The Messages of Various Literary Works

The message of Voltaire's Candide is that society is deceitful and hypocritical from top to bottom. Voltaire sees all humanity as corrupt and weak, although he sends this message with much humor. Even with the humor, however, the book paints a dark portrait of the human condition. Voltaire mocks the idea that the world is rational. Candide is a naive optimist, always wanting to believe the best about human beings, even in the face of great evidence to the contrary. He is the victim of horrible cruelty,

beaten, for example, for taking an unauthorized walk, given "four thousand strokes, which had laid bare every muscle and nerve from his neck to his backside" (Voltaire 22). The message is clear: the innocent, naive, vulnerable, hopeful, positive-thinking individual will be abused terribly by others. For all the ordeals Candide endures, Voltaire does allow for at least the hope symbolized by the "garden" of which Candide repeatedly speaks at the end of the book (Voltaire 120). Still, taken as a whole, the message of the book is not positive but profoundly negative. In fact, one of Voltaire's favorite targets is Pangloss's philosophy which argues that the world is the best of all possible worlds and that, therefore, all is for the best. For example, after Lisbon has been destroyed by an earthquake, Pangloss argues, "For . . . all is for the best. For if there's a volcano at Lisbon, it couldn't be anywhere else. For it's impossible for things not to be where they are. For all i

hakespeare 64). However, the lovers are driven to seek each other in romantic love, despite this threat. The love they experience, however briefly, is apparently worth the cost, although they are incapable of examining the situation rationally, and they certainly did not set out to die as a result of their love. One might argue that they cannot help but love one another, even unto death, just as the world and those outside of such a love must join together to try to prevent or destroy it. In any case, romantic love is too tender and pure to last in a world far more attuned to the hatred between the two lovers' feuding families. Works Cited Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. New York: Penguin, 1988. Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: Bantam, 1991. Voltaire. Candide. New York: Bantam, 1981. Mary Shelley, in Frankenstein, examines the role of scientific advancement in Victor Frankenstein's playing God and in the misery of the monster himself. The author forces the reader to consider that scientific advancement, as expressed in the ability of Victor to create the monster, has deeply moral consequences. In other words, scientific advancement is not good in and of itself; it depends on how its advances are use