Candide Essay

Within Candide are many examples of the evils that accompany materialism. When he and his friends have money, peace, and security, and he finally marries Cunegonde, he is far

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.

At the same time, Candide struggles with why the evil happens if it is indeed the best of all possible worlds: "And whatever Master Pangloss said of the matter, I have often had occasion to notice that things went badly in Westphalia"(p.551). One reason that Candide should not follow blindly whatever Pangloss says is that the beliefs are not his own. Candide needs to look within himself for the key to happiness. What makes Pangloss happy will not necessarily make Candide happy. Candide learns to search himself in the end when he discovers that the key to his own happiness is "cultivating

After Candide is reunited with his no longer beautiful Cunégonde, the old woman, Pangloss, and his former traveling companions, Candide still could not find peace and continued to reflect on his past misfortunes (Voltaire, 157). Martin even went on to say “that man was bound to live either in convulsions of misery or in the lethargy of boredom” (Voltaire, 157). Then, Candide encounters a Turk who claims he has a solution that keeps his family from “three great evils, boredom, vice, and poverty” (Voltaire, 159). The Turk had twenty acres of which his family cultivated, and Candide realized that the hard work and belongingness in the family is what makes the Turk’s fate extremely desirable (Voltaire, 159). This led Candide to conclude that his group must work hard in their garden and when all of the members found a useful job to do, true satisfaction was finally achieved in the “best of all

The Story of Candide is a short but diverse story that tells of a young man’s journey for love and understanding and the hardships he faces, all the while keeping a very strong, positive and philosophical outlook on life. The novel takes place both in fictional and existing locations throughout Latin America and Europe during the 1750’s. Voltaire believed that the society he lived in had many flaws, which are often illustrated and satirized in Candide. Candide’s journey portrays the flawed human assumption that the grass is always greener on the other side as well as giving the reader an apt example of an individual’s journey from innocence through a series of trials and tribulations to becoming a mature, experienced and enlightened individual.

Candide, along with his companion Cacambo, stumbles onto the secluded but physically speaking flawless land of Eldorado. Not even here is Candide able to find everything that he is looking for. Eldorado, which was originally the home land of the Incas, is completely sheltered from the rest of the world by the means of unsurpassable mountains. It is here that people are able to escape the evils of the world. Happiness in the real world is just a moment of happening which

Candide made his way to Holland, after losing Pangloss in a war. While in Holland, he begged for food and money, but received only threats. He spoke to a priest who was preaching about charity. The divide between Catholics and Protestants explained in the hostile response of the priest. A kind Anabaptist took him home, cleaned, fed, and helped him recover. Candide, thankful, expresses his repeated

Greed and pride are negative moral truths which are most evident when Candide and Cacambo decide to leave El Dorado because if they stayed they would be like everyone else, and if they left and took some riches with them, they could "show off for the folks at home" and buy whatever they desired. Eventually, their wealth is stolen by dishonest and wicked men, and they find themselves more miserable and untrusting than before. They find that all their riches cannot buy what they truly want.

The main character, Candide, has his world flipped upside down, and it all begins with getting thrown out of his kingdom because he was found kissing the lovely Cunegonde. He spends the entire book trying to find his way back to her. When he does find her again, he sees her as extremely ugly and seriously considers going back on his promise to Cunegonde that he’d marry her. However, Candide should decide to marry Cunegonde to ultimately honor himself.

, Candide matures, going from pure optimism, to realistic optimism. He starts to transform to an adult who handles his own situations. The first place that Candide sees that wealth and money doesn’t buy you happiness is when he was in Eldorado. Candide and Cacambo, a valet, Candide’s loyal servant who is hungry for adventure and is believable in the novel Candide, see kids playing with gold which they consider as pebbles and they leave the jewels on the ground which surprises Candide and Cacambo. ( ) El Dorado is a place of relative equality and advanced science.

Enlightenment thinkers wanted tangible, concrete evidence to back their arguments. Pangloss based his arguments on nothing. Voltaire portrays him as naïve, scorning him for not experiencing and studying the world before he becomes firmly planted in his ideas. Even after Pangloss experiences the evil ways of the world, he refuses to change his philosophy. Pangloss would rather preach something attractive to the ear rather than reality. Candide’s servant Cacambo also speaks of false optimism as he tries to console Candide over the loss of Cunegonde. He says that women are never at a loss and that God takes care of them. However, Cunegonde and the Old Woman both experienced brutality and suffering many times over in their lifetime. Cunegonde was bought, sold, and treated like a possession throughout the novel. She and the Old Woman were left vulnerable to molestation and treated like objects. The only hint of optimism in Voltaire’s novel is when Cacambo and Candide stumble upon the country of Eldorado. However, this optimism is quickly distinguished when the two men foolishly trade such a perfect society for jewels, gold, power, and influence. Eldorado is a country in which there is no organized religion, no courts or prisons, no poverty, and complete equality. Even the king is treated as a normal citizen. Candide overlooks the fact that this is a perfect society because of the ideals they practice, and believes that the riches are the most

Candide’s South American wanderings in many respects become the apex of the Optimistic world view. The zenith of it comes once Candide and Cacambo stumble into Eldorado. The city of Eldorado, compared to their European contemporaries, can be qualified as a utopia. Eldoradan society and law are predicated on the ideals of equality for all, unlike in European where the idea is spoken but not put into practice. Eldorado society is described to be perfect in every way. There are no courts, no prisons; it is described to be a perfect society. The idea of Eldorado can be suggested as a false hope for Candide and Optimism because of the preposterously perfect society of Eldorado. Also due to the fact that it illustrates how impossible the task would be to undertake by a European to create a similar society. This fact especially is made clear by the king of Eldorado, “We have always hitherto been safe from the rapacity of European nations with their unaccountable fondness for the pebbles and dirt off our land, and who would kill us to the very last man just to lay their hands on the stuff” (Voltaire, Candide, 48).

Candide is a good-hearted, but very naïve young man from Westphalia. From the very beginning Candide had his eyes on a beautiful woman named Cunegonde who is the Baron’s daughter. Candide was chased from Westphalia after being caught stealing an innocent kiss from

When Candide is aware of this news you can imagine how upset he is to find out the love of his life is a slave to these two men. Candide being the man he is ends up killing both of these men and taking their fortunes. Candide, Cunegonde and the servant, all set sail to a New World. The three arrive in Beunnos Aires, the governor Don Fernando sees Cunegode and wants to marry her. At the same time Portuguese officials try to arrest Candide for killing the two men who owned Cunegode and Candide is forced to run but he is accompanied by Cacambo. Cacambo is a man from the town, who helps him run. The two run away and find a city filled with gold called El Dorado. They stay there for a little and take gold with them when they leave, but all the gold they take is soon lost when they it is stole by a Dutch sea captain. This is another example of when life gets bad once they leave the garden. Candide is by himself at this point, he had previously gave Cacambo instructions to split off and meet back in Venice. But Candide soon finds out that Cacambo is in France and is a slave. When Cacambo sees Candide he tells him that Cunegonde is also a slave in Constantinople and she is no longer beautiful. “It is natural to imagine that after so many disasters Candide married, and living with the philosopher Pangloss,

Most of Voltaire’s characters were able to explain why they could consider themselves as the “most unhappy” by providing a story of what had occurred to them. Their experiences vary from natural to man-made misfortunes. However, even though, the characters’ reactions to their misfortunes are of a similar, the experiences between the male and female characters of Candide are quite different in regards to what is taken away from them.