Candide And Pope's Optimism Essay

The novel Candide, written by Voltaire, portrays the adventures and experiences of the main character named Candide. Being a very honest man, a character like Candide can be easily swayed and convinced to do and believe anything. From carelessness to greed, the reader can clearly understand that Voltaire ridicules many decisions and situations that occur in the novel. One of many themes Voltaire mocks in the novel would be how greed can result from wealth. What Voltaire is ultimately conveying to the reader is that money cannot buy happiness.

Candide is a satirical novella written by the controversial French writer, Voltaire. It was written by the philosophe in 1759 to comment on issues in France. The main character, innocent Candide travels all over the world to look for his lover, Cunegonde and comes in contact with various societies and ideas. He experiences and learns about different philosophies and perspectives from the people he meets and finally learns to think for himself. At the end of his adventures, he and his friends live on farm in Turkey where they develop a small society with each individual having an important job and purpose for the community.

Voltaire’s Candide, an 18th century satirical novella, details the tale of a young man, named Candide, after his expulsion from the castle he lived in. Candide suffers many misfortunes during his resulting travels and encounters several conflicting perspectives on how to interpret human nature and the world around us. Candide’s boredom with the life around him becomes a constant factor throughout the text and appears prominently when Candide resides in the castle, when he arrives at El Dorado, and when he decides to settle on the farm. Voltaire uses these situations to depict boredom’s detrimental effects and to suggest that boredom leads to all tragedy.

In any written piece, tone plays a major role and Voltaire uses this tool to portray his opinion towards those who are radically optimistic,and to the idea of optimism by creating a dual attitude system. Through this system, he proves his point by making the reader to see from his point of view. Through the names of his main characters; Candide and Pangloss, Voltaire mocks the audience as well as anyone who is radically optimistic. Pangloss’s name is greek for “all tongue” while Candide means “naive and childlike honesty.” With these definitions in mind, readers can infer that Pangloss’s teaching really had no actual meaning and that ignorant Candide was mislead by his teacher’s philosophy.

One key facet of living in the world today is the ability for people to have free will over their own lives. In Voltaire’s story “Candide,” it is clear to observe that although Candide is free to form his own decisions, he allows himself to be strongly determined by his surroundings as well as everyone who he encounters. This story proposes that Candide is trying to find a balance between submitting completely to the speculations and actions of others while also taking control of his life through blind faith. Throughout the story, Candide encounters frequent hardships along his voyage to prosperity. These obstacles include, but are not limited to becoming a bulwark, being beaten and forced to watch his beloved Pangloss having been hanged, leaving such an amazing place as Eldorado, being lied to and tricked out of diamonds by the abb`e, killing Cunegonde’s two lovers, almost being boiled alive for killing the monkey lovers, and being persuaded to be promiscuous on Cunegonde.

The last lines of the novella, Candide, a satirical piece, are “but let us cultivate our garden” (Voltaire, 221). Written by Voltaire, who was a French philosopher during the Enlightenment, he mocks and ridicules Leibniz’s idea of philosophical optimism. By “our garden”, Voltaire really means ourselves. The cultivation of ourselves is to learn from the world and it’s mistakes, and then create a path that will call for a desired and fine life. Many examples of this are seen throughout the short story.

To begin, Candide’s decisions in Voltaire’s “Candide” were often naive and senseless throughout the story. Candide’s decision to kiss Cunegonde puts a series of unfortunate events into motion. Kissing Cunegonde ultimately gets Candide banished from his town and sold into an army, where he is beat on several occasions. Throughout the story, Candide’s decision to blindly follow the unrealistic teachings of his tutor, Pangloss, constantly gets him into trouble. When an earthquake destroys the town and kills thousands of people, Candide follows Pangloss’ decision to spread news that the earthquake was necessary.

A couple is breaking up, a marriage is divorcing, or a child is living with only one parent because the other one shirked responsibility. These botched relationships from reality are described through books, such as Candide. Voltaire, the author of Candide, wrote about the multiple misfortunes and unfulfilled responsibilities of several intricate characters (Pattern 11). The protagonist, Candide, begins as an innocent and naïve character but transforms into a pessimist and failure. His tragic life drastically changes from love to greed, innocence to experience, and from hope to despair through the corruptions of money, love, and beliefs.

Candide follows the journey of four youth as they explore a world that is very different from their utopian Westphalia. History and Evolution Candide has been imagined and reimagined over time. In 1953, the renowned playwright Lillian Hellman proposed to Leonard Bernstein that they adapt Voltaire 's Candide for the musical theater.

The final scene of Voltaire’s Candide describes a purposeful and efficient group of individuals. In his essay, Kant addresses the question of “what is enlightenment” by describing a state of “self-incurred immaturity” riddled with “a lack of the resolution and the courage” to use one’s own understanding of the world (58). Candide and his friends each “[make] an effort to make use of there abilities” and each participate in a division of labor that requires specialization in a skill (Voltaire 79). Having “the courage to use [their] own understanding” to work in the garden rather than relying on an unrealistic philosophy to provide instruction on the way the world works allows Voltaire’s characters to come full circle after an adventure full of misfortunes (Kant 58).