Werther uses trees both as landmarks for countryside navigation and as cues for memory, with the trees serving as mementos of things past. His feelings for Carlotta (Lotte), and their relationship, are to Werther as timeless and beautiful as the trees themselves.
Thus, when a willow under which they both sat is lost to the flood, he sees it as an attack on his image of their love and is cast into despair.

 

The script: We see a close up on wrinkles on a white fabric. Hand written ink letters appear on the fabric, writiing: “Ma Chérie Charlotte”. Cut. We move to another detail of the fabric. Blood drenches the fabric. Blood starts shaping some lines. Upwards and downwards. Cut. We see the whole shirt. Werther’s shirt. We do not see Werther himself. Just the shirt. We see minor movements on the shirt. We realise that blood has shaped a big tree.