Candide By Francois-Marie Arouet: Literary Analysis

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Candide was written by Francois-Marie Arouet who is later known as Volitaire. He was born in Paris in 1694 to a middle class family. When this Novel was written it was written in a time called the enlightenment. This movement spread the ideas about equality and the basics rights of man.

The novel Candide was composed around and influenced by terrible events that happened when Volitaire was alive. One of the main events was the earthquake in Lisbon in 1756. This earthquake caused Volitaire to write a poem about it called “Poeme sur le desastre de Lisbonne” and many believe that this is the intro to his later work called Candide. Candide was also influenced by the unjust execution of English admiral John Byng in 1757, which Volitaire spoke out about. In Candide Volitaire heavily criticizes against Nobility, Philosophy, the Church, and cruelty. In the novel it rudely contradicts a number of enlightenment philosophies and demonstrates that the enlightenment was far from a monolithic movement. …show more content…

He ends up growing up in the Barons castle under the protection of a scholar with the name of Pangloss. Pangloss teaches Candide that this world is “The best of all possible worlds” Candide later on starts to fall in love with the baron’s daughter Cunegonde. The Baron ends up catching them kissing and chooses to expel him from his home. Now on his own for the first time he chooses to join the Army of Bulgars. One night he chooses to wander from the camp for a short walk and ends up getting beaten badly and accused of being a deserter. After he witnessed a really bad battle with this army he manages to escape to