The Puzzle of Youth and the Element of System behind the Love Tragedy of Die Leiden des jungen Werther

This essay focuses on the famous novel Die Leiden des jungen Werther by Goethe and tries to explore the social factors behind the idea of the love tragedy in the eighteenth century in Germany while attaching importance to the development of the inner elements of the individuals. On the other hand the book of Die Freude des jungen Werther by Friedrich Nicolai as the opposite side in the historical context is also used as the reference,so that the confrontation in the cultural field could be promoted to a height of the thought conflict in the history of ideas. A general problematic of the puzzle of youth is then concluded on the basis of Goethe's art view,that means,the death of Werther was on one hand because of the above reasons,on the other hand even as the symbol of the suffering of the delegate of German culture. The real death of Werther and the false sacrifice of Goethe not only show us the social reasons such as the system binding of this tragedy,but also announce a very important proposition-the cultural false sacrifice.