Essay on Voltaire’s Candide: A Typical Enlightenment Work

In the book Candide, Voltaire leads us through his character Candide on a series of unfortunate adventures, on which Candide stays optimistic on all the events and believes what his tutor has taught him that, "all is for the best in this world" (pg 27). Voltaire, through his characters, tries to reflect his political concerns during his time. In the book, Candide is mostly guided by two men, Pangloss and Martin. Pangloss's philosophical ideas are more optimistic, whereas Martin's ideologies are more pessimistic. Voltaire tries to knock down the "all is for the best in this world" notion by creating harsh and discerning situations around Candide's life. The "best in this world" ideology is the that everything happens for a reason. There

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

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.

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

Under these assumptions Candide says, “There can be no effect without a cause […] The whole is necessarily concatenated and arranged for the best” (6). This philosophy that everything is fated to be good omits the validity of free will that Candide later claims to have since he is man and therefore above the animal world, because no matter what man does in part to shape the entirety of his future, Candide was taught that the outcome is predestined to yield an optimistic and hopeful reality. The belief that everything happens for a reason and where the reason is good is incompatible with the act of free will. Therefore, any efforts of free will are futile because they cannot change the predetermined outcome, making its concept essentially nonexistent. This logical cycle strengthens and endorses readers’ ideas that free will is incongruous with faith.

Voltaire's main purpose in writing Candide was to demolish the theory of Optimism, and that is why is used exaggeration. To oppose optimism Voltaire used a variety of forms. The one that proved to be most effective was satire. "Gottfried and Leibnitz, the German philosopher, provides Voltaire's most specific target in Candide, with the complexities of his version of optimism reduced for satiric purposes to be facile formula." (World Masterpieces 316) Leibnitz thought that everything had a cause and an effect. He believed that for everything that happened there was something else that would follow due to the previous. Through Voltaire's experiences, he came to realize that not everything was for the best. In the story, irrational ideas are taught

In Europe, Candide ran in a guantlet in Bulgaria. He was beat countless times by men. This situation shows how he is a follower, and a foolish man for going through something harmfull for no reason.

Candide is a reflection of the philosophical values of the Enlightenment. Voltaire’s novel is a satire of the Old Regime ideologies in which he critiques the political, social, and religious ideals of his time.

The narrative techniques, features of language and context Voltaire used when writing Candide tells us a lot about this book and what Voltaire was trying to achieve in writing it. Candide is told by a third person narrator who is not a main character in the book and is completely outside of the storyline. The title page of Candide implies that the book was found and translated by Doctor Ralph who is our narrator. This is a fiction created by Voltaire to distance himself from the book and to help the reader to understand the satirical nature of Candide.

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

Candide is a fictional satire of the optimism many philosophers had for life in general during the mid 1700’s written in response to Alexander Pope’s An Essay on Man. Written by Voltaire, the literary alias of Francois-Marie Arouet, the satire covers religion, the wealthy, love, why people thought natural disasters occurred and especially, philosophy. The novel even goes on to make fun of the art of literature by giving ridiculous chapter headings. Just about everything Voltaire put into Candide is designed to question and satirize real world injustices. In effect Candide is the 18th century equivalent of a modern day sitcom (Shmoop).

Voltaire’s Candide is a satirical fiction that was meant as both an insult and a criticism to the wealthy nobility and the Catholic Church. Voltaire, major voice during the Enlightenment period, had a wide spread influence from England and France to Russia. Candide was massively circulated throughout Europe. Voltaire used Candide to offer his opinion of what was wrong with society: being that the wealthy were ungrateful, selfish people and the church was a ruthless, maniacal super power.

Candide was a novel by Voltaire exploring the human desires and need to maintain order in a crazy and chaotic world. The main character is perfectly named. Candide is derived from the Latin word candidus ‘white’; In the Mid 17th century senses it had the meaning of ‘pure, innocent’, ‘unbiased’, ‘free from malice’, and ‘frank’ (Oxford Dictionaries, 2017). Voltaire used Candide innocence and fallible optimism philosophy reaction to his misadventures to satirically refute optimism but also to assure that people can expect some good things in life. The constant misadventures are used to bring awareness concerning real evils and injustice Candide encounters in the world. This black humor comic but tragic journey shows the affects of evil on the character, Candide, are geared to involve the reader’s own desires and invoke expectations.