Voltaire's Motivation For Candide

    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 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.

Cunegonde was a beautiful young woman, she was the daughter of the Baron, and is constantly being pursued by Candide throughout the whole story-which really is about him finding his way back to her the whole time. Cunegonde grew up in the Castle of Baron Thunder-Ten-Tronckh which was located in Westphalia. She grew up rich, getting all the nicer things in life, and didn’t have to worry about anything until one day, Candide got banished from the castle and that’s where it all started going downhill. Cunegonde was separated from Candide, her home got attacked, and her family was murdered. From there, Cunegonde is passed around through a couple of men: The Bulgarian, Captain Don Issachar, The Grand Inquisitor, Don Fernando, and others. Candide ends up feeling like she isn’t as beautiful after he gets her back in the end, and really just is not attracted to her like he used to be. In fact, in the end, there is a description of how ugly she really is while she is running to Candide after their time apart. There is also a line that says “in fact, Candide had no real wish to marry Cunegonde” (Voltaire 411) when in the beginning he talks about his love for her non-stop. But now that she’s been raped, abused, and used for whatever, he thinks she’s ugly and really doesn’t want to marry her but thinks that it is a good decision. At the same time, Cunegonde understands that she isn’t very powerful and doesn’t have a lot of options. So, if she wishes to survive, she must use her beauty to her advantage. Women in the 18th century didn’t have a lot of options if they wanted a “good” life after marriage. They married someone who could take care of them since they legally couldn’t have jobs. This quote “A women’s gender and marital status were the primary determinants

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 the novel, Voltaire shows that Candide also expresses tyranny touching upon the values of power of reason and progress and potential. A specific scene on progress and potential states “He then informed the Baron that he was going to marry his sister. ‘I shall never allow her to disgrace herself so meanly,’ said the

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.

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

He sees firsthand the results of violence and rape, page 6 “There several young virgins, whose bodies have been ripped open, after they had satisfied the natural necessities of the Bulgarian heroes, breathed their last….The ground about them was covered with the brains, arms, and legs of dead men”. Moreover, two of the female characters, Cunegonde and the Old Woman are also subjected to rape and servitude as a result of warfare. Most of the violence in the novel Candide is as a consequence of continuous warfare and struggle for power. On page 95, the Old Woman remarks “ I would like to know which is worst, to be ravished a hundred times by Negro pirates, to have one buttock cut off, to run the gauntlet among the Bulgarians, to be whipped and hanged at an auto-de-fe, to be dissected, to be chained to an oar in a gallery..”. All of these atrocities highlight the consequences of warfare in the 17th century, and exhibits Voltaire’s view of the world as absolutely chaotic in terms of the violence experienced by many of the characters in the novel, with so much suffering inflicted on all them that it becomes almost comical due to the frequency of their

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.

     “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.

Voltaire also illustrated in Candide that society as a whole places more emphasis on physical appearance than on inner beauty. Throughout much of the story, Candide is obsessed with the idea of being reunited with Cunegonde. Candide speaks of how beautiful his future bride is and of how much he really loves her. As the story concludes, Candide is reunited with Cunegonde only to find that she has become ugly. Candide has a change of heart and

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

Homer's Odyssey is a story of the homecoming of Odysseus after the Trojan War.  Odysseus left his wife, Penelope, and their young son, Telemachos, almost twenty years before the telling of this story to fight in the Trojan War.  His absence places Penelope in a rather precarious position.  Faced with many different circumstances, both good and bad, Penelope is on her own to decide the path she wishes to take.  Depending on her decisions, the situations could either be filled with wonderful opportunities or perilous dangers. The strong character of Penelope is revealed by her decisions.