more empathy for the world than he can bear and these emotions they weigh down with a heaviness that contributes to his depression. He outlines his disinterest in reading, nature, and art, his former pastimes, concluding with a melancholy “When we miss ourselves, we miss everything” (Appelbaum 81). In addition to depression, Werther wants something more, such as applying for a post at the embassy, ​​but anxiety inhibits him. Caught between these opposing feelings, Werther turns to thoughts of self-harm, with imaginative scenes such as sticking a knife into his heart (109). The reader may notice that Werther's suicidal inclinations are mentioned with increasing frequency and complexity, as he applies analogies to describe his tormented feelings. Thus we read in the entry of March 16: “Naturalists tell of a noble breed of horses that instinctively open a vein with their teeth, when warmed and exhausted by a long journey, to breathe more freely” (111). This description also foreshadows his arm bleeding needlessly after committing suicide (201). Werther openly declares his desire for a permanent truce with "I am often tempted to open a vein, to procure eternal freedom" (111). The mysterious third-person narrator returns to chronicle Werther's laborious death scene, in which Lessing's Emilia Galotti lies open on Werther's desk.Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781) was Goethe's literary predecessor and although the two intellectuals never met, Goethe credits him as a source of inspiration (DeGuire). There are many theories about Goethe's intentional omission of Lessing's name. Given the absence of any reference to which act, scene or page number the work is open 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, dealing with a criticism of the bourgeoisie. Dr. Mary DeGuire argues, however, that "Goethe's inclusion of Emilia Galotti in this textual site marks Goethe's aesthetic disagreement with Lessing's ideas regarding pain and beauty in death" (94-5 ). This is a valid argument, given that Emilia's death is swift, her beauty is preserved, and her father puts her down while Werther is discovered with paralyzed limbs and brains hanging out, but his pulse still beating six hours later (Lessing 68; Appelbaum 201). This truly disgusting scene destroys the romanticization of suicide that Werther had previously painted. Only twelve hours after committing the crime Werther is finally released from his suffering (Appelbaum 201-3). Despite the graphic discrepancies between Werther and Emilia, both death scenes share similarities in motif and circumstances, such as the existence of a love triangle. Death represents their only escape from the entanglement between passion and sin - through Emilia's feelings of impurity after the prince and Werther's last romantic encounter with Lotte. Furthermore, Emilia and Werther hope that their deaths will benefit their loved ones. While Emilia sacrifices herself to maintain her virtue, as her father wants, Werther sacrifices himself to bring contentment and serenity back to Lotte's life. In a final confrontation, borrowed weapons are the means by which each suicide is committed and are wielded by the one each victim wishes to appease. Since Emilia's media suicide is conveniently accomplished at the hands of her father, Werther rejoices that Lotte touched the guns; the one from whom Werther wished to receive death (197). According to a contrary interpretation, perhaps there is no symbolism between Emilia Galotti and Werther. It may be that Goethe simply modeled Werther's end by taking inspiration from a suicide that actually happened, that of Karl Wilhelm Jerusalem (1747-1772). The son of a theologian, Jerusalem met Goethe in 1765 in Leipzig during the latter's law studies. Jerusalem had Gotthold Ephraim Lessing as its patron, as an extension of his father's friendship with the author Emilia Galotti. Goethe and Jerusalem did not love each other and thus lost contact until a chance meeting in 1772, the same year Goethe met Werther's inspiration for 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 guns. Goethe used Jerusalem's exact words in Werther's request to Albert, writing “Would you lend me your guns for a journey I intend to make? Goodbye and be happy!” (Appelbaum 191). Similar to Werther, not only did Jerusalem suffer from romantic and diplomatic failures, but, more significantly, the last book he read before his suicide was Emilia Galotti. Although Goethe did not address the plagiarism of the Death of Jerusalem, in a letter to Charlotte (Appelbaum vi-iii) he described the Briefroman as “an innocent mixture of truth and falsification”. In this way the meaning of the reference to Emilia Galotti can only go so far as to be a tribute to a man who Goethehe barely knew, although it is more generally assumed that Goethe wanted the reader to evaluate Werther's suicide on the basis of the morality of Emilia Galotti. .The condemnation of self-murder, which was formally based on religious beliefs, underwent a change in thinking during the Enlightenment. Goethe saw suicide as a necessary topic of discussion and his use of the taboo subject embodies Werther as Sturm und Drang literature, a derivative movement of the Enlightenment that advocated nature, anti-establishment and daring (Appelbaum vi) . Despite the few reports of alleged copycat suicides – also known as the “Werther effect” – which led to the novel being banned in various locations, there is no evidence demonstrating any epidemiological consequences (Niederkrotenthaler). The concept of self-murder, as suicide was known since the 1650s, was common well before the 18th century and was characterized as a crime, as well as being considered an expression of pathological madness (Bähr). Because of St. Augustine's statement that the fifth commandment “Thou shalt not kill” applies to both suicide and 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 damned people "overtaken" by evil and could still be saved by God, although God's discernment on this matter was ultimately equivocal (Stuart). On the other hand, Catholics considered the act a mortal sin, since suicide cannot be absolved through confession. Out of fear of eternal damnation, the idea of ​​suicide by proxy was born. This involved the murder of an innocent person, usually a child, to save them from the damnation of life and to allow the murderer a confession before execution. Although murder was the most common form of suicide by proxy, suicidal individuals could commit a different capital crime 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 called the act “mittelbarer Selbstmord.” The remains of suicide victims were handed over by Catholics and Protestants to the authorities for disposal. The location of the graves of suicides varied from region to region in Germany, but generally they were cremated, thrown into the river, or thrown into a mass grave under the gallows (Stuart). These religious pains were alluded to in Werther, as the protagonist wrote to Lotte in his suicide letter that he wished to be buried in a secluded place, between two lime trees in the churchyard, explaining: "I do not want to give pious Christians the unpleasantness of laying down the one's body next to a wretch" (Appelbaum 199). Furthermore, when recounting Werther's burial, the third-person narrator writes that no priest was present, which corresponds to the Catholic belief that suicides were not worthy of a proper burial (Goethe 202). As stated by Dr. Andreas Bähr, the concept now known as “suicide” reflects a gradual and complex historical process of pathologizing and decriminalizing the act of taking one's own life. Before the German term “Selbstmord” and the related 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 defines “Selbstentleibung” as “das widespiel derselben (der selbsterhaltung) ist die willkührliche oder vorsätzliche zerstörung seiner animalischen natur...die totaliszt die selbstentleibung” (The opposite of this (self-preservation) is the arbitrary or intentional destruction of his animal nature... the/20457368.