Candide by Voltaire

Voltaire is considered as one of the greatest Enlightenment writers in France for his extensive use of literary elements to convey his message. Voltaire satirizes different aspects of society to expose their absurdity in most of his writings. In Candide, Voltaire, by employing situational irony, mocks the blindness of society, magnifying the narrow-minded human nature.

    Candide on the surface is a witty story. However when inspected deeper it is a philippic writing against people of an uneducated status. Candide is an archetype of these idiocracies, for he lacks reason and has optimism that is truly irking, believing that this is the best of all possible worlds. Thus Voltaire uses a witty, bantering tale on the surface, but in depth a cruel bombast against the ignoramuses of his times.

In his work, Candide, Voltaire uses satire as a means of conveying his opinions about many aspects of European society in the eighteenth century.  Voltaire successfully criticizes religion, the military, and the philosophy of optimism.

Candide also discovers evils in every level of society.  Voltaire criticizes the inordinate pride of

Even though many people practiced this doctrine Voltaire did not aside with it instead, he implanted doubts on the chances of achieving true happiness and real conformism. Voltaire’s opinion was that one could not achieve true happiness in the real world but only experience it in an utopia. With the many hardships that Candide goes through ultimately leads him to abandon his attitude of optimism. Candide’s misfortunes and adversities often contrasted with his optimistic view on life. Noticeably, Voltaire uses this satirical piece as a way to criticize this exaggerated optimism. This tale as stated by William Bottiglia, “ Has had a great effect on modern writers who confront mankind’s inhumanity to fellow human beings by presenting the human condition absurdly, ironically, and humorously...” (Bottiglia 112).

Voltaire’s Candide can be understood in several ways by its audience. At a first glance it would appear to be simply a story blessed with outrageous creativity, but if you look deeper in to the novel, a more complicated and meaningful message is buried within. Voltaire uses the adventures of Candide as a representation of what he personally feels is wrong within in society. Written in the 18th century (1759), known commonly as the age of enlightenment, Voltaire forces his audience to consider the shift from tradition to freedom within society. He achieves this by exploring the reality of human suffering due to

  In its time, satire was a powerful tool for political assault on Europe's corrupt and deteriorating society. Voltaire's Candide uses satire to vibrantly and sarcastically portray optimism, a philosophical view from the Enlightenment used to bury the horrors of 18th century life: superstition, sexually transmitted diseases, aristocracy, the church, tyrannical rulers, civil and religious wars, and the cruel punishment of the innocent.

Voltaire’s satire contains a strong sense of witful irony and parodies meant to elicit disgust at the topics he is criticizing. “Candide’s” sense of satire is largely derived from the Juvenalian satire which was created by the Roman satirist Juvenal. By using absurdist and ironic images of characters, satirists intend to invoke disgust or laughter at a topic to the point where it is rejected a legitimate. Thi is the point with Voltaire’s mockery of optimism in “Candide”.

The Enlightenment was rife with skepticism, self-reliance and discovery. Voltaire’s Candide boasts each within its three main themes; the critique of philosophical systems (optimism, pessimism, and empiricism,) along with social criticism, and utopian ideologies. Voltaire viciously attacks the Church, the Aristocracy, and the Military. This was perfectly in line with the core ideals behind the enlightenment, a time where philosophers believed in using reason and scientific experiments in lieu of Christian dogma and tradition. Voltaires Candide perfectly encapsulates the ideology behind the Enlightenment through its’ illustrious acrimony and skepticism against the church, military, and philosophical systems.

Satire. According to dictionary.com it is “the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues”. During a time when going against the common mindset, which at the time was philosophical optimism, was rare and often looked down upon, using satire in order to not only communicate one’s beliefs but also mock those who shared the mainstream train of thought was key. The use of satire in Voltaire's Candide aids in the exhibition of his pessimistic mindset towards the social, religious, philosophical, political, and scientific beliefs that were favored during the Age of

In Candide, Voltaire employs the use of satire in order to expose the danger and nonsense in believing in the philosophical idea of Optimism through the character of Candide, who

In “Candide,” Voltaire’s satiric theme is broad and varied. Although the most interesting satire is the one on religion, especially the utopia in which Candide starts off the story in, the first in importance is philosophical optimism, specifically Pangloss’s philosophy which in the novel this philosophical optimism seems to represent mankind's overall and overused optimism as means to copping with tragedy or loss. Pangloss’s philosophy is both the most important point for debate among the novel’s characters and one of the main targets of Voltaire’s satire. Pangloss is inevitably humorous “Pangloss gave instruction in metaphysico-theologico-cosmolo-nigology" his character is very predictable and superficial, his so called doctrine on optimism which is voiced out repeatedly that even great evil leads to good is opposed gross absurdity with absurdity. "It is clear, said he, that things cannot be

A common intellectual characteristic of the Enlightenment was anti-feudalism. Philosophers were against the separations in the Old Regime and pushed for equality among human beings. Voltaire parodies the pompousness of the nobility several times throughout his novel. As we are introduced to the Baron Thunder-ten-tronckh, Voltaire describes his castle as luxurious, even though it is inferred that Westphalia is only a moderate estate. Although the name may sound important, Thunder-ten-tronckh lacks

     Voltaire does most of his satirizing through the character of Dr. Pangloss, an unconditional follower of Leibnitz’s philosophy and Candide’s mentor. Pangloss’ ramblings are not personal attacks on Leibnitz, but in some way represent the thoughts of a typical optimist. He is a very hopeful character in the story because he refuses to accept bad. When Candide encounters Pangloss after a long period of time, Pangloss explains how he was almost hanged, then dissected, then beaten. Candide asks the philosopher if he still believes that everything is for the best, and Pangloss replies that he still held his original views. Voltaire frequently exaggerates his point on optimism; there is nobody in reality who is positive about everything all the time, especially after so many horrible experiences. One could say that Pangloss is irrational and idiotic, and Voltaire tries to depict how inexplicable his beliefs are which do not measure up to reality.

The title character, Candide, is the illegitimate nephew of a German Baron (3). The Baron, throughout the book, always comes back to the fact that Candide has common blood, and refuses to let him marry his daughter (35). Voltaire uses this to show the pretentious, over inflated superior feeling that was common amongst the nobility of the time. The enlightenment was a period where people view point on the role of the kings changed drastically. The original theory of divine right, which stated that the kings were chosen and ordained by God to be the head of their states, was slowly replaced with the idea that the king was to serve the people and their needs. Enlightened despots such as Catherine the Great and Fredrick the Great enacted policies which were meant to lighten the burdens placed on the people. They built hospitals, decreased the amount of surfs and the harsh conditions, and even in some places built elementary schools. It was the enlightened despots whom Voltaire saw