Compare and Contrast Happines in Candide, Rasselas, Essay on Man
Happiness
Throughout history humankind has been trying to define happiness. What is it exactly and how do we obtain it? We always think that happiness is a place to be or a destination and technically, that is the main premise or goal of our lives; to obtain happiness. So our whole lives go by from the minute were born to the last breath we take in a quest to work hard in order to reach that destination. Naturally, many philosophical writers have jumped on the bandwagon and put in their two cents of their views on the matter of happiness. Alexander Pope talks about the relationship and purpose man has to the universe in An Essay on Man, Voltaire wrote about living in blind optimism with a false notion of happiness in Candide, and Samuel Johnson wrote The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia, in which the main characters are on a quest to find happiness.
Alexander Pope’s, An Essay on Man, tries to answer the question many have had about happiness and how to obtain it. In a time where religion was the base of everything people did, and if anyone tried to speak out against it, they would get ostracized, there is bound to be people who start questioning things. Pope was a man of God. He took it upon himself to explain to the confused people the ways of God. Pope promotes a particular way of thinking in which we should accept everything as is. What is, is mean to be. God has a purpose for everything and we as mere humans should not question, or even try to understand it, because we are not able to do so. It is interesting because this is precisely what Pope is attempting to do in his essay. He is basically claiming all though he does not outright say it, that he has God’s plan all figured out, and that is what he is trying to get others to understand. He is promoting a sense of ignorance. No matter how imperfect and evil the world may seem sometimes, everything is according to the natural laws of God. To humans it may appear to be imperfect and evil, but that is
Throughout history humankind has been trying to define happiness. What is it exactly and how do we obtain it? We always think that happiness is a place to be or a destination and technically, that is the main premise or goal of our lives; to obtain happiness. So our whole lives go by from the minute were born to the last breath we take in a quest to work hard in order to reach that destination. Naturally, many philosophical writers have jumped on the bandwagon and put in their two cents of their views on the matter of happiness. Alexander Pope talks about the relationship and purpose man has to the universe in An Essay on Man, Voltaire wrote about living in blind optimism with a false notion of happiness in Candide, and Samuel Johnson wrote The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia, in which the main characters are on a quest to find happiness.
Alexander Pope’s, An Essay on Man, tries to answer the question many have had about happiness and how to obtain it. In a time where religion was the base of everything people did, and if anyone tried to speak out against it, they would get ostracized, there is bound to be people who start questioning things. Pope was a man of God. He took it upon himself to explain to the confused people the ways of God. Pope promotes a particular way of thinking in which we should accept everything as is. What is, is mean to be. God has a purpose for everything and we as mere humans should not question, or even try to understand it, because we are not able to do so. It is interesting because this is precisely what Pope is attempting to do in his essay. He is basically claiming all though he does not outright say it, that he has God’s plan all figured out, and that is what he is trying to get others to understand. He is promoting a sense of ignorance. No matter how imperfect and evil the world may seem sometimes, everything is according to the natural laws of God. To humans it may appear to be imperfect and evil, but that is