Humanitarianism In Voltaire's Candide

Throughout the novel, Candide comes across many religious leaders during his journey that Voltaire portrays with irony and hypocrisy. After escaping to Holland in the beginning of the novel, Candide encounters an orator who has been addressing on the subject of charity for a whole hour. The orator, when asked for food, tells Candide that he “don’t [doesn’t] deserve to eat” because Candide does not believe that the Pope is Antichrist. (27) Although people around him are actually suffering from continuous war and devastating poverty, the orator only seems to care about giving a speech on charity and converting others to his religious beliefs. Not to mention that his own religious belief or speech, ironically, also encourages reaching out to those in need. Stubborn and egoistic orator is engulfed with his certainness in his belief, and fails to recognize it himself that he, in fact, is going against his own belief. Another example of hypocrisy of religion is shown by the Grand Inquisitor who makes a deal with Don Issachar to share Cunegonde as a mistress.

    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.

Voltaire attacks the corruption within the church and its officials as well.  The Grand Inquisitor, a significant clergyman, makes Cunegonde his mistress at a Mass service.  Even more ironic is that he shares her with a Jew.  It was a Franciscan priest that robbed Lady Cunegonde of her money and jewels.  The old woman identifies herself as the bastard daughter of a pope, and the papacy is also identified as keeping soldiers for private use.  When Candide is ill in France, a clergyman is one of the many that harasses him in attempt on his wealth.  Ironically, the disease that Pangloss catches from Paquette, originated from a Franciscan priest.  Voltaire portrays the church as violent and corrupt and the clergy as parsimonious fortune hunters.

In Voltaires?s Candide, the main character, Candide, fails to live happily because he is looking outside of himself and his circumstances to do it. Voltaire says through Candide's ultimate discovery that happiness in many ways depends on a person's attitude. Voltaire's philosophy expressed through Candide's final realization is that "We must cultivate our garden," which is the key to happiness(p.585). By cultivating our garden, Voltaire means that we must make the best of our situation in the present moment. We accept what we are given in life and work to make the best of it. It all has to do with our perspective on life. We do not find happiness somewhere else or by philosophizing about it, we open our eyes to the

Voltaire’s Candide portrays an exaggerated image of human cruelty and suffering in the world. Specifically, Voltaire criticizes people’s lack of willingness to prevent suffering, and their tendency to accept the idea that there is nothing anyone can do about human outcomes. He upholds his belief that practical ways of solving problems generate improvement. He believes that human indifference and inaction cause suffering to carry on. Voltaire’s believes that naïve optimism, absolute pessimism, cruel indifference, and lack of reason hinder positive and constructive change.

As Candide was forced in to the army and treated extremely badly, Voltaire is expressing his criticism of political power being unfair and out of control, forcing people to do certain things. With authoritive figures exercising their political powers in an unjust fashion, Voltaire feels that freedom of expression, something he strongly advocated, was being jeopardized. Politics are continued to be criticised throughout the novel in the same way religion was attacked. Examples can be found in Chapter 6 were Lisbon authorities burn “heretics” to prevent future natural disasters, Chapter 13 suggests governors receiving sexual favours from their female subjects and Chapter 19 sees business men mistreating their slaves. Each of these examples sees characters within the story misusing their power and authority to benefit them personally. Voltaire uses these examples to show on different levels how politically incorrect society was during the pre-modern period, something he felt desperately need to change.

“I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to death your right to say it,” were the famous words of Fracois Marie Arouet, more commonly known under the pen name of Voltaire. He was known for being very outspoken and rebellious, which got him into trouble with the authorities for most of his life. Voltaire advocated the French bourgeoisie as being ineffective, the aristocracy as being corrupt, and the commoners as being too superstitious. Voltaire’s beliefs on freedom and reason is what ultimately led to the French Revolution, the United States Bill of Rights, and the decrease in the power of the Catholic Church, which have all affected modern western society.

In terms of religion, Candide explores the hypocrisy that was rampant in the Church. Consider for example, the inhumanity of the clergy, most notably the Inquisitor, in hanging and executing his fellow citizens over philosophical differences. Moreover, he orders the flogging of Candide for merely, “listening with an air of approval" thus proving himself somehow implicit in blasphemy. Church officials in Candide are depicted as being among the most sinful of all citizens; having mistresses, engaging in homosexual affairs, and operating as jewel thieves. Perhaps the most absurd example of hypocrisy in the Church hierarchy is the fact that the Pope has a daughter despite his vows of celibacy. While Voltaire is poking fun at the Church and

Candide and The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano point out different roles of religious convictions about violent evil. By the time Voltaire wrote Candide, he was no longer a Christian. He believed there was not a rational basis for the Christian belief in God at work in the world. Whereas, Equiano’s experience of slavery brought him to Christianity, which helped him make sense of how God could redeem an evil act such as slavery. After reading the short stories the reader can conclude that the view of Christianity is irrelevant in the social life of Voltaire, while Equiano believed that Christianity provided sufficient answers to injustices like slavery.

Voltaire claims that in Candide, tyranny is manifested and harms the specific view of someone human rights is tarnished when in

Pangloss, a philosopher is depicted all through the novel as an idealistic mastermind who lives by this logic. Candide, who is mentored by Pangloss aimlessly much of the time addresses this reasoning at snapshots of hardship over the span of his life, lastly rejects it, picking to trust that in spite of the fact that the world is not the best of all possible worlds but,“we must cultivate our garden” (Voltaire 365). Different characters in the book likewise can 't help contradicting Pangloss ' ideals. Jacques who went to Lisbon with Pangloss isn 't strong of these ideals. Jacques says “ humankind has corrupted its nature a little, for people were not born wolves, yet they have become wolves. God did not give them heavy cannon or bayonets, yet they have invented them to destroy each other” (Voltaire 309). The book recounts the account of Candide, as he goes through life and endures numerous hardships on account of others. Candide not only suffers, but the people he surrounds himself with suffer the same fate as well. The book does a good job at outlining human suffering that provoked enlightenment ideas to not only challenge it, but to really show their true selves. Each time something bad happens Pangloss shares his idealistic perspective as to why it occurred. The way Candide points these things out, causes the reader to disagree with Pangloss’s

Likewise, individuals who do challenge laws may cause suffering for themselves or for others. In the short story Candide by Voltaire, a joyful child named Candide has noble status and gains his happiness through his pride of having more wealth and treasures than the peasants. In the story, Candide “as innocently kissed the young lady’s hand with particular vivacity, sensibility, and grace[…][The] Baron […] chased Candide away.” Candide believes he could obtain all of the desires he yearns for, but his disobedience to the Baron’s rules causes the Baron to force him to leave the castle and never see his lover again. The passage conveys a tone of innocence and purity until the Baron kicks Candide out of the castle, which then conveys a tone of regret and guilt. The shift of tone symbolizes how Candide loses his innocence because of his prideful nature and disobedience to the Baron. In addition, the young lady “was boxed on the ears by the Baroness… and all was consternation in this…

On November 21, 1694, Francois-Marie Arouet, otherwise known as Voltaire, was born in Paris. The youngest of five, son to Francois and Marie Arouet, Voltaire grew

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

In Voltaire’s Candide, we are taken by the hand through an adventure which spanned two continents, several countries, and to a multitude of adverse characters. The protagonist, Candide, became the recipient of the horrors which would be faced by any person in the 18th century. But Candide was always accompanied with fellows sufferers, two of which our focus will lay, Pangloss and Martin. In equal respects, both are embodiments of different philosophies of the time: Pangloss the proponent of Optimism and Martin the proponent of Pessimism. Each of the two travelers is never together with Candide, until the end, but both entice him to picture the world in one of their two philosophies. Throughout the story there is an apparent ebb and flow