Pages 1 through 37 Summary and Analysis

"I am engulfed, I succumb. . ."/To Be Engulfed

To be engulfed with emotion without resisting or holding back is a release of the soul's emotion leading one to either ecstasy or tragedy. By evading the emotion, by disappearing at will is to disallow one's ability to be fully engulfed in love or emotion. Is this engulfment itself an emotion rather than an act? (Werther)

The Absent One/Absence

The lover who departs leaves the other in suspense. Absence can only exist as a consequence of one departing and one staying. The one who is left is the abandoned one—he is the dismal package left in the corner of the railway station. He is unimportant, small, unnoticed and neglected. Sadly, the one who is left is loved less than the one who departs. (Werther) Historically, the woman is...