Voltaire's Candide and Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther
In the literary `movements' of neo-classicism and romanticism, Voltaire's Candide and Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther represent the literary age in which they were written. In the following composition, textual evidence will be provided to demonstrate how each book accurately represents either the neo-classicism age or the romanticism age. Candide and The Sorrows of Young Werther will be examined separately, and then examined together. After, a discussion about how each age seems to view the nature of man and the significance of moral and spiritual values will be presented. Also, a personal interpretation of the conclusion of each book will be given. Lastly, quotes
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When Candide was faced with the true reality about Pacquette and the monk, he was unable to accept that all was not well, " `That sir...is one more misery of this way of life. Yesterday I was robbed and beaten by an officer, and to-day I must appear good humored to please a monk.' This was enough for Candide" (Candide, 116).
The second characteristic from the neo-classicism age that is present in Candide is Love=Sex. At the beginning of the book, Candide's outlook on Cunegonde was purely physical, "he found Lady Cunegonde extremely beautiful...Their lips met, their eyes flashed, their knees trembled, and their hands would not keep still" (Candide, 20-21). By the end of the book, after searching for her the whole duration of the story, his outlook on Cunegonde has changed, "Even the fond lover himself drew back aghast at seeing how weatherbeaten his lovely Cunegonde had become, for her eyes were bloodshot, her throat was wizened, her cheeks were wrinkled, and her arms were red and scaly" (Candide, 137). It is plain to see that this love is only based on physical attraction, as opposed to spiritual. The third characteristic of the neo-classicism time period that is represented in Candide was the preference for an urbane, civilized society. In Candide, much of the setting takes place in an urban society, rather than rural society. He has been to all sorts of civilized towns and neighborhoods, such
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.
Often thought of as the epitome of Romanticism, Goethe’s Faust details the adventures of It’s hero that can be thought of to represent the turmoil that was grasping European society in the years of late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Faust can be viewed as a romantic hero because of his attitude and the progression of his character throughout the story and runs nearly parallel with what was happening around Europe at the time Goethe transpired this play. Faust offers a transition from the cold realization of the Enlightenment to a warm comfort that came to be described as Romanticism. Faust shows a way to express how he deals with morals and all the learning along the way in order to feel fulfillment or belonging, while also shadowing a mindset that European society was struggling to deal with after their world found reason to no longer be a spark for their overall culture of life.
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
Martin is another character who holds a philosophy that is not useful. Martin holds a pessimistic view of people, claiming that humans are innately evil. For example, he compares the natural evils in humans with the natural tendency for hawks to prey on pigeons (87). When Candide accuses Martin of being possessed by the devil, Martin says, “he is so deeply concerned in the affairs of this world that he may as well be in me, as well as in everybody else” (82). Contrary to Pangloss, who is in denial of societal faults, Martin has accepted suffering as a present part of life. Although acceptance is important, Voltaire criticizes pessimism to being as equally detrimental as optimism. Martin constantly criticizes the evil in people and finds the fault in others. When Candide trusts Cacambo to take on the great task of retrieving Cunegonde, Martin condemns Candide for foolishly trusting a person enough to think that he will do him any favors with large sums of money handed to him. This is evidence to further suggest his belief in the natural evils in people. When Candide increasingly loses hope in Cacambo ever returning with Cunegonde, Martin is “not consoling” and “continued to prove to him that there was very little virtue or happiness upon earth” (104). Because Martin’s statements do nothing to help Candide’s
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 also criticized the corruption found in the clergy of the Catholic Church. An old woman took care of Candide after his flogging in Lisbon and reunited him with his long lost love, Cunegonde. While on a ship, the three exchanged stories of their adventures and the troubles that they had faced. In the beginning of the old woman's story she said, "I am the daughter of Pope Urban X and the Princess of Palestrina" (42). She then talked about the magnificent palace that she grew up in and the riches that she enjoyed and how she was betrothed to a prince of Massa-Carrara. This story was mentioned in Candide because it showed the corruption of the Catholic clergy. The pope, a man who was supposed to be celibate and follow the example of Christ, instead
In the book Candide, by Voltaire and in the “Essay On Man” by Alexander Pope, both authors write about similar ideas. However, they also have some drastic differences, such as Voltaire's sarcastic over exaggeration of ideas that oppose his to make a point. Both Voltaire and Pope make conflicting arguments for a general ideology but Voltaire depicts in opinion much stronger.
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…
Being a young man raised in a fine castle of the Baron, Candide had no idea of what a real life is outside of the caste. In that place, he was surrounded by his needs, including his lover Cundegonde and a great mentor Pangloss. Once he was abandoned from his fine castle, he had separated from his Cundegone and had to face the brutal life on his journey to find his lover. However, Candide learned the idea of Pangloss, which is ‘everything is for the best’, he faces, hears, and lives through the worst things of human existence on his journey. Every adventure he goes through with or without the help of others, such as Cacambo, Martin, Pangloss, and an old woman, gives him
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
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.
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
“Everything happens for the best, in this the best of all possible worlds.” This is a statement that can be found many times within Voltaire’s Candide. Voltaire rejected Lebitizian Optimism, using Candide as a means for satirizing what was wrong with the world, and showing that, in reality, this is not the best of all possible worlds.
In the Neo-classical novel Candide by Voltaire the theme of innocence and experience is prevalent through the protagonist, Candide, especially through his journey of finding the prescription of how to live a useful life in the face of harsh reality. In William Blake’s collection of Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience the two characters, tyger and lamb, show how we lose our innocence to gain experience. Although the innocence and experience are paradoxical terms, we can solve the paradox by analyzing these two works.