A Comparison of the Quest for Enlightenment in Candide and Dream of the Red Chamber

Quest for Enlightenment in Candide and Dream of the Red Chamber

Seventeenth-century Europe saw the end of the Renaissance and ushered in the Neoclassic era. During this period, which is also called the Enlightenment and "The Age of Reason," society advocated rationalism and urged the restraint of emotion. Writers modeled their works after the Greco-Roman satires and picaresque novels. At around the same time in China, the author of Dream of the Red Chamber explores a different kind of enlightenment, whose roots are in religion. Buddha is called "The Enlightened One," and one of the major concerns of Buddhism is "Why do we suffer and feel pain?"

Candide by Voltaire and Dream of the Red Chamber by Cao Xuegin introduce characters and motifs that have become illustrations of the quest for enlightenment. Candide, in the spirit of the European Enlightenment, is a satire on philosophy and religion. Voltaire uses this work to candidly criticize irrational optimism and thought control. Interestingly, the word "candid" even makes up a part of Candide's name, and Voltaire uses hyperbole to contribute to his concept of extremes. After being kicked out of his home, Candide wanders and drags "himself toward the neighboring town . . . dying of hunger and fatigue." Later, he "embraced the Baron and Pangloss a hundred times."

Pangloss, Candide's tutor, teaches a strange subject called "metaphysico-theologo-cosmolo-nigology," and one of the towns Candide visits is named "Valdberghoff-trarbk-dikdorff." It is these details that accentuate Voltaire's criticism of irrational behavior. He further stresses his point with the characters' rationalization of hardship as being "everything is for the best." regardless of how ...

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...eam of the Red Chamber is also related to the happiness material things can bring. Chen Shih-yin gives up his material possessions and begins a journey to enlightenment. While both author seem to renounce or denounce the world, they also appear to espouse the "seize the day" philosophy, so that one will not have regrets.

Works Cited

Voltaire. Candide or Optimism. Trans. Donald M. Frame. The HarperCollins World Reader: The Modern World. Ed. Mary Ann Caws and Christopher Prendergast. New York: HarperCollins, 1994. 1933-1997. Other versions have also been consulted.

Cao Xuegin. Dream of the Read Chamber. An excerpt and adaptation. Trans. Chi-Chen Wang. The HarperCollins World Reader: The Modern World. Ed. Mary Ann Caws and Christopher Prendergast. New York: HarperCollins, 1994. 1469-1478. Other versions, including the original, have also been consulted.