How Does Voltaire Use Irony In Candide

The utilization of different elements such as irony, sarcasm, and humor to criticize or mock the duncish behavior of others is kenned as satire. Authors often seek out concrete topics to satirize to bring attention to certain points in an endeavor to promote change. Voltaire is notorious for his suggestive satirical work, especially his masterpiece Candide. In this satirical novella, Voltaire illuminates the absurdity of philosophy and lives vicariously through pessimists to push his point. The over-optimistic tone of the book set by philosopher Pangloss is perpetually ridiculed through the utilization of caricature, irony, incongruity, and hyperbole. By understanding this conflict, a reader gets a deeper analysis of the work.

There are two

divisions of satire, Horatian and Juvenalian. The main type that can be found in this novella is Horatian satire. Horatian satire fixates on a gentle tone of satire in which the inditer ridicules their victim in a facetious way, and its goal is to ridicule human deportment and bring out foolishness in a comic way. Juvenalian satire, on the other hand, addresses social evil through scorn, cruelty, and ferocious derision. This form is often pessimistic, characterized by irony, sarcasm, moral indignation and personal tirade, with less accentuation on humor. It typically has a more astringent tone when compared to Horatian satire. Voltaire’s Candide lends itself to satire through its attacks on oppressive groups and political systems.
The short novel is virtually comical - juxtaposing the horribleness with the comedy so as to further emphasize the ludricous nature of philosophy. Voltaire openly attacks Gottfried Leibniz, a real life pre-Enlightenment philosopher who believed that the world was impeccable and that all evil in it was simply an expidient to greater good, through the employment of his character Dr. Pangloss, the most vigorous proponent of optimism in the story and Candide’s own tutor and mentor. The teachings of Pangloss parodied and ridiculed those of Leibniz and would be considered the most important in the kingdom, as they set the layout for the rest of the ironic contrast. Voltaire uses Horatian satire to exaggerate the preposterousness of the entire character of Pangloss right when he is first presented in the book with his supposition that “‘noses were formed to support spectacles, therefore we have spectacles. Legs are clearly devised for the wearing of breeches, therefore we wear breeches’” (4). Dr. Pangloss teaches that in this “best of all possible worlds” (4), everything transpires for the best, out of pure necessity. Every convolution of the plot, every new natural disaster, disease, and incident of larceny or assault in Candide is proposed to solidify Pangloss’s optimistic views as starkly absurd and out of touch with reality.
Voltaire additionally utilizes the character of Pangloss to directly attack what he considers useless, impractical metaphysical speculations on ambiguous topics. Dr. Pangloss himself edified “metaphysico-theologico-cosmo-nigology” (4), and Voltaire readily attacks this cosmic optimism. He apprises us that such scholars spend the entirety of their time verbalizing what they plan to do, rather than genuinely do it. Pangloss gets his name from the Greek words pan (“all”) and glossa (“tongue”): hence “all tongue”, or “all talk”. The name illudes “one who glosses everything”, and Voltaire accuses those “who speak in order to say nothing” of panglossies (xxxvvi). This suggests that Pangloss has no real meaning or substance to his teachings, and a benighted Candide is mislead by his teacher’s words.
Exaggeration is a key component that Voltaire utilized very frequently in the writing of Candide.

Pangloss and Candide each endure their fair portion of horrible calamities (including disease, rape, brutality, earthquakes, robberies, etc.)- some together, some separately. But each time something catastrophic occurs to either character, they reflect positively and try to find a cause for such an effect, because “‘there was no effect without cause’” (4). Throughout Candide’s journey, he endures multiple horrible encounters, but keeps Pangloss’ words in the back of his mind for the entire duration of his travels. At times he does begin to doubt his teacher’s theories of optimism and wonders, “‘If this is the best of all possible worlds, what must the others be like?’” (16), but he readily pushed those doubts aside when odds are shown to be in his favor for a slight second. Regardless, Candide holds fast to his optimism, and Pangloss is the driving force behind his belief and trust in the subject . There are no redeeming qualities in any of the horrible events that Candide encounters, and thus Voltaire is able to ironically show that nothing could be the best in Candide's world, despite what he continues to believe. Pangloss’s personal sufferings alone are unusually extreme. In regard to his own misfortune, Pangloss responds that it is imperative to the greater good: upon contracting syphilis he declares“‘It is an indispensable feature of the best of all possible worlds, a

necessary ingredient’” (11). The outcome is that the philosopher appears thoroughly blind to his own experiences as well as the horrors endured by his friends. This emphasizes his stance on his own philosophy and helps to reinforce Candide’s belief, effectively making Pangloss a sort of prophet for Candide. In addition to being unrealistic, Pangloss’s way of living is impractical. Entirely soaked up in philosophizing, Pangloss and his student are unable to live their lives. In this sense, Voltaire seems to critique not only Pangloss’s particular theories of optimism, but more broadly, his crippling absorption in philosophy in general.
Voltaire uses a condescending tone to emphasize his attitudes towards the concept of radical optimism, creating a dual attitude system.

He constantly points out flaws and absurdities in the idea of philosphy and mocls them through is work. This helps him prove his point by forcing the reader to see from his point of view. By mocking believers, Voltaire has lowered their intelligence in the eyes of the audience, ensuring that readers will think twice in the future before adopting any philosophy without thinking for themselves first. In other words, Voltaire is teaching the audience what not to do/who not to be through the example of Candide - he is hoping we learn from Candide’s mistakes. Voltaire uses a mild form of Juvenalian Satire to constantly shame any potential believers into rethinking their ideals through Candide’s disasters and his responses to them. Each disaster is countered by a smaller miracle, making each twist of the tale a direct offense against Candide’s gullibility, and therefore also against his belief in Pangloss’ teachings. At each miracle Candide’s faith seems to be strengthened, effectively making Candide a fool of sorts. He blindly wanders into the same situations expecting a different result each time. Each disaster should progressively weaken Candide’s belief and trust in Pangloss’ philosophy, or at least cause him to challenge it; however, each disaster seems to strengthen his commitment. This not only makes Candide look pathetic and naive, but it

accomplishes what Voltaire had originally set out to do in writing this novella - which was to show a blatant truth to people already in Candide’s position, especially those following religion blindly. In reality, disasters can strengthen beliefs, but they are more likely to destroy or weaken them because the subject begins to question the theory. Candide seems oblivious to the faults in his optimism because each time he doubts it, something good happens. This repetitive irony causes the audience to think of Candide, and other naïve and blind followers, as fools. Candide’s willingness to be swayed from one philosophy to another, and to blindly be committed to follow that philosophy despite evidence of its falsehoods, is a direct attack on people who fail to think for themselves. Candide seems to be a tool created to mock anyone with beliefs who don’t rationalize those beliefs first for themselves,
Pangloss, on the other hand, is a blatant example of those leading the people to blindly follow them. He could be compared to a priest in this sense. While enthusiastically teaching his own philosophy, he later admits that he doesn’t really believe it: “Pangloss conceded that he had suffered horribly, all his life, but having once maintained that everything was going splendidly he would continue to do so, while believing nothing of the sort” (91). This is not only extremely hypocritical, but points the finger to all “prophets” of philosophies who are trying to sway people to wholly believe their theories. Pangloss seems to be a tool created to attack religious leaders because they are leading people to believe that God will make everything perfect.
In essence, Voltaire’s extreme opposition to optimism is constantly shown in his works, mainly through the use of Horatian satire. He openly mocks Leibniz’s philosophies through the formation of his character Pangloss. Voltaire enjoyed a freedom of expression, and Candide is just a collection of his own filtered opinions. Optimism through a satirist’s eyes emphasizes the misleading ideas of happiness and perception.