Jessica Noble
Pangloss as the Counter to Voltaire In the novel Candide, Pangloss is not a believable character. He is an exaggeration, a representation of the kind of philosopher whose personality is inseparable from his philosophy. His continued optimism is subject to most of the satire found in the novel, and through forcing Pangloss to interact with the cruel world around him, Voltaire can attack the ideas Pangloss represents. His idea that this world is the best of all possible worlds is attacked frequently by Voltaire in the novel, and when covering the subject of idle philosophy, Pangloss is an example of how not to behave. It is through Pangloss that we truly see Voltaire’s feelings, as he uses Pangloss as an exaggeration of what not
…show more content…
Leibniz maintains that, since the world was created by God, and since God is benevolent and capable, the world must be the best world imaginable. To Pangloss and followers of Leibniz, to have any evil in the world would be a sign that God is not all knowing and all powerful, because God is omnipotent, and must know some evil will occur. Any evil that is perceived in the world is so because humans cannot understand the ultimate good that the “evil” is meant to serve. In Candide, Voltaire stakes a different claim, demonstrating that it could also be possible that this world is not the best, and that because it is not the best God is not controlling it. Where Pangloss represents theism, Voltaire and fellow enlightened thinkers believed there may have been a god, and he created the universe, but once he created it he stepped back and watched events play out. These “Deists” believe God can be known through reason. It is for these differences that Voltaire mocks the idea of a completely good world, and is unfair in his satire, making Pangloss a caricature of a person and magnifying his flaws. The novel’s characters, especially Pangloss and …show more content…
In the chaos constantly presented in the novel, characters are prevented from making accurate assessments of the world around them because they are thinking idealistically. No one takes any action to prevent horrible situations, because they feel the situation rests in God’s hands: there is no alternative, and no changing what is done. Pangloss most fully represents this shortcoming in preventing Candide from saving the drowning Jacques, saying he believes the bay of Lisbon had been formed specifically for him to drown in, and then ignoring Candide’s struggle to free himself from the rubble post-earthquake, instead contemplating what may have caused the event. Even the name of Pangloss’s school of thought, metaphysico-theologo-cosmolo-nigology, suggests how ridiculous Voltaire believes idle thinkers to be. At the novel’s end, the group is first unhappy, all debating philosophy while the misery of the world continues. Pangloss still maintains that everything is for the best, but can no longer believe his own words. Pangloss simply refuses to incorporate his new knowledge of the cruelness of the world into his philosophy. For him, the idea is more important and attractive than reality. This concept is clearly shown in an exchange between Pangloss and Candide, where Candide asks whether Pangloss’s hanging and subsequent dissection have made him change his mind about his
In Voltaire’s novel “Candide”, Candide (The main character) has a tutor in the beginning of the novel named Pangloss. This character is the most lampooned character in the novel and for good reason. “ Pangloss taught metaphysico-theologico-cosmolo-boobology” (Pg. 42) this was the belief that things could not be anything other than what they are; due to the fact that things are made for an end and thus everything is necessary for the best end. Voltaire criticizes this as it is the greatest type of ignorance that there can be against the enlightenment, thusly it is an absurd way of thinking. Throughout the novel Voltaire shows us vivid examples of how Pangloss’s beliefs are absurd and not justified. The first example of this comes in page 47
While a part of the castle life, Candide was taught by Dr. Pangloss. Pangloss is a philosopher who teaches there is a cause for all things and that everything is all for the good, even though a person may not understand it at the time. Suddenly, however, Candide is exiled from the privileged confines of the castle when he is caught kissing Cunegonde, the daughter of the Baron. Upon his exile, Candide immediately begins to face adversity. Candide finds himself in the army simply because he is the right size.
...reflected critically on the events of his life—even just the two examples used in this essay--, he would probably find that this is not the best of all possible worlds as it is rife with evil and suffering. With this novella, Voltaire made the point that some spend a lifetime justifying—not rationalizing—the events of the world because those same people are too busy attempting to prove one theory rather than develop others that may fit reality more. When Candide dismisses Pangloss at the end of the novella by saying, “Let us cultivate our garden,” he is rejecting Pangloss’ philosophy, turning over a new leaf, and taking charge of his own life and giving it its own meaning free of Pangloss’ influence.
Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire’s novella, Candide, incorporates many themes, yet concentrates a direct assault on the ideas of Leibniz and Pope. These two well-known philosophers both held the viewpoint that the world created by God was the best of all possibilities, a world of perfect order and reason. Pope specifically felt that each human being is a part of God’s great and all-knowing plan or design for the world. Voltaire had a very opposite point of view in that he saw a world of needless pain and suffering all around him. Voltaire, a deist, believed that God created the world, yet he felt that the people were living in a situation that was anything but perfect.
However, along the way Voltaire introduces characters with distinctive worldviews and philosophies. Unique to the story of Candide is the character Pangloss, a philosopher of metaphysico-theologico-cosmolo-boobology and Candide’s teacher. In chapter one, Pangloss abruptly shares his philosophy that, “for since everything is made for an end, everything is necessarily for the best end.” The tail goes on to say, “Candide listened attentively and believed innocently.” During their journey together certain situations cause Candide to question many of Pangloss’
Of course, because it is a satire, Candide continues to have a badly founded and overly optimistic view on the world, even though there are piles of evidence that would point to the contrary. Candide’s complete inability to form his own philosophies and views without adopting others’ is an element of the text because again, it is a satire, but also to highlight the absurdity of thinking that everything happens in order to maintain balance and keep things for the best. Candide’s naivety and almost painfully deliberate simplemindedness is used to represent mankind. At the time this was written, many people displayed similar much less exaggerated traits. By highlighting the complete absurdity of this way of thinking through Candide’s childlike repetition of other characters’ values and ideas, Voltaire illustrated that everything is not for the best in this not best of all possible worlds. He stated that one cannot simply float through life expecting good things to happen to him, not making any decisions for himself and relying on others for his ideas. It is crucial that we work for our happiness in life, that we cultivate our
Throughout the story of Candide, the author Voltaire uses many of the characters to portray important things in life. The two characters that Voltaire used the most were Candide and Pangloss. Voltaire used these two characters to represent a particular idea or folly that he had about the world. In the story Candide, Voltaire is always portraying his own ideas by using the characters to illustrate his own ideas. Candide and Pangloss represent the main idea of the story, which is Voltaire’s folly of optimism. Even though they both represent the main idea of the story Candide and Pangloss have many similarities and differences.
In the Voltaire’s Candide: The Beautiful and Crazy Journey, Candide is the main protagonist. He is one of the most tantalizing characters in the whole story. At the very beginning, Candide has a philosophy of optimism which he got from Pangloss, his beloved tutor. This type of outlook you could only get from someone else in your life. Candide was not born with optimism it is what he was taught by Pangloss. What Pangloss taught Candide is what he reflected on throughout the whole story and assessing each situation with optimism. No matter how crazy the matter was his outlook on his life stayed the same dealing with the consequences of his actions.
From having the love of his life taken away from him, to facing beatings, attacks, drowning, and earthquakes. Yet he still remained positive that everything was "the best of all possible worlds,” which was learned from Pangloss’s teachings. Problem after problem, Candide believes this is the best solution that can occur to him. Nothing works in his favor, even if he may think so. This mocks the Leibnizian theory, which stated that the world is the best that God could make it and that because God is perfect, then his creation, the world, is perfect as well. Pangloss has been known to be the symbol of this ideology of absolute optimism. Even with all of the suffering he sees through his travels with Candide, he asserts that all of the evils in the world are needed and that in the end, everything will be worth
In chapter 5 of Candide, the Enlightenment and the birth of tolerance were on full display. In Candide, the Enlightenment thinkers’ view of the optimum world is challenged through the shipwreck and the satiric explanations of the Lisbon Bay and Lisbon Earthquake. Voltaire continues to use ironically tragic events to test Pangloss’s optimistic philosophy, which attempts to explain evil. The use of grotesque and naive behavior between individuals in this chapter makes the reader question Pangloss’s irrational thinking with the cause and effects of the events.
The book Candide by Voltaire is a humorous satire constructed of many themes. Through his book, Voltaire expresses his views on life by criticizing many aspects of humanity at that time. He focused in war, religion, and love, but the main target of Voltaire's satire was a certain philosophy. All of the previous topics unite to ridicule the philosophy that, as the character Pangloss said, "things cannot be otherwise than as they are; for as all things have been created for some end, they must necessarily be created for the best end" (1).
One of the major themes of this novel is optimism considering the title is Candide or Optimism, the events that occur within the novel are for the best in the best possible world that there could ever be. The novel is humorous in the fact that Pangloss is such a believer in optimism, but is tortured until the end. There is no rhyme or reason as to why he goes through all of this with the outcome, but it seems to be contradicting. As a philosopher himself, Voltaire made a joke out of Pangloss because of the reasons that were stated. It is normal to believe that everything can happen for a reason, but when you state Pangloss’s reasoning, it seems hard to believe in what he has to say.
Voltaire did not believe in the power of reason to overcome contemporary social conditions.In Candide, Voltaire uses Pangloss and his ramblings to represent an often humorous characterization of the "typical" optimist. Of Pangloss, Voltaire writes, "He proved admirably that there cannot possibly be an effect without a cause and that in the best of all possible worlds the Baron’s castle was the best of all castles and his wife the best of all possible Baronesses." (522) The attack on the claim that this is "the best of all possible worlds" permeates the entire novel. Throughout the story, satirical references to this theme contrast with natural catastrophes and human wrongdoing. When reunited with the diseased and dying Pangloss, who had contracted syphilis, Candide asks if the Devil is at fault.
Leibniz, a German philosopher and mathematician of Voltaire's time, developed the idea that the world they were living in at that time was "the best of all possible worlds." This systematic optimism shown by Leibniz is the philosophical system that believed everything already was for the best, no matter how terrible it seemed. In this satire, Voltaire showed the world full of natural disasters and brutality. Voltaire also used contrast in the personalities of the characters to convey the message that Leibniz's philosophy should not be dealt with any seriousness. Leibniz, sometimes regarded as a Stoic or Fatalist because his philosophies were based on the idea that everything in the world was determined by fate, theorized that God, having the ability to pick from an infinite number of worlds, chose this world, "the best of all possible worlds." Although Voltaire chose that simple quality of Leibniz's philosophy to satirize, Leibniz meant a little more than just that. Even though his philosophy stated that God chose "the best of all possible worlds," he also meant that God, being the perfection he is, chose the best world available to him, unfortunately it was a world containing evil. It seems as though Voltaire wanted to ridicule Leibniz's philosophy so much that he chose to satirize only the literal meaning and fatal acceptance of evil of Leibniz's philosophy.
Defining optimism and redefining the philosophies of the fictional Pangloss and the non-fictional Leibniz, Candid embarks on a mishap journey. From the very onset, Voltaire begins stabbing with satire, particularly at religion.