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Rhetorical Analysis On Werther

Decent Essays

This is a passage recounted in a series of events by the editor. In this passage, Werther received the inconceivable news that a farmhand, a man he identified with, had committed a horrific act. The farmhand, a man desperately in love with the widow he once worked for, had murdered the new farmhand as a selfish act of devotion to the widow. Werther, as recounted by the editor “torn from his resentment, experiences an overwhelming sympathy for the unhappy man” (Passage II). He tried to plead the Land Steward to turn a blind eye to the ignominious act committed and for the man to be saved. The following passage uses characterization and setting to impart the consequences of unrequited love.
Characterization is something that is to be highlighted in this passage. This textual extract demonstrates many of Werther’s traits including stubbornness and loyalty. …show more content…

The reader here is extremely capable of putting two and two together and seeing that Werther sees himself in the unhappy man. The reader’s point is then validated when at the end of the passage Werther has written a note expressing this: “Unhappy man, you cannot be saved, I see for sure that we cannot be saved” (Passage II). Werther’s use of the word ‘we’ is essential to understanding what is going on here. Through his pleading and sorrows, he knows such an action cannot be forgiven and that when one’s love for someone isn’t returned, it is likely they can commit regrettable and disapproving actions. Werther’s stubbornness demonstrated his childlike persona in such a way, illustrating the way that many children behave when they don’t get something they want. This is extremely apparent in the way he stormed off at the end of the passage after being denied

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