Candide Literary Analysis

Voltaire was the author of the novella Candide, also known as "Optimism". The the novella, Voltaire portrays the idea of Optimism as being illogical and absurd. In Candide, Voltaire satirizes the doctrine of Optimism, an idea that was greatly used during the Enlightenment time period by philosophers. In this narrative, Candide is a young man who goes through a series of undertakings and ventures around the the globe where he experiences evil and adversity. Throughout his journeys, Candide maintained the ideas of the teachings of his tutor, Pangloss. Candide and Pangloss believed in the idea that “All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds...” (Voltaire 4). This belief is what Voltaire pointed out to be an irrational way of

Man is plagued with his own desire, leading to corruption and hypocrisy that pollutes the known world. In this world, men are met with tragedy, ranging from natural or Godly devastation, to the constructs he places on himself and to which he forces himself to conform. However, many of them still refuse to acknowledge this adversity, pursuing blind optimism. In his satirical novel, Candide, Voltaire exposes the foolishness of men and highlights the self-destructive nature of the world, thereby challenging the concept of blind optimism and arguing that one can be aware of their world and still enjoy life in it. Most specifically, Voltaire criticizes German philosopher Gottfried Leibniz’s through his own Leibnizian optimism, that this “is the best of all possible worlds”. Voltaire successfully refutes such ideology through the journey of his naive adventurer, Candide, and eventually settles that one can lead a happy life without being blindly optimistic.

“Things cannot be otherwise than as they are; for all being created for an end, all is necessarily for the best end.” (p. 1) Of all the great things to come out of the enlightenment era Candide by Voltaire is perhaps the most interesting and entertaining in my opinion. In fact it so happens that it is one of the most popular and read classics of the time, one my say that is serves to enlighten the reader on the issues that were most prevalent at the time. Voltaire uses Candide as a clever devise to voice his views on the world, be it political, religious, or Social by using satire and comedy and achieving the desired result perfectly. Voltaire begins by introducing us to Candide a young and rather naïve man who is taught by Dr. Pangloss a philosopher of sorts that the world he lives in is “the best of all possible worlds.” (p.1) However shortly after this introduction he gets vanished for stealing a kiss from the beautiful Cunegonde, and so begins the long journey of our hero. It is in this journey that through many trials and hardship that include, War, famine, beatings, deaths, romantic betrayals and even the mythical city of El Dorado Candide questions his own and others views on the world. Sometimes losing all hope and arriving at the conclusion that the world is nothing but suffering; while other times reinforcing the teachings of

The animalize practice of slavery causes Candide to give up on optimism. In his travel to the New World, Candide and Cacambo meet a slave, who is “missing his left and right hand” (51) lying down half naked on the ground. The slave tells Candide about the terrible living condition and cruel punishment that he received and that his parents sold him for “ten Patagonian crowns” (51) to slave trader. Ironically, the slave says, “it’s normal” (51) for them to get this kind of treatment because it was common back then. And, the Dutch sorcerers, who converted him, tell him “we are all children of Adam, white and black” (51). Voltaire used his satirical attack on society and religious of what really happen at the time. The author is judging the priests who do not practice what they preach.

Voltaire uses the literary device of distortion throughout his novel candide. By exaggerating and satirizing the adventures of the characters, Voltaire successfully illuminates his underlying ideas about the the tyranny and persecution by the elite in the church and state that existed in 1694-1778. Through the character Candide and his adventures, Voltaire exhorts his audience to address his subversive ideas with laughter and horror and then to address the problems in the world. In Candide Voltaire successfully employs distortion through the use of diction in names and titles, imagery in the places he creates, and exaggerated characterization to express his very specific ideas about wealth, religion and human nature .

Voltaire's satire in Candide Satire is the ridicule of a society or people in a society in order to bring about reform. Voltaire wrote Candide in order to bring about a possible reform in his society over 230 years ago. Today we use satire a little differently. But, in my personal opinion, Voltaire’s satire has held up over the years and is relevant in today’s society.

In 1759, Candide, a French satire, was published by a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment by the name of Voltaire. Voltaire uses a sarcastic strategy to critique everything that is wrong in his belief in the form of a novel such as war, religion, crime and brutality. Candide was influenced by the author’s confusion of the cheerful philosophy during the Lisbon earthquake. The earthquake nearly killing around 30,000 people, changed the perspective of writing. In this essay, I will analyze the meaning of the mockeries within this novel and determine whether Candide’s journey was a will or a way.

The story has a hero who sees events unfold before him. And through these events does the main character see that his previous blind belief in the fact that everything happens for the general good and according to a preordained will that is in the best interests of a particular person, is very wrong. Through a series of unfortunate events, involving a suicide attack on a mosque, our hero lost his parents at an impressionable young age and was left to fend for himself. Being from a middle class family, he wasn’t left much in terms of money so he took what was left and decided to see his country and then the world. He travelled to little villages and big cities and in the following paragraphs is summarized what our hero saw.

In the novel, Candide, Voltaire criticizes Lebiniz’s optimism in the form of Candide’s tutor, Dr. Pangloss who claimed that “everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds”. Using Dr. Pangloss’ teaching, Voltaire demonstrates how optimism simplifies and ignores the real world of human suffering and everyday experiences. In Chapter Three, Pangloss catches syphilis from the maid whom he had an intercourse with. Instead of being in misery or trying to cure of the sexually transmitted disease which could ultimately harm his life, he maintains on his philosophy and remains positive. He justifies that syphilis is a wonderful ingredient in the best of world as “if Columbus is an island of America had not caught the disease, which

Philosophical optimism is the belief that formal reasoning can be used to help grow our learning of God’s intentions. Philosophical optimism originated from the mathematician and philosopher Leibniz. “His belief hinges on six foundational beliefs: God created the universe, God’s creation is logically ordered in a mathematical sense, God is all knowing and all good, an all good God would create the world with minimal evil, God could not create a perfect world because only God can be perfect, and the belief that this is the best of all possible worlds” (Leibniz, 1). In other words, Optimism is the belief that we endure the least possible amount of evil or suffering because God created the world to be the best it possibly can be. Alexander Pope

Voltaire, one the Enlightenment's greatest leaders was well known for his use of satire to expose and criticize vices of the 18th century. Through his writing, Voltaire successfully uses irony and parody as a means to satirize what he believes is wrong with 18th-century life. In his novel Candide, Voltaire focuses on many topics, specifically the pitfalls and dangers of optimism, the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church, and political injustice. Although humorous, the irony and parody that exists in the novel serve the purpose of exposing the Enlightenment’s widely accepted views of political, philosophical, and religious practices through the eyes of Candide.

Candide was written by Voltaire, the pen name of the Frenchman, François-Marie Arouet, and was first published by Gabriel Cramer in Geneva during early 1759 . This book was assigned by our teacher because it expresses the beliefs of Voltaire who was a prominent thinker during the Enlightenment Age in Europe. Such thinkers held various philosophical beliefs which were a major cause of social change at the time. This ties in perfectly with our class’s current unit on the French Revolution. By understanding the satirical tone of the book, we can understand what specific topics Voltaire strongly opposed. The book provides practical information that is useful for the unit, such as the philosophical beliefs

Voltaire's Candide seems to display a world of horror, one filled with floggings, rapes, robberies, unjust executions, disease, natural disasters, betrayals and cannibalism. Pangloss, the philosopher, has a constant optimistic view throughout the entire novel even despite all of the cruelty in the world. While looking back on the book I couldn't think of many characters that displayed admirable qualities. Even though Pangloss stuck to his views that everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds, which is admirable, he is stupid and naive to still believe this after everything he and his family goes through. It was quite hard for me to find admirable characters within Voltaire's

Chapters 1 through 7 of Candide introduces concepts from the Enlightenment Period in Europe that began in the late seventeenth century using satire that was popular at the time. One of those concepts that stood out in the chapters is to use reasoning, logic, and rational thoughts versus just obeying the existing traditional rules, reasoning, and authority. Pangloss uses this rationale for his philosophical belief “..that things cannot be otherwise than they are, for since everything is made to serve an end, everything necessarily serves the best end..” in other words, he appears to be stating that everything happens for a logical reason and that reason is not due to God or any other religious reasoning and whatever the situation is, it is for

In each adventure of the story Candide, Candide is on the path to his own enlightenment. Enlightenment comes through one’s personal trials and tribulations. Candide is an optimistic individual, and his story explains the view of Optimistic Philosophy. But, in the end of the story Candide abandons his optimistic views to be happy with the life he has come to create for himself. There are several other themes or motifs related to this story, and I am going to touch on seven of the obvious ones.