Comparing 'An Essay On Man' And Voltaire's Candi

Pope’s “An Essay on Man” and Voltaire’s Candide showcase contradictory philosophies. Pope asserts, “Whatever is, is right.” Thus, according to Pope, whatever happens happens because God wanted it to happen. Pope seems to recall the themes of the early 18th century in his philosophy such as the social system of feudalism. European nobility used such a system to keep peasants loyal to the government or in other place to keep them in their place. The peasants were literally stuck in their social and economic positions with no hope of progression. The nobles believed that they were privileged and the peasants were not because that was what God wanted. They did not want the peasants to learn how to think and to reason for themselves because that

The only people who benefitted from being “stuck” were the nobles. While the peasants were living miserable lives the nobles were living a life of luxury and overindulgence. The life of the noble could be summarized as a life in pursuit of shallow pleasures illustrated in Rococo art. How could the nobles justify such overindulgence and selfishness while the peasants had nothing and were suffering? Quite simple actually: they believed that there position in life as well as the peasants position in life reflected the will of God, thus changing such a position would go contrary to what God would want. Finally, after centuries of oppression a period known as the Enlightenment called for a change from the medieval feudalistic system to a newer social order. Voltaire was a philosopher of the Enlightenment and we can see in his book Candide a rejection of the philosophy held by Pope for a newer philosophy based on freedom of thought. In Candide the character of Pangloss represents the philosophy held by Pope. Pangloss believes that everything that happens happens for the best end. Voltaire, a man of the Enlightenment, refuses to accept such a belief because in doing so one would give up his freedom of