Voltaire’s Candide is a far-fetched humorous tale satirizing the theory of optimism as promoted by Rousseau and other philosophers of the Enlightenment age. The tale follows the adventures of Candide throughout the world where he witnesses disaster and evil. Throughout his adventures, the young man followed his tutor’s teachings believing that all is for the best (Voltaire, 1991). Voltaire uses the character Candide to counter optimism that he considered as an absurd ideology. Throughout the book, Voltaire attacks the philosophical optimism and all the systems that falsely justify the presence of disasters and evil in the world (Wootton 2000). Even though he was not a pessimist, Voltaire refused to acknowledge that the evil in the world is …show more content…
He opposes optimism by illustrating the disparities that are apparent among races. For instance, the army commandant dismisses the Paraguayans and the Negro slaves serving wine to them. The Grand Inquisitor also comments that Cunegonde’s social class will decline if an Israelite owned her.
Candide becomes aware of the hopelessness of the optimism philosophy proposed by Dr. Pangloss and decides to “cultivate their garden.” Eventually, Candide learns to attain happiness despite his misadventures. The only way to achieve contentment is to work collectively as a community. Through labor, individuals can eliminate vices, boredom, and want. To create this kind of society, the people must be just, love each other, keep from theorizing and know how to retrieve good from bad situations as Voltaire says, “’ work without speculating” (Voltaire 1991).
As a theorist of the Enlightenment period, Voltaire uses his book, Candide, to criticize the ideas expressed by his fellow philosophers about optimism. The satirical tone he employs proves to be a potent tool in bringing out the injustices, bigotry, and cruelty and helps the reader picture it as an intolerable state. Behind the laughter, Voltaire intends to express serious