Women in Goethe’s 'The Sorrows of Young Werther' and Dostoevsky’s ‘Notes from Underground

The portrayal of female characters in fiction can be simplified to an admixture of stereotypes. Stereotypes inform the gender roles that female characters are often written into a piece of literature to fulfil. It starts with a material role to which some broader social expectation is imputed. In older classic texts, rarely is the woman something beyond a wife, a mother, a widow or a servant. In playing stereotypical roles, they provide love, support, maternal sympathy and other things to the male characters. This is the limit of their characterization; the two works being analyzed show the ways in which this is true and not true.

Many of the greatest works of literature have such gendered tropes. In the two works being analyzed – Goethe’s ‘The Sorrows of Young Werther’ and Dostoevsky’s ‘Notes from Underground’ – they are especially significant. ‘The Sorrows of Young Werther’ is an epistolary novel that narrates the quest for a love that was bound to fail from the beginning. ‘Notes from Underground’ is a grim novella that delineates the thoughts of a deeply isolated man who finds a semblance of connection in a character named Liza. The gender roles in these texts can be interpreted as a representation of the time and how writers were influenced by surrounding societal views or as the author critiquing such views. Thus, this essay argues for two claims. One, that the texts contrast in the variety and development of female characters with Goethe presenting a more diverse set of women and Dostoevsky presenting a limited cast with limited characterization. And two, that they are ultimately similar in their depiction of stereotypical gender roles and male projection.  

To begin, the male archetypes in both texts will be established. This is important because it defines what men want out of women and how women respond. Goethe’s Werther can be seen as a Petrarchan character. Werther’s journey in the book is defined by unrequited love – the key trait of a Petrarchan character. On the other hand, Dostoevsky’s Underground Man is not enchanted by any love interest; he remains a social outsider. As a result, his pessimistic thoughts are projected onto women.

Back to ‘The Sorrows of Young Werther’, Goethe emphasizes Petrarchan tropes with his use of impassioned language, rich with imagery and pathetic fallacy. In Werther’s eyes, everything is alchemized. Life has a ‘marvelous gaiety’; ‘every tree, every hedgerow is a bouquet’ to Werther. Such is the hold love has on men like Werther. The first line of the August 15^th letter is key in understanding the gender dynamics: ‘nothing justifies a man’s existence like being loved.’ In Petrarchan characters and in Werther, there is an insecurity that is projected onto the woman. Thus, Goethe is suggesting that Werther wants her to fix something within himself. By being characterized as something of material value that every man desires, women are objectified.

The contrast in imagery shows how easily swayed Werther is. At once, ‘the pretty clouds [are] moving slowly across the horizon in the light evening breeze’, ‘valleys [are] winding in the shade of the loveliest forests’ and then this ‘warm enjoyment’ turns into an ‘unbearable torment, a demon’. By portraying how fragile Werther is, Goethe is commenting on the folly of man and his idea of love; yet by giving Werther the awareness to understand how mercurial his own character is, Goethe seems to be presenting folly as something deeply human as well. Everybody is subject to emotional flux.

While Werther seeks validation from women, the Underground man tries to provide them with salvation. The Underground man wishes to ‘save Liza’, to ‘develop her mind, educate her.’ His contempt for society means he believes he could do things better. His goals are reflected onto his interactions with Liza, where the ‘holier-than-thou’ aspect of his character is made clear. Dostoevsky’s dynamic between the man and Liza is synecdochical of gender dynamics in the broader society where men are perceived to be better than women.

In ‘The Sorrows of Young Werther’, Goethe presents a relatively large set of women. Their roles are all stereotypical however: mothers, wives, widows, servants. Yet, Goethe develops some of these characters and adds dimension to them. For example, the Widow runs a wealthy household efficiently and is the employer of the farmer lad, an uncommon occupation for women at that time. Lotte herself is highly intellectual and enjoys Werther’s company because of their philosophical discussions. It is for this reason she wishes to maintain their friendship. Lotte also takes care of her siblings without hesitation following the demise of their mother. Yet to Werther, women are only objects of affection; he is unable to see them as unique individuals. The character of Miss Von B exemplifies this in a very simple way. When Werther first meets her, his first impression is that she could be a potential love interest.