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Despite the scientific model at its heart, Goethe's elusive tragic novel is not the story of a catastrophe resulting inevitably from overpowering passions. As events unfold, initially powerful passion turns to frustrated yearning. The characters fail to act on or counteract their situation because their understanding of themselves and their world is not adequate to it. This is suggested at the beginning of the novel when Eduard and Charlotte appear to renounce their ability to shape their fate, and it continues throughout, with a superstitious belief in signs indicating a failure to engage with the world.