Introduction
An exploration of Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing and Voltaire’s Candide various concepts have been highlighted as a reflection of the society. The authors display the strife among the positive and negatives in society. Through an examination of different areas of social, economic, physical and emotional characteristics, the authors highlight deception, optimism the existence of false philosophy and the idea of free will and fate. The paper will provide an analysis and comparison between the Shakespeare comedy and game of love as shown in Much Ado about Nothing and the novel Candide. Deception and false philosophy have positive and negative impacts on thoughts actions and outcomes.
Shakespeare uses deception as a means to an end to achieve various outcomes and trigger actions. The deceit and false philosophy occurs as deliberate action which has both positive and negative impacts on the characters. The play is also complicated making it had to distinguish between the right and deadly deception. In Candide, the characters are bound in the trick that “everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds.” Candide is negatively affected by the deception as he suffers through horrors of diseases, rape, he is betrayed and flogged, threatened with execution and other natural disasters such as earthquakes. Candid together with his teacher, Pangloss struggle to find a justification to the terrible things taking place in the worlds and hence subscribe to the deceptions that all works for the best.
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Candide
In the play, Leonato, his family and friends are caught up in deception which plays a significant role in causing hurt, disgrace and regret. Claudio’s aborts his wedding to Hero having been deceived by his brother Don John that Hero, the woman he has wooed is unfaithful. Acting on the deception, Claudio rejects her which brings disgrace to the family. After the occurrences in the wedding, Leonato’s family move in a trick by framing Hero as dead to punish Claudio and also prepare a way for her reemergence to the society. In this aspect, fraud has both positive and negative such that Claudia suffers for his actions towards the innocent Hero and the family creates an opportunity to show the society that Hero is innocent. Later when Claudia has accepted being deceived in his realization that he had been misled in thoughts about Hero, Lenato’s family continue to trick him into marrying another girl form their family who they claim looks like Hero. He is therefore continuously lied to until the end when he discovers that Hero is still alive and that he will get to marry her.
The play also highlights another couple that operates under deception. Benedick and Beatrice are fooled in thoughts of love where they perceive each other as lovers but publicly display different opinions and wars. For example, during the masked ball, they flirt with one another n pretense of not being aware of who the other person is. They are caught up in the illusions which caused them to follow what they perceive and all in love with each other and agree to marry one another in a double wedding with Hero and Claudio. The play shows falsehood philosophies about love and the misunderstanding which later turn out to be untrue.
In Candide, the characters are deceived into believing in philosophical speculation which is not applicable in the real world. Living in the deception prevents the characters from making realistic decision and assessment of their situation and the world around them. Pangloss in his belief that “It is proven,’ ‘that things cannot be otherwise; for everything having been made for a purpose, everything is necessarily made for the best purpose.” He, therefore, claims everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds.” Acts in deception in various situations. For example, when Jacques drowns Pangloss emphatically urges Candide not to save him because it was meant to happen, he argues that “by proving that the bay of Lisbon had been formed expressly for this Anabaptist to drown in.” In moments of a disaster such as during the earthquake, Pangloss still acts in his deception and seek proof to show the causes instead of acceptance and helping Candide with oils and wine. Candide shows his living in deception where everyone who he thought was dead turns out alive.
Voltaire’s shows that Candide reaches a point where he discovers that he has been deceived. He claims Pangloss cruelly deceived me, then, when he told me that everything happens in the very best way.” Candide has been deceived that he has free will whereas he lives in a world where fate controls his encounters. For example, he is given deceptive choices where he is told to decide between being whipped or hanged. The choice id disguised to seem like an option but in the real sense, the defined result is death based on his religious deception. Candide opts to escape to Holland as he was previously told that Christians are kind and treat people fairly. However, on arrival he is treated with disgust. Another religious deception is seen with the old woman who was the daughter of a pope which alluded to the nature of Christianity in corruption, and Other characters such as the old woman and Cunegonde are deceived that having a right family name and being women would protect them from the evils of the world. Instead, they are raped, whipped and flogged subjected to shame and humiliation and are also captured and enslaved. Other characters previously deceived on their ability to have the best in the world but have been unfortunate to develop a negative attitude. Pangloss on contacting syphilis is deceived, he still believes it is the best of all possible world. Thus he justifies the disease by claiming that had to be transmitted from the Americas to Europe so that Europeans could enjoy New World delicacies such as chocolate.
From the analysis it deception and commitment to false prophecies can be shown through the lives of the characters. They experience suffering and witness the world worst disasters but still holds onto the belief that all is working for the best. In the end, Candide and his followers find happiness in living and cultivating their garden. They overcome deception but coming together and agreeing to stop living bound by the false philosophies and embrace the reality of life. Candide has finally recovered from his lifetime deception on everything working for the best and is more realistic in approaching life and therefore leads others to denounce their pessimism to be able to live with realities of life without illusions of the truth.
Conclusion
Living with lies and delusions can change lie and affect it n diverse ways. As shown n the play, the people are affected by lies in marriages and their social lives. They are forced to engage in lies for either positive or negative benefits, but in the end, the truth comes out and impact their lives in profound ways. On the other hand, the novel show how false philosophies subject various people both male and female to experiences of suffering and struggling until they realize the truth of life and attain happiness in the most uncomplicated lifestyles.
