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Voltaire's Candide: A French Satire

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Candide by Voltaire is a French Satire about the journeys of Candide who is taught by Professor Pangloss that the world is “the best of all possible worlds”. Francois-Marie Arouet also known as Voltaire was a French Writer, Historian and Philosopher mostly famous for his novel Candide and for attacking all that is wrong with the world, mostly the Catholic Church. One thing that Voltaire attacks in Candide is war and the brutal war actually is. War is definitely a huge problem in the world today and is brutal just like it was a long time ago. One way Voltaire shows the brutality of war is how the Bulgarians trick Candide into joining the military and they accuse him of deserting the military and he is sent to court. The judge decides to have …show more content…

In today’s world people are still falsely accused of things and that shows that not much has changed over all these years. This also shows how inhumane war can be, people treat their enemies like they’re not person. Personally I could never fight in war because I would never be able to shoot a person by choice unless I absolutely had to for self-defense. The main idea in Candide is that everything that happens is for the best or at least that is what Professor Pangloss’ theory is. And in this imperfect world war may happen for the best. My thought on war is that it should not happen unless it is necessary which it may be necessary in this imperfect world but if it does happen then it should not be completely brutal and I know that is hard to stop because wars are just brutal and there is no way to make killing a person not brutal. Voltaire shows the brutality of war very well in the novel Candide and he did a very good job of doing that in a humorous way throughout the novel. Overall I enjoyed reading it and it really made me think about issues in this

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Most of his humor is derived from tragic and unfortunate circumstances because his characters get little reprieve from violence, even in the end where Pangloss, unhappy with how his life turned out, still crudely clings to his motto . Although his dark humor and biting sarcasm does drive points home, a lot of the comedic factors are lost in the language style in which Candide is written. The book was first written in French and then later translated into English where most likely, like in other translated literature, the effectiveness of their literary devices were lost. A pun, joke, metaphor or the like do not share the same potency once translated because most languages do not share the same culture.

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1. In Chapter 22, Candide and Martin encounter a scholar at the dinner hosted by the Marchioness of Parolignac. What is Voltaire up to in designing this conversation?

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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.

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Things I Carry The things I carry to school are to ease my job everyday. I carry my backpack so it could hold all my other materials which I need to carry. I carry extra pencils in case of loss of my actual pencil. One day in January, my mechanical pencil ran out of lead during a math test, and I had to waste five minutes to get another pencil.

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Voltaire’s Candide takes us through the life and development of Candide, the protagonist. Throughout his adventures, he witnesses many travesties and sufferings. Like many Enlightenment philosophers, Pangloss, Candide’s tutor, is an optimist; this philosophy was adopted by many to help mask the horrors of the eightieth century. Pangloss teaches Candide that everything happens for a reason. Voltaire uses satire, irony and extreme exaggerations to poke fun at many aspects; such as optimism, religion, corruption, and social structures within Europe.

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Voltaire is well known for his suggestive satirical work, especially his masterpiece Candide. Candide is a timeless piece still relevant today, that was written to warn the public about the consequences of radical optimism (Online-Literature 1). The main character, Candide, is a naïve and trusting young man who is banished from his home. Despite his life being filled with a series of bizarre disasters, Candide holds fast to his optimism – which serves as an example to readers. Voltaire emphasizes the dangers of radical optimism by incorporating tone, themes and utilizing satire in Candide.

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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. Cunegonde is the daughter of a wealthy German lord.

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Voltaire’s Candide: Commentary on the French Enlightenment Established as the “greatest of the French satirists”, François-Marie Arouet, later to be known as Voltaire, has been praised throughout history for his reconfiguration of freedom of thought during France’s Enlightenment. This Enlightenment was a movement that supported and explored the application of using rational thought to explain natural occurrences. Voltaire uses his novel Candide to bring the hypocrisy of the world around him to the attention of the public while challenging those at the helm of this movement. Candide criticizes the societal aspects of the French Enlightenment, such as organized religion and class systems, while still staying connected to its original biases.

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Candide is satirizing the idea that we live in “the best of all possible worlds.” (Means, n.d.). Voltaire had a message to deliver behind creating the characterization of Cunegonde, Paquette and the Old woman in his book Candide. He wanted to review that females at that time were

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Moreover, situations these forces create, and how they are beyond and within the control of Candide. Leading to Candide’s final beliefs, and how they illustrate the follies of optimistic determinism. At the beginning of Voltaire epic Candide is a naive scholar. He strongly adheres to the beliefs laid out for him by his mentor Pangloss.

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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.

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The introduction: In life, there are the cheerful people (optimistic) and there the frown faced ones (pessimistic). Taking one side remains illogic in the course of life, as it is better to strike a balance between these two extremes. Candide is torn between being naïve and a kind of lamb in the herd led by an optimistic Shepard, and his famous saying’ in this best of all possible worlds’. (Voltaire, 1761, p.4). And the shocking discoveries that he makes later on his journey to meet his beloved baroness.

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Through the protagonist Candide one can deduce Voltaire’s negative outlook on human nature. He believes every word that Pangloss says, in the same way that people of the day believed everything that the Church would say. At the beginning of the text he blindly worships Optimism and by the end of it he worships the Turk’s philosophy of labour. “I also know… that we must cultivate our garden” (Voltaire 99). However it does appear that Candide has gained more knowledge and wisdom and has therefore made a more informed decision.

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Voltaire is sis giving the reader the direct message that after experiencing like Candide did, one can come to an universal conclusion, that the world isn’t as great as we’re led to

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Voltaire’s Candide is a story of a young man’s adventure and how his experiences change his philosophy on life. Although Candide’s adventures begin with a rather positive confidence that he lives in “the best of all possible worlds” his attitude is quickly transformed when he realizes the world is in fact full of evil. In

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