Justifying Werther's Suicide

Werther was a very complicated man who was obviously had some issues when it came to relationships. Werther was a man who couldn’t stand to be lonely and single rather than chasing after an engaged woman with whom he had no chance of forming a romantic relationship. He should have attempted to go after someone who was single. It also seems as though he was severely depressed since he never had the motivation to do anything. Werther lived a very sad life that ended in an even sadder way.

It seems that he was scared of being lonely and thus, he becomes attracted to a woman soon after he moves to a new town to get away from another relationship. He never should have let himself get attached to Charlotte because as soon as he did, it only got worse for him. He knew that she was engaged to a man who she was wholly devoted too, but Werther tried to have a relationship with her anyway.

The fact that she didn’t say no to him being friends with her certainly didn’t help werther get over his apparent love for Charlotte. Judging by the book, my personal opinion on Werther feelings toward Charlotte was that he really didn’t love her but was just desperate for someone to care about him and he thought she was the best choice. I understand why Werther committed suicide, however, I don’t think it was justifiable.

One of the only times that suicide is justifiable is if someone is being tortured and will eventually be killed. In that case and possibly a few others, suicide would be justifiable. Werther was not in circumstances anything like these. He was in a fairly common situation where someone loves someone else, but that person doesn’t love them back. I think the main reason that he committed suicide was that he was probably depressed. He was never motivated to do anything, except for pursue Charlotte. He never really enjoyed himself in any way, despite having the means to do so however he pleased. All of this combined with his desperation to not be lonely leads me to believe that his suicide was motivated mainly by depression. Since he killed himself only a few days after Charlotte said she couldn’t see him any more, it shows that if she had remained friends with him and continued to invite him over. Werther was at a very low point in his life and needed that from someone. The best situation for Werther would be if Charlotte never became friends with him, but since she already was friends with him, she should have attempted to help him in some way to find someone else who Werther would be interested. She appeared to attempt to think of someone for him, but couldn’t. She admitted though that she kind of didn’t want to lose him. She didn’t help when she could have, and then she shut him out of her life. Then Werther ended his life because he didn’t receive the proper support from his friend when he should have. His suicide is not her fault though since someone cannot force another person to commit suicide.

Werther was a depressed man whose life was filled with misfortune and sadness. The depression and loneliness eventually got to him and he ended his life. A lot of situations, some of which were his own fault, and some which weren’t, all went wrong for him. He got involved with people whom he shouldn’t have for his own well being. They only made him more depressed and lonely, and at the end of it, he ended his life. His suicide was understandable, but not justifiable.