“The Sorrows of Young Werther” is told through a series of letters, mostly sent to a person named Wilhelm. A young man named Werther falls madly in love with a woman named Charlotte. Unfortunately, Charlotte is engaged to another man named Albert. Even though Werther knows he cannot have Charlotte, he still spends a lot of time around her, hoping to possibly win her affections through playing with her younger siblings to debating philosophy with her fiancee Albert. Werther tries to respect the couple as much as possible, even moving away to go work at another job as a writer. However, he can never get Charlotte out of his mind. This drives him into despair as he ultimately kills himself by shooting himself in the head with one of Albert’s pistols. He dies a slow agonizing death as he is still alive in the morning but only breathing.
Werther feels that he must die as he is slowly going mad that he cannot be with Charlotte, he debates killing Albert but he chooses not to because of their relationship as friends. This is even portrayed through the trial of a servant that kills their mistress. Werther sympathizes with them because he wants Charlotte to only love him. He tried to get the judge to drop the charges against the servant but ultimately fails which further throws him into grief.
As to why Werther writes the letters about his various misfortunes with not only Charlotte but his employment opportunities, he wants to leave his mark on the world. Even when he dies, he still wants to be remembered. These letters are his testament to his unrequited love and what he had to suffer through to get to the point of ending his life. This story is a confession of a sinful love and lust that Werther developed for Charlotte.