Jonathan Swift's 'Gulliver's Travels' and Voltaire's 'Candide': An Analysis

In the novella “Candide”, there are multiple atrocities that take place. Through satirical extremities, Voltaire exposes the evil corruption of society. The ways Voltaire sheds light on these corruptions are through religion, sexuality, social status, and ancestral status. The most exposed corruption would be his matrimonial desires to his dear Cunégonde.

Candide was one of Voltaire’s major works, and is considered the most important by many historians and literary analysts. Throughout Candide, there are many scathing attacks, mostly through satire, irony, and absurd characters (Voltaire). Candide explores the hypocrisy that was rampant in the Church. Voltaire writes about the inhumanity of the clergy, most notably the Inquisitor, in hanging his fellow citizens over mere philosophical differences. The Inquisitor in Candide orders the flogging of Candide for merely “listening with an air of approval” (“Voltaire | Author and Philosopher”). Church officials are depicted as being the most sinful characters of all. Voltaire directly attacks the Church using examples of the hypocrites that could often be found within the Church at that time. Attacks against the

This essay will delve into Jonathan Swift's relations and representation of women. A theory proposed by many is that Jonathan Swift was in fact a misogynist, meaning someone who is strongly prejudiced towards women. Swift’s work and the way he portrays women has acquired strong reactions. One might say Swift’s view of women was strongly influenced by the society and the period of time in which he lived. He was considered as the leading misogynist of his time, many of these misogynistic and satiric comments are mostly aimed at the traditional female in society during this time “Undoubtedly swift uses his writings as self-representation, throughout the writings discussed the theme of misogyny and the degredation of humanity especially women is

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.

In Candide Voltaire discusses the exploitation of the female race in the eighteenth century through the women in the novel. Cunegonde, Paquette, and the Old Woman suffer through rape and sexual exploitation regardless of wealth or political connections. These characters possess very little complexity or importance in Candide. With his characterization of Cunegonde, Paquette, and the Old Woman Voltaire satirizes gender roles and highlights the impotence of women in the 1800s.

Towards the end of the novel Voltaire shows his support for women and hopes things get better for them in the near future. Candide satire provides an excellent example of how there is still a struggle for gender equality. As much as people wanted to believe everything was equal or close to it, Voltaire saw the

The world that is, is the best of all possible worlds. The author writes this book to point out the foolishness and the irony of this philosophical thought. Cunégonde’s reputation goes along with that. In the real world, men value chastity in women and a woman’s virginity is something that she holds dear. When that is stripped away from her without her consent, it is not at all met with the attitude that the characters in Candide have met it with. Characters like Candide himself or evens some of the women in the story like the old woman seem to be very nonchalant about women being sold as prostitutes or being raped. Voltaire uses this as a way to point out to readers the foolishness of this philosophical idea. If in fact, this were the best of all possible worlds, a woman’s virtue means nothing and people should not care about it. This is where readers can see that Cunégonde is merely a tool Voltaire uses to invalidate this idea, which shows that her role as a minor character is an significant

     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.

Voltaire has portrayed the female characters in his Candide to show the sufferings and exploitation women faced in the eighteenth century. Cunegonde, for example, has suffered from sexual exploitation and rape although she is a beautiful women and a sister of a wealthy German Lord (Scherr, 1993). Voltaire’s message of his women characterization is implies in the limited power and choices women had in the 1800s that made her accept sexual slavery. Through his women characters, He satirizes the gender roles and focuses on the lack of importance of women in the eighteenth century.

Candide by Voltaire is a very educational and informative piece. It was chosen to be read so the students could gain a better understanding of some of the written pieces in the Enlightenment. Voltaire also makes many references as to what life was like in the 18th century. Voltaire not only describes the scenery but he gives a description of almost every type of person. Whether it is lower class, working class, middle class or upper class, there was a character that the readers see and get a feel of what life was like for them. This book also demonstrates many philosophical ideas and

From someone deciding to snooze their alarm an extra time in the morning to deciding if they should marry their significant other, every decision a person makes will create either a positive or negative effect on their life. This statement is evident in both Voltaire’s Candide and Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. Candide is a satire that was published in 1759 by the French author and philosopher, François-Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire. Gulliver’s Travels is also a satire that was published in 1726 by Anglo-Irish author, Jonathan Swift. In these two stories; no matter how big or small a decision is, it will inevitably have an effect on the character’s quality of life, even if it is not completely apparent at the time.

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.

The treatment of women in today’s culture has a lot of problems. Even though in the last century women have been treated better there are still problems. Women are and have always been sexualized in everything they do. Most of the time women are judged on their appearance alone. Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift is a piece of literature that comes across as misogynistic. There are many times in the book when women are judged primarily on their looks and come across as unable to control themselves. However, Swift is using this kind of writing style to actually convey a point to society. By making these issues larger in the book and by reversing gender roles, it is easier to see all the problems that our society has with the treatment of women. Jonathan Swift is not misogynistic and is trying to prove a point so the treatment of women is improved in our society. The scene of the

Though we may not know definitively the views Voltaire would hold on current issues, his literary work provides us with a glimmer. Candide, ou l'Optimisme with its depictions of female characters reveals the philosophies of the writer himself. Voltaire, an enlightenment icon, would support same-sex marriage. Candide, via the actions of female characters shows Voltaire to hold such a progressive stance. There are at least three such cases. He displays favoritism towards reason and resistance towards archaic traditions. These in totality invite the conclusion that Voltaire would advocate for the legal union of homosexual individuals.

“Candide” is a French satire written smack dab in the middle of the eighteenth century during the enlightenment era. The story is written by a dark and gloomy gentleman named Voltaire, who seems to be only intrigued by the worst things possible in the world. Especially for his main character and protagonist, Candide. For some, this point of view may be a breathtaking and an appropriate outlook for the world we live in. Despite this being true for many situations on planet Earth, this is a very cynical perspective of the world. For this reason, Voltaire wrote “Candide”, which in summary sounds like a love story, as a tale of a man who chases around a beautiful girl, hops through obstacles, and arrives ultimately at, a horrendous finale almost every time. Essentially, “Candide” can best be described as a story in which the most atrocious acts of human violence occur such as: murder, rape, and torture, with love for a woman or self-pride on behalf of Candide, sprinkled on top. The latter two are up for debate among readers, but that is the jest of the story. Voltaire wrote this story during a period of his life, which more than likely can be described as him being lost in the captivity of negativity. Even with this being the probable cause of this story, the central focus underneath the dialogue, is the morality of humans. Although the previous sentence is just an opinion, the proof comes in the form of three specific items in the story: Pangloss, Martian, and the actions of