Candide by Voltare and Utopia by Thomas More - Book Report/Review Example

People dream of having a perfect world, an ideal society, different from the present world that we have right now. Because of the many conflicts and issues that the existing world is experiencing, people dream of a perfect society with no sadness, disappointment and evils. And with this thinking, Voltaire and Thomas More presented their own perception of an ideal society through their works, Candide and Utopia, respectively. Through their works, they created an ideal world very much different from their own worlds they were living in at those times. Their worlds were created in the basis of equality, justice and contentment of the people living within. Their worlds were devoid of the evils of injustice and cruelty, greed and power. In Candide, the story revolves around Candide's life experiences in the cruel world outside the comforts of where he grew up. Candide was horrified to learn other people's misfortunes, hearing stories of rape, slavery, cannibalism and murder. Eventually, through his travels and escapes, Candide found himself in the land of El Dorado. The land was covered with golds and jewels. They have advanced scientific knowledge. They don't have a court system and religious conflicts. He spent some time there realizing how idealistic and the seemingly perfect world that he could live in. But since he longed to be with the woman he loved whom he lost several times because of the countless misfortunes that comes his way, he left in search for her. When he finally found her as a slave he buys her freedom, and along with the other companions he lost and found again, they settled in a farm. By the end of the story, Candide met a farmer who worked hard on his land and avoided vices and leisure. He took on to this principle and with his friends, they adapted to the same kind of living. Their time and energy went to working the farm and the garden leaving them with no time to argue and discuss their philosophical ideologies. And so they were able to, finally, have a peaceful, happy and contented life. All throughout the story, Voltaire used satire in presenting the cruelty and unfairness of life. The optimists experience a lot of misfortunes. Since Voltaire does not accept the existence of a perfect being, he mocked the idea that the world is good and the imperfections in the world are viewed as such because of one's limited understanding of the grand plan of the perfect God. For example, when he said, "God punished the scoundrel, the devil drowned the others," (Voltaire) it showed how misjudgment can misguide the perspective of man on the good and the bad. Also, Voltaire presented the corrupted and hypocritical religion all throughout the story through his minor characters, like the Pope who has a daughter, the Catholic Inquisitor who has a mistress and the Franciscan friar who was a jewel thief. Voltaire also showed in his work how money corrupts men. When Candide received wealth from the hospitable people of El Dorado, he thought he would be happy and contented but he can even bribe his way out of everything. But he soon realized how wasteful it is just to spend money in that way. Voltaire used these disparities and disappointments of the main character's life to show the difference of the existing society to the ideal society. With the evils of the outside world, Candide saw the big differences between his life and of the lives of the people in El Dorado. Even as a visitor there, he was treated like he was part of the community, feeding him and even giving him money and jewels when he left. He realized how hospitable people are in the society when they were toured around El Dorado, and even being given a place to stay in which they were able to eat in golden plates and drink in silver cups. Here in this ideal society, the visitors were treated kindly and very much welcome. They are very accommodating to the people from outside of their place. Voltaire presented his view on the ideal society through El Dorado, by which he created a world almost the opposite of the real world. The kings of the outside world were presented as worthless human beings only interested in their wealth and power, and they live being greedy of it. On the other hand, El Dorado has no value for money or wealth. The citizens are shown to live long when the host revealed that he was 172 years old (Voltaire). They live long and happy. There is no church, parliament, prisons and court (Voltaire). This shows that Voltaire's idea of a perfect society has no unequal treatment for the people, no injustice and no status placed on everyone's shoulders, everyone is equal and fair within the society. Utopia, on the other hand, was a story about the different philosophical perspectives of the characters by which Thomas More created to carry a discussion to show the differences of the ideal world and the existing world. There are three voices in the story, More, Giles and Hythloday. More used the three characters to voice out his opinions in a seemingly debating manner to present the injustices and faults of the real world. Hytholoday was the one who gives out opinions about the many evil civil practices of England. But his alternate propositions were met with hostility by the king. He notes that no matter how good and just a proposition is, it will not look as good or better to a person used to a different perspective of the issue or situation. He describes this through comparing the Utopians and Europeans. He points out that Utopians are superior than Europeans but Europeans would view the Utopian's policy of common properties as insane. And this started their conversation about the Utopian society. Hytholoday described Utopia as a society based on rational thoughts and humanist perspective. Utopians value their life more than anything else. That is why they do not want thieves to be punished with death because it is not fair and humanist since they only commit the crime to bring food to the table unlike the murderers who destroy what they value most, life. They say it's not fair for them to be judged in the same way as murderers (More). Though, for them punishment maintains social stability. They punish crimes through slavery, making use of the criminals to make their society better instead of leaving them good as dead. The Utopian society is also described as a society with no love for wealth, and so they don't have money or currency. Because they don't have wealth, they don't have class distinctions, much the same as El Dorado in Candide. But unlike the ideal society in Candide, Utopia is guided by a divine providence. They don't have social hierarchy but they do have the sense of honoring elders and allowing them to first through everything, like when eating. Though they have a king or a prince, Utopia is ruled through communist democracy. Everyone is equal. Everything is identical and no one is privately owned. Everything is communal and everyone works for it. They restrict everyone from moving outside of their city and they control sex and family. They are free to travel within though they need permission from the Prince first. Traveling without permission is punishable. And by the end of the story, More said that he would like the European society to adapt some of the aspects of the Utopian society but he does not believe that it will ever happen. This shows that More sees that the ideal world can never be put into practice in the real world. That it will just be an ideal society that all the societies would dream of but never reach. Both ideal societies have their own ways of taking care of their people and both have their own ways of keeping their societies intact. With El Dorado, though, they were able to be open to people outside of their culture. Not unlike Utopia were they seem more restricted in having other people get in and get out of their society. This might mean that they wanted to be more private. Ideal worlds, though, it seems to be perfect still have its flaws. And its flaws can be seen through this travel and taking in visitors. Being too open can result to greediness of other people and infiltration of other people in their society and being too closed stops them from being able to learn of the outer world and inflict the good in their society. Both works focus on the ideal society, although, both have different points of view about it. But the commonalities between them are the ideals of fairness and equality to all citizens, and the worthlessness of money and material possessions. They want to eradicate social and class distinctions and replace it with a uniform treatment for everyone. Both authors also viewed the ideal society as an impossible feat to take. But what is important is to try hard to live as happily and practically as possible. References More, Sir Thomas. Utopia. David Wootton, ed. Hackett Publishing Company, Cambridge, England, 1999. Voltaire, Candide, Ou L'Optimisme. Ed. George R. Havens. New York: Henry Holt and Company Inc., 1954. Read More