Johann Wolfgang Goethe published his epistolary book The Sorrows of Young Werther in 1774. It was one of the key works of German literature's Sturm und Drang era and had an impact on the subsequent Romantic movement. In five and a half weeks of intense writing from January to March 1774, Goethe completed Werther. A compilation of letters from Werther, a young artist with a sensitive and passionate nature, to his friend Wilhelm was published as The Sorrows of Young Werther. These provide a personal description of his time spent in the fictional village of Wahlheim, where he first met Charlotte, a stunning little girl who looked after her siblings after their mother passed away. Despite being aware that Charlotte is engaged to Albert, a man eleven years her older, Werther yet falls in love with Charlotte. After a while, his grief becomes so unbearable that he has to leave Wahlheim for Weimar, where he meets Fräulein von B. When he visits a friend unintentionally and unpreparedly has to attend the weekly gathering of the aristocratic set there, he feels tremendous discomfort. Werther shoots himself in the head, however, doesn't die until twelve hours after his wife's demise. The novel finishes with hints that Charlotte could pass away from a shattered heart.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German poet, dramatist, writer, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic who lived from 28 August 1749 to 22 March 1832. In addition to treatises on botany, anatomy, and color, his writings also contain plays, poetry, literary criticism, and aesthetic works. The Metamorphosis of Plants, Goethe's first significant scientific publication, was released in 1788. He was appointed managing director of the Weimar theatre in 1791. On August 20, 1748, in Frankfurt, Johann Caspar married Catharina Elisabeth Textor, the mother of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Except for Johann Wolfgang and his sister Cornelia Friederica Christiana (born in 1750), all of their children died at a young age. Johann Caspar Goethe, an Imperial Councillor and law professor, was Goethe's father. From 1765 to 1768, Goethe attended Leipzig University to study law. He published Annette, his first book of poems, under a pseudonym in 1770. Goethe graduated from Strasbourg Law School in 1771 and was awarded the Licentiate of Law degree. He resumed his legal career in Wetzlar in 1772. When The Sorrows of Young Werther was released in 1774, it made him famous all over the world.
Goethe died at Weimar in 1832, ostensibly from heart failure. He is interred in Weimar's Historical Cemetery in the Ducal Vault.