Goethe's works are full of the rebellious spirit of soaring movement and have made great achievements in poetry, drama and prose. His major works include the drama Goethe von bell Hinggan, the novella young werther, the unfinished poetic drama Prometheus and the prototype of the poetic drama Faust, in addition to writing many lyrics and poems.
Gertz von bell Hinggan is the first German realistic historical drama. Goetz was originally a German Charise Carnes in16th century. He once took part in the peasant uprising and later betrayed the peasants. As a knight and a representative of the dying class, Gotz rose up against the existing system, which was a tragic confrontation between the knight class and the emperor and feudal lords. But under Goethe's pen, Goethe was written as a hero who opposed feudal tyranny and strived for freedom and unity. He deeply sympathized with the people's sufferings and rebuked those rulers who fought for rights and brought disaster to the country and people, so he was loved by the people. The condemnation of the dark society at that time, the ardent yearning for freedom and unity, and the praise of heroes who resisted by individuals all showed the spirit of sturm und drang. In art, the play adopts the method of Shakespeare's drama creation.
Young werther is an epistolary novel. Victor, the hero, is a young man from a citizen's family. He yearns for a free and equal life and hopes to engage in useful practical work. However, the society around him is full of class prejudice and vulgar habits. Conservative and corrupt officialdom, vulgar and obedient citizens, arrogant aristocrats constantly clashed with the reality around them, and he himself fell into hopeless love and finally embarked on the road of suicide. The conflict between Victor and society is of anti-feudal significance. Through Witt's tragedy, the novel exposes and criticizes many unreasonable realities in German society at that time, and expresses the revolutionary sentiment of the awakened German youth. Therefore, as soon as it was published, it aroused strong repercussions, formed Witte fever, and soon spread to European countries, becoming the first literary work of various countries with great international influence.
Prometheus is a poetic drama adapted from ancient Greek mythology by Goethe. Although the script has not been finished, the fragments handed down have expressed Goethe's strong anti-feudal spirit in his youth. Prometheus in the play denies Zeus' rights, opposes Zeus' arrogance and wants to create a new human being who despises Zeus as much as he does. Victor's lack of tenacity is reflected in this mythical figure.
In the first ten years of Goethe's stay in Weimar, Goethe was busy with affairs and seldom wrote. After arriving in Italy, he successively completed some works that he had started, including Iphigenia in Taliz and Egmont, as well as some chapters in Tasso and Faust.
The play Egmont is based on/kloc-the history of the Dutch people's struggle against Spain in the 6th century. Egmont was a vacillating aristocratic opposition in history, and Goethe wrote him as a hero fighting for national freedom and unity, which was loved by the people. However, he lacked positive action and advocated taking moderate measures, and was finally executed. The play still retains the revolutionary sentiment of the hurricane movement, but the rebellious spirit of the characters has been reduced.
Iphigenia of Doris is based on Greek mythology. The hero Iphigenia is in a foreign country, but he can move the king with perfect character and fraternity, change the barbaric customs there, and establish the principles of humanity and justice.
Goethe's creations in his later years are extremely rich, such as autobiographical works Poetry and Truth, Travels in Italy, novels Affinity and William Meister's Roaming Times, lyric poetry collection and the second volume of Faust, which were completed shortly before his death. These works show Goethe's thought of attaching importance to practice and affirming to work for human happiness, indicating that the positive factors in his thought have increased compared with the previous period.
Although Master William's Roaming Times is not as attractive as Master William's Learning Times, it focuses on the search for an ideal social system, believing that people can only obtain the meaning of collective welfare through active labor, and its thoughts are relatively open and positive. Many of Goethe's lyric poems in his later years shone with the light of materialism and optimism, and shone brilliantly in the German literary world where negative romantic literature prevailed at that time. The completion of the second part of Faust highlights Goethe's new development in thought and art in his later years.
1832 On March 22nd, Goethe passed away. Goethe is the most outstanding representative of German national literature. His works have raised German literature to the advanced level in Europe and made great contributions to the development of European literature.