Which novel by Goethe does the monster read in Frankenstein?

The monster reads Goethe’s novel The Sorrows of Young Werther in Frankenstein.

He finds it in a leather portmanteau with two other influential books: Plutarch’s Lives and Milton’s Paradise Lost. Because the creature has had no formal teacher, these works become a substitute education. He studies them to learn about human emotions, social relationships, morality, history, and the conflicts that shape people’s lives.

Goethe’s novel centers on Werther, a sensitive young artist whose love for Charlotte cannot be fulfilled because she is engaged to Albert. The monster identifies with Werther’s emotional isolation and sense of exclusion. He also recognizes a painful parallel between Werther’s longing for companionship and his own desire to be accepted by humanity.

The book is sometimes confused with Faust, another famous work by Goethe, but Faust is not one of the three volumes the creature finds. The Sorrows of Young Werther was first published in 1774 and became one of the defining works of the German Sturm und Drang movement.