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Successful Use of Satire in Voltaire's Candide
Voltaire's Candide is the story of how one man's adventures affect his philosophy on life. Candide begins his journey full of optimism that he lives in "the best of all possible worlds," but he learns that it is naïve to say that good will eventually come of any evil.
Voltaire successfully uses satire as a means of conveying his opinions about many aspects of European society in the eighteenth century. He criticizes religion, the evils found in every level of society, and a philosophy of optimism when faced with an intolerable world.
Candide portrays religious persecution as one of the most worst aspects of society. Voltaire rejects the superstitious beliefs that the church endorsed. After the great earthquake in Lisbon, the church seems to think that persecuting a few innocent civilians in an auto-da-fè will prevent another disaster. The church should be the most civilized aspect of a society, but Candide is flogged in time to a musical procession, Pangloss is hanged, and two others are burned. Voltaire illustrates the irony of the church as a source of violence with the warring churchmen that Candide finds in the Jesuit state in the New World.
The Spanish priests in the New World operate a government where "the Fathers have everything, the people nothing;...they wage war against the King of Spain and the King of Portugal...they kill Spaniards" (Voltaire 53). Ironically, the priests in Paraguay also hold offices in the army. The Baron, for example, holds the title of Reverend Father Colonel. Voltaire stresses the irony of a official of the church that preaches "Thou shalt not kill" to be an army officer who's job is to murder. The cruelty of Christiani...
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...ught good out of evil, but because he has made his own happiness. "'Well said,' replied Candide, 'but we must cultivate our garden'" (Voltaire 120).
Works Cited and Consulted:
Bottiglia, William. "Candide's Garden." Voltaire: A Collection of Critical Essays. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968.
Durant, Will, Ariel Durant. The Story of Civilization: Part IX: The Age of Voltaire. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1965.
Frautschi, R.L. Barron's Simplified Approach to Voltaire: Candide. New York: Barron's Educational Series, Inc., 1968.
Lowers, James K, ed. "Cliff Notes on Voltaire's Candide". Lincoln: Cliff Notes, Inc. 1965.
Richter, Peyton. Voltaire. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1980.
Voltaire's Candide and the Critics. California: Wadsworth Publishing Company, Inc., 1966.
Voltaire. Candide. New York: Viking Publishers, 1976.
Canadian War Museum. "The Battle of Vimy Ridge, 9-12 April 1917." WarMuseum.ca. http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/vimy/index_e.shtml (accessed April 2, 2014).
The author, Voltaire, wrote in the Enlightenment period, a literary movement characterized by the rising concern of philosophy, science, and politics. Voltaire’s writing was influenced by the Enlightenment movement to create awareness of global issues. This is evident in the repeated tragedies Candide stumbles upon. Social issues, corrupt authority figures, and war are real world topics that Voltaire chooses to address in Candide. The satirical nature of Candide allows for an in-depth discussion between the characters regarding the problems they face and the problems of the people they meet, creating a perspective that the audience is forced to look through. It is also a coming of age story, not just for Candide, but for the rising awareness in global issues. Voltaire’s inclusion of the issues of his time reflect the severity of those issues. Satire is used as a reaction to a society’s hypocrisy. Candide as a satirical piece reflects what people have neglected to pay attention to. Coming into a new era of awareness and responsibility leads Candide to reflect on the live he lived in Westphalia and the people he encountered across
Stephens, John. "The Canadians at Vimy Ridge." Canada & the Great War. N.p., Apr. 2014. Web. 1 May 2014.
Although the shelling was aimed at the German trenches and defensive positions on the Ridge, the Canadians also shelled enemy batteries. They had become adept at locating German gun-positions and had identified the positions of 80 per cent of them. April 9th. 1917 - Easter Monday - dawned cold, with freezing rain and sleet.
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.
Vincent Willem van Gogh was born in Groot-Zundert, Netherlands on March 30, 1853. He was born into a middle class family that sometimes struggled financially. His grandfather was a famous preacher and his father was a minister so religion was pretty important within his family. The other passion within the family was art. His mother was an artist and three of his uncles and later his brother were art dealers. He got his first job at age 15, at his uncle’s art dealership. The fact that Vincent’s family was struggling at this time gave him the responsibility to leave school and go to work. Despite his family 's misfortune, van Gogh was fluent in 4 languages and his concern with art and religion kept growing. At the age of 20, he was transferred to the Goupil Gallery in London. It was there that he fell in love with art and English culture. He visited galleries in his spare time and in many aspects increased his understanding as a whole. In this period of time he started to fall in love with a woman named Eugenie Loyer. Vincent was prepared to ask her to marry him, but Eugenie didn’t feel the same as he did so she rejected the proposal and this caused van Gogh to suffer a mental breakdown. In this time he turned to God and threw away all unnecessary possessions except for the bible. He was fired from the Gallery for telling the customers “not to buy the worthless art.” Vincent then started teaching at a Methodist school and preached on the side a little. This was the first time in his life where he started to contemplate becoming a minister. He studied for a year planing to take the entrance exam to become a minister at the School of Theology in Amsterdam. He was denied entrance after refusing to take the Latin exam calling it a “de...
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.
Frautschi, R.L. Barron's Simplified Approach to Voltaire: Candide. New York: Barron's Educational Series, Inc., 1998.
Voltaire, Francois-Marie Arouet de. “Candide.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Gen. ed. Martin Puchner. Shoter 3rd ed. Vol. 2. New York: Norton, 2013. 100-59. Print.
Vincent was an influential post-Impressionist painter born in 1853, Netherlands. With Theo van Gogh’s association, Vincent met reputable Impressionist painters such as Émile Henri Bernard and Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin. Impressionism served as a platform for Vincent in developing his own style . He explored with colours, a stark contrast from his usual dark and sombre style. The influence of Japonisme charmed Vincent into residing in Arles where he began painting landscapes. Thereafter, Vincent voluntarily checked into Saint-Rémy sanatorium where his works reflected strong colours and lights of the countryside around him. His manic depression and epileptic condition, led to his suicide on July 27th 1890.
Van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853, in the rectory of Zundert in Barbant (Burra). His father was a soft-spoken Dutch clergyman. The only thing Van Gogh got from his father, was the desire to be involved in the family church. Even at an early age, Vincent showed artistic talent but neither he nor his parents imagined that painting would take him where it did later in life. One of his first jobs came at the age of sixteen, as an art dealer’s assistant. He went to work for Goupil and Company, an art gallery where an uncle had been working for some time. Three of his father’s brothers were art dealers, and he was christened after the most distinguished of his uncles, who was manager of the Hague branch of the famous Goupil Galleries (Meier-Graefe). His parents were poor, so his rich uncle offered to take him ...
... Conclusion, all of the previously discussed topics were put together by Voltaire in an ingenious way to ridicule the philosophy that everything is exactly as it should be and that everything bad happens for the greater good. All the tragedies Candide underwent were introduced in the novella with the purpose of disproving this notion. The book Candide made me think a lot about everything that is wrong with humankind. Voltaire was very successful and Candide's story accomplished his goal because It is hard to imagine that someone would still believe this philosophy after reading this very ingenious, funny, and entertaining novella.
Vincent van Gogh is one of the most famous artists of all time. He was born in 1853, in the town Groot-Zundert, Netherlands. He inherited his artistic abilities from his mother, who was also a very talented artist by the name of Anna Cornelia Carbentus. Van Gogh is well known for having psychological problems. His problems began at a really young age and it is something that he battled with all throughout his life, and it is revealed in his artwork. Although van Gogh is one of the most famous artists of all time, very few people were familiar with his work until after his death.
“The life of an artist is a gamble, what a gamble, it’s all or nothing.” As for post-impressionist and Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh, nothing is what was received. Out of the nine-hundred paintings produced within ten years, only one was sold. Van Gogh was often ridiculed by other artists about his work and he had very few friends. One of his closest friends was his younger brother Theodorus “Theo” van Gogh. Vincent would often write to Theo and on various occasions he would write about the hardships of life, including the ways in which he was treated. In one particular letter he wrote “I wish they would only take me as I am.”
Vincent van Gogh was born in the Netherlands on 1853. At the age of 27 is when he truly began his interest in art and soon expanded it into a career, even though only having another 10 more years to live. While traveling to Paris in 1886 with his brother Theo, Vincent learned many knew techniques and movements of art which he later used in his own art work. It was not until the very last two and a half years of Vincent’s life that the world truly saw what he was capable of creating with his hands and mind, being in that state of mind in which he was really disturbed and his despair was deepening. Some of his mental and, as well as physical, health includes temporal lobe epilepsy, bipolar disorder and hypergraphia, according to Van Gogh Gallery, 2015.