Romanticism is not an easy movement to characterize, precisely because its focus on the emotional rather than on the logical prefers the indefinable. On the other hand, the new type of masculinity that this movement popularized can be explained simply; it arises as a consequence of the changing notion of the value that the society places on sensibility. Men portrayed in the 18th and 19th century literature are delicate, gentile, generous and possess soft manners. They prefer unspoken over spoken and felt over reasoned. They all seem to have a character that fits into Smith's definition of sensibility from the 18th century:.
"[T]ender and delicate disposition of the soul which renders it easy to be moved and touched It gives one a kind of wisdom concerning matters of virtue and is far more penetrating than the intellect alone. People of sensibility because of their liveliness can fall into errors that men of the world would not commit; but these are greatly outweighed by the amount of good that they can do. Men of sensibility live more fully than the othersReflection can produce a man of probity; but sensibility is the mother of humanity, of generosity; it is at the service of merit, lends its support to the intellect, and is the moving spirit which animates belief.".
Smith obviously praises being sentimental and mentions its pitfalls only briefly when saying that the "men of feeling" "can fall into errors which men of the world would not commit" (Smith). Goethe seems to disagree as he focuses primarily on this pitfall in his 1774 novel "The Sufferings of Young Werther". His protagonist, Werther, is an emotion-driven persona hovering on edge of madness and obsession because of his admiration for unattainable Lotte. Werther regards sensibility as a virtue yet surrounded by a public world of decisions and actions, a situation that makes it impossible for Werther to be understood.
