DECEMBER 1

Dear friend, that poor, crazy fellow I mentioned in my last letter used to work for 'Charlotte's father. He lost his job because he fell in love with Charlotte. He then lost his mind. Can you imagine how this news makes me feel? Albert told me all of this without any of pity for the poor fellow.

DECEMBER 4

I feel that I cannot go on like this for much longer. I was at Charlotte's today, holding one of her younger sisters in my lap, while listening to Charlotte play the piano. Of course, she played that favorite song of hers, and immediately, memories of our first days together came rushing back into my mind. Then I began to think of all my sufferings since Albert returned to her. I could not stand it. I got to my feet and walked back and forth about the room, feeling terribly anxious and upset. Finally, I cried out, "For Heaven's sake, stop playing that song!" Charlotte removed her hands from the keyboard and looked at me for a moment. Then she smiled and said, "I think that you are not at all well, Werther. Please, go home and get some rest, so that you can feel better." Why, Wilhelm, does God not take pity upon me and finish my suffering?

TO THE READER

Unfortunately, Werther wrote few letters in the remaining days of his life. Therefore, I will now tell the rest as I learned it from his friends and family. When the opportunity comes I will include his last letters in the story, for they are the only way for us to really understand what happened and why it happened.

Werther had become an extremely unhappy fellow. His sadness limited his ability to think clearly and made him very tired. This, of course, brought other problems for the poor fellow, which made his unhappiness even greater. I was told by Albert's friends that people began to dislike being with Werther, because his presence would make them uncomfortable. Albert, on the other hand, was the same as always. He loved Charlotte very much and was very proud to be her husband. His love and trust for her made it unnecessary for him to become jealous of Werther. In fact, on many occasions, I was told, he would let Werther spend time alone with Charlotte, because he felt that his friend would be happier being by himself with her.

It had become a regular practice for Charlotte's father, who could no longer leave his home due to illness, to arrange for a carriage to take his daughter wherever she liked. The day after a bad snowstorm had hit the area, Werther decided to go and see if Charlotte might need help getting back to her house.

He left his home with the usual things on his mind. He could not enjoy the sunshine of the day, or the company of other people. He believed that he was causing problems between Albert and Charlotte. Although, he was upset with himself for this, a quiet anger toward Albert also grew inside of himself.

He would often think: "Everyone talks of Albert's great love for Charlotte! Why? He hardly pays any attention to her! He's gotten comfortable and lazy with their relationship. He no longer appreciates his fortune in having her as a wife! I wonder if he can ever appreciate her? I have accepted the fact that she is his, and that, because I trouble them so much, he will probably kill me one day. Have his feelings toward me changed? Does he feel that I only come to their home to see only Charlotte? Does this anger him? I feel that he hates it when I come over. I think that he hates me."

These were the thoughts that flew round and round in Werther's head on the occasions when he would walk toward Charlotte's home. Often, he would stop along the way and think about going back to his home, but eventually he would always arrive at the hunting-lodge.

On this particular day, he found the children quite upset. The oldest boy told him that someone had been killed in Walheim. This neither surprised nor interested Werther, for his mind could think of nothing else but the woman he loved. Going further into the house, he found Charlotte trying to keep her father, a very sick man, from going out to learn more about the murder. "The only facts I have are the following: the dead man was found in front of his home. He had been a servant for a wealthy woman who lived alone. There was much talk around town about how he had recently replaced another servant who had been fired."

Hearing this, Werther suddenly awakened from his sadness and ran out of the house. He felt certain that the killer was the man he had talked with so many times before: the sad man who had been dismissed from the woman's service. Werther immediately went to the home where the body had been found. There, at the front door, a large mark had been left by the dead man's blood. Here was the result of a man's love and passion turned into hatred and physical harm.

When Werther arrived at the small hotel in Walheim, he met a large crowd of people outside. Just then, a group of soldiers came marching down the road. They were accompanying a man to the hotel. As they were passing him, it was announced that the man they held was believed to be the killer. It was, indeed, the man who had been dismissed.

Werther ran up to the prisoner and said, "You poor man! Why did you do this?" The man calmly looked at him and said without emotion, "Now she will always be unmarried. "The soldiers then pushed the prisoner inside the hotel entrance and out of sight.

Werther was very upset. He felt sorry for the man. It was his opinion that the man should not be punished too seriously, for his behavior could easily be understood. At that moment he decided to try and help the man. He would speak to the judge and tell him of the man's problems. The judge would then see that the poor fellow could not be blamed for his actions.

He went back to the hunting lodge and saw that Albert was now there with Charlotte and her father. For a moment, this made Werther uncomfortable; however, he quickly remembered the prisoner and immediately began to tell the judge what he knew. Even though he told the man's story with much excitement and feeling, the judge could not see how it made the killer less guilty of his crime. Werther continued his argument, but the judge, hearing no real arguments being made, stopped him in the middle of his sentence, saying, "The man killed someone. He did the worst thing a man can possibly do in this world. The man he killed was not attacking him, so there is nothing to prevent him horn being punished. You should be ashamed of yourself, trying to persuade me that this murder was understandable and forgivable!"

The young man did not give up, however. He even suggested that the judge help the prisoner to escape somehow. The judge could not believe his ears and quickly ended the conversation. Several times during their discussion, Albert expressed his support of the judge's opinion. This angered Werther a great deal. He left them feeling as though Albert was now his personal enemy.

In his mind's condition, he could not calm himself and recognize that Albert's agreement with the judge was quite natural and correct. If he did realize this, then he certainly could not admit it to himself.

I managed to find a page in Werther's diary that expresses his attitude at this time: "Why do I keep trying to persuade myself that Albert is a good man? The fact that he lives and breathes makes me suffer every day of my life. I cannot accept him."

Towards the end of winter, as the snow was beginning to melt, Albert and Charlotte had a talk about Werther during an evening walk. Noticing that she seemed to miss having her friend visit so often, Albert felt the need to criticize him. "His love for you is a problem for us now. I wish that he would go away. However, knowing that he won't, I ask that you stop spending so much time with him. People are talking about us. I'm certain." Charlotte remained quiet after this. Beginning that day, Albert would never discuss Werther with his wife again. Even when she mentioned his name, he would not say anything in return, or he would simply change the subject.

Not being able to help the prisoner, Werther sank into an even deeper sadness than before. He had no desire to do anything. He was further upset when he was asked to speak in the trial against the prisoner, who was now saying that he did not kill the man.

All of Werther's past troubles suddenly came back into his mind. His embarrassment while working for the ambassador and his failure to win Charlotte before he left Walheim, all became fresh injuries for himself. He did absolutely nothing but sit in his home and think about his sadness. Every day was the same for him, the same unhappiness, and the same dark hopelessness. And each day made him weaker and weaker, until he finally came to his sad end.

There are a few letters that can give us some idea of how he was feeling.

(end of section)