Sophie is a young and carefree 15 year old girl who believes that the world is a happy place. She tries to allow her optimism to shine through and brighten everyone’s day around her. I believe that her goal is to find happiness once again after the death of her mother. When Sophie and Charlotte’s mother had passed their whole life got flipped upside down. Sophie had lost her mother in some of the most critical years of her life. She has this empty void that she wants to fill and I believe that she tries to fill her emptiness with making others happy. Sophie wants to feel whole and loved again, like the way her mother used to make her feel.
Sophie keeps up her happiness and optimism throughout the whole opera, but you can tell that it gets incredibility harder to do so as the opera continues. You begin to see her cry and be upset more and more. She is internally conflicted and lost and does not know how to express her emotions and feels as though she has no one to talk to. She does not want to burden anyone else with what she is feeling because the people she could talk to; her father, Charlotte or the children, are going through the same thing.
Sophie never reaches her goal of bliss and happiness. The ending of the death of Werther even foreshadows more unhappiness that will be brought into her life. Sophie however never fails her goal of trying to cheer up the people around her. Sophie tried her hardest to make Charlotte happy when she found out that Werther was going to kill himself, even though Sophie did not succeed she never waved from her commitment to make others happy. Sophie does not really deal with her impediments well. She gets extremely emotional and this leads to her being upset and crying. Her over emotional reactions leads to nothing getting accomplished or helped. She is left at the same place which she started. When she realizes her true feelings it makes her realize that she lost a piece of herself that she will never get back. Her optimistic ways have not helped her to become whole.
Since Sophie realizes that at this time in her life she won’t be as happy as she once was she reflects her desire of happiness on others and this changes her goal to make the world around her a better place for the children, Charlotte and her father. I hope that Sophie will be as happy as she portrays to others when trying to make other happy. The lesson that I believe Sophie learns is that young optimism is a blessing and a curse.
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I think you’re right about happiness being Sophie’s goal, both for herself and those around her, although I’m curious about what you thought of the Massenet adaptation of Sophie. In that one, her goal seemed to be marriage, in particular to Werther, as well as happiness. Do you think that adaptation stays true to the script?
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The way you explained Sophie’s goals were really in depth and showed another emotional character. I felt as though Sophie’s goal at the end was lost when Werther killed himself, but you pointed out that she had another goal, of bringing happiness and cheering others up which she did accomplish. I like how you highlighted this second goal. That last sentence really hit, that young optimism is both a blessing and a curse.
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