Anthony Tobia, Danielle Fit
Abstract
The plight of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s tortured protagonist, Werther, started the phenomenon known as Werther-Fieber ("Werther Fever") which caused young men throughout Europe to dress in the clothing style described in The Sorrows of Young Werther. The 1774 novel is also thought to have inspired other, less adaptive, modelled behaviors such as suicide.