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Analysis of candide by voltaire satire
Optimism and Pessimism in Voltaire’s Candide Essay
Analysis of candide by voltaire satire
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The satire, Candide, criticizes the possibility that the world is “the best of all possible worlds” and instead offers an alternative answer. Voltaire, the author of Candide, used the novella to challenge the ideas of optimism and perfection in Alexander Pope’s The Essay of on Man, which claimed that God made the world to be perfect and orderly. Voltaire practiced French deism, which states that “all phenomena are explained historically by the interaction between man and his environment” and that people learn by trial and error, implying that not all is perfect. The character Pangloss believes that all in the world is perfect and meant to be. Yet, through the depiction of war, natural disasters, the torture of women, the boredom of a perfect world, and the happiness of those who “cultivate [their] garden,” …show more content…
When the “volleys of musket fire removed from the best of worlds about nine or ten thousand rascals,” Candide can only “[tremble] like a philosopher” and hide. The concept that the world is perfect is undermined here because the fate of all the soldiers who died was not optimal. Plus, Candide’s fear highlights his uncertainty in the world’s perfection, thus doubting his beliefs. The Bulgars destroy “the best of all castles,” and the irony here implies that this was not the best castle because it was destroyed and did not prevail against the Bulgar army. Candide asks “ah, best of worlds, what’s become of you now?” and this is the first instance where he actively questions the world. In questioning, what he has been taught, Candide is able to consider an imperfect world and begins to reject Pangloss’ teachings. In these events, Candide sees how humans disrupt the “perfection” of the world, and later witnesses how events in nature negatively affect people’s
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
Voltaire's experiences led him to dismiss the idea that this is the best of all possible worlds. Examining the death and destruction, both man-made and natural (including the Lisbon earthquake) Voltaire concluded that everything was not for the best. Voltaire uses Candide as the vehicle to attack optimism. Pangloss is meant not to attack Leibnitz, but rather optimism as a philosophy. Thus the reader cannot forget that all of Pangloss's ramblings are not Voltaire's personal attacks on Leibnitz, but in some way represent a characterization of the "typical" optimist. Pangloss, writes Voltaire, "Proved admirably that there cannot possibly be an effect without a cause, and that in this best of all possible worlds the Baron's castle was the most beautiful of all castles and his wife the best of all possible baronesses" (Voltaire 2). Thus we have established Pangloss as the champion of optimism.
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.
Autobiographer, essayist, playwright, poet, satirist, Enlightenment writer and philosopher – these are just a few of the hats worn by French born François-Marie Arouet, more famously known by the adopted pen name Voltaire. Beyond his written work Voltaire was an outspoken advocate for the freedom of religion, expression, and the separation of church and state. He used his versatile literary work as a tool to criticize the Catholic Church and overall intolerant French society. Voltaire’s cynical writing reached its highest potential in his rapid-fire satire Candide, or Optimism. In the novella, Voltaire told the story of Candide – a young man on a quest for happiness and spiritual fulfillment who encountered tragic setbacks that eventually led to bitter disillusionment. The purpose of Candide was to mock philosophers of the
...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.
"All is for the best...in the best of all possible worlds." To picture greatness, perfection and brilliance all intertwined into one splendid world -- a utopia, infers visualizing absolute beauty, harmony, and a universal tolerance amongst mankind. Would not such "perfection" designate the "best of all possible worlds?" How could we possibly conceive the sinister world portrayed in Candide to be conveyed as "utopia?" Since the best of all possible worlds indicates that "all is for the best" is it not safe to derive at the conclusion that since our world is clearly not "perfect" it is therefore implied that "all" is not for the best? Who determines the "right" from the "wrong," the "beautiful" from the "hideous," the "strong" from the weak?" How does one know if they are right? How does one ever know if they chose "correctly?" How does one allow themself to be infatuated with an idea as to blindly (correctly or incorrectly) follow it and believe? When do you question yourself? Doubt and "double-guess" yourself? Such correlating topics of an ambiguous solution are sought to be explained in Candide.
The Effective Satire of Voltaire's Candide In Candide, Voltaire sought to point out the fallacy of Gottfried Leibniz's theory of optimism and the hardships brought on by the resulting inaction toward the evils of the world. Voltaire's use of satire, and its techniques of exaggeration and contrast, highlight the evil and brutality of war and the world in general when men are meekly accepting of their fate. 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 was for the best, no matter how terrible it seemed. In this satire, Voltaire shows the world full of natural disasters and brutality.
Candide is an outlandishly humorous, far-fetched tale by Voltaire satirizing the optimism espoused by the philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment. It is the story of a young man’s adventures throughout the world, where he witnesses much evil and disaster. Throughout his travels, he adheres to the teachings of his tutor, Pangloss, believing that "all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds." Candide is Voltaire’s answer to what he saw as an absurd belief proposed by the Optimists - an easy way to rationalize evil and suffering. Though he was by no means a pessimist, Voltaire refused to believe that what happens is always for the best.The Age of Enlightenment is a term applied to a wide variety of ideas and advances in the fields of philosophy, science, and medicine. The primary feature of Enlightenment philosophy is the belief that people can actively work to create a better world. A spirit of social reform characterized the political ideology of Enlightenment philosophers. While Voltaire’s Candide is heavily characterized by the primary concerns of the Enlightenment, it also criticizes certain aspects of the movement. It attacks the idea that optimism, which holds that rational thought can inhibit the evils perpetrated by human beings.
Voltaire's Candide uses anti-heroism as an object of mockery against the philosophers of the Enlightenment. Candide, the hero of the novel travels around the world where he encounters many difficulties. During his travels, he sticks to the teaching of his tutor, Doctor Pangloss, believing that "everything is for the best" (3). Voltaire points out the illogicality of this doctrine, "if Columbus had not caught, on an American island, this sickness which attacks the source of generation [...] we should have neither chocolate or cochineal" (8). The sheer stupidity of these illogical conclusions points out Voltaire's problem with most optimists: the illogical degree to which they would carry their doctrine. Voltaire would argue that noses were not designed for spectacles, but rather spectacles were designed for preexisting noses. Pangloss's interpretation of cause and effect is so ignorant as to be comical. While Candide tells an interesting story, it is more important as a satire. However, this does not prove Voltaire is a pessimist.
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).
Candide may have started as an innocent boy that believed the world to be perfect, but he soon adapts his beliefs and opinions to the world around him as he realizes that there is nothing perfect of the world he lives in. This is just how people start their lives in the world and learn to adapt to their surroundings as they experience life. Therefore, Candide can be seen as an interpretation of the life of people by Voltaire in his novel Candide. That is because just like Candide, people adapt to the world through life experiences and may do good and bad things.
Candide or Optimism, written by Voltaire in 1759, was created to satirize the a priori thinking that everything is for the best in the world. Candide, the guileless and simpleminded main character and his companions are exposed to the very worst the world possibly has to offer with rape, murder, whippings, war, earthquakes, shipwrecks, cannibalism, thievery, disease, greed, and worst of all, human nature. Through these horrific events, Pangloss, the philosopher maintaining a priori thinking, stubbornly upholds the idea that everything is for the best. It is Pangloss’s influence above all else that is imprinted upon Candide and that as the novel progresses, is slowly replaced in Candide’s mind by others characters’ viewpoints. Rather than assertive
Satire is a very popular type of humor that is done in a hope for change, it may seem like just complaining at first, but the underlying themes and topics are usually topics that relate to a big problem at the time. Candide is a prime example of satire; Voltaire clearly uses satire throughout the novel to criticize the values of France in the 18th century. Some of his main points of criticism were how badly women were treated; Cunegonda and the Old women suffer through horrible beatings as well as other violence’s. Using satire, he also analyzes how violence was used in that day, as well as the hierarchy of both the monarchy and Catholic Church. Voltaire over exaggerates everything in this book to shine light on the values and beliefs he had,
Two major themes that are shown throughout the book is Optimism and Disillusion and Hypocrisy of Religion . Voltaire included Optimism and Disillusion as a theme to prove that everything is not for the best and that when bad things happen, they are not for the greater good of this world. In Candide, Pangloss and his student Candide believed in the philosophy that “all is for the best in this world”. Several times throughout the book whenever a terrible event occurred they would say that it was for the best. In chapter 4, Pangloss attempts to explain that him contracting syphilis was for the greater