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Voltaire's Use Of Utopia In Candide

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Candide is a novel written by Voltaire that mocks many imperfections that have plagued mankind past and present. A wide range of human corruptions are highlighted during Candide’s journey such as; hypocrisy, injustice, and philosophy. Along with these short comings, the idea of mans natural lust for a flawless world is heavily depicted in this novel, allowing for analysis just how ludicrous the idea of a perfect world might really be. Voltaire’s use of utopias in Candide, symbolizes mans insatiable hunger for perfection, and their inability to satisfy it.
During Candide’s travels with Cacambo, they stumble onto a village preserved from the influence and conquest of the rest of the world. Upon meeting with several of the local residents, it is revealed to Candide that the picturesque village is in fact a sprawling kingdom named El Dorado. In this kingdom children play with precious jewels and emeralds because of the little materialistic value they bear in this society. This deflation of currency also eliminates the need for prisons within the city and allows for every person to focus on developing their intellectual understanding of the sciences. In El Dorado, not only are the shackles of poverty set free, but the persecution between citizens based on beliefs does not exist either. Candide and Cacambo are left in awe; the unavoidable evils that they have come to expect from their fellow man simply do not exist in this utopian society. There is but one caveat to the luxuries of El Dorado, all who enter to live …show more content…

Voltaire pressed upon this issue in Candide because of his constant exposure to mankind’s natural disposition to greed and corruption. Candide exposes the truth about utopias; they are an unrealistic ideal created by the natural man in all of us that strives for just a little bit

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Candide is worn down by the travesties that have happened to him and to his companions, and he decides to remove himself from that world. Although Pangloss still quotes his “best of all possible worlds” philosophy, “he no longer believed it” (Voltaire 85). Candide is further assured of his decision when they hear how the Turk remains at peace. Simply put he and his family work hard to cultivate the land (Voltaire 86). Candide see how content this man is and compares him to the men who continued to strive for power.

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It underscores that the only worthwhile thing for people to do is to cultivate their gardens. While cultivating gardens are an emblem of hero’s prospect and fortune, neglected ones lead to his misery. Voltaire provides in Candide several types of gardens. A garden that someone can be kicked out of it like what happened to Candide in baron Thunder-ten- tronckh, another garden that someone can foolishly leave as Candide did Eldorado, and a final well taken care of garden that makes human being close to happiness.

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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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Cristian Hines Hines 1 February 7, 2018 Loyola Professor Candide Essay In today’s society, one’s position is not decided by lineage, creed, or color. Through hard work, determination, and wealth, a person can change their status The Great Chain of Being says otherwise. Voltaire’s Candide follows the story of Candide, who struggles to achieve happiness in a world with strict social hierarchies. These social hierarchies make up the Great Chain of Being.

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Darrius Jackson Professor Origill Western Civilization 11/19/2014 Voltaire's wrote Candide to show his view on how society and class, religion, warfare, and the idea of progress. Voltaire was a deist and he believed in religious equality, he wrote Candide to attack all aspects of its social structure by satirizing religion, society and social order by showing his hypocrisy. Voltaire was a prominent figure during the enlightenment era. Although he was not a typical enlightenment writer at his time because he wrote about issues including social freedom, religious inequality and civil liberty that other philosophers did not at the time. Voltaire's outspoken opinions made him very unpopular and landed him in jail but that did not stop him from

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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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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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It is only when Candide encounters a slave whose account of what has happened to him is so horrible that Candide begins to falter on Pangloss’ philosophy, saying “This is one abomination you could not have anticipated, and I fear it has finally done for me: I am giving up on your Optimism after all” (52). This quote signifies a vital turning point in Candide’s journey, for if he was still fully under the influence of Pangloss’ teachings, Candide could have easily rationalized that if it weren’t for the slave’s suffering, Europe and the rest of the world would not be able to have sugar. Instead, Candide is able to finally see the slave’s suffering for what it is, and he is heartbroken and frustrated by it rather than passive and philosophical as he had been

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When he is forced to leave this life behind him, one follows Candide’s slow, painful disillusionment as he experiences and witnesses the great injustices and hardships of the world. This text is a satire in which Voltaire satirises Leibniz’s Optimism “not only by the illogical travesty of it which Pangloss parrots throughout the story, but also by juxtaposing it with various atrocities and disasters which the story provides…” (Pearson xx). Voltaire rejects this system of thought, as Enlightenment ideologies try to use “logic and reason [to] somehow explain away the chaotic wretchedness of existence by grandly ignoring the facts” (Pearson xxi). It is in these lines that one can discern the disillusionment that Voltaire was feeling with the world after the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake (Pearson xix).

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Voltaire 's Candide: "All is not for the best." Introduction: Voltaire (real name Francois-Marie Arouet), was born in 1694 to a middle class Parisian family. He first studied law to fulfil his father 's wish, but later became a well-known writer and philosopher. He lived most of his life in exile, because of his satirical tales that attack the French State, the Catholic Church, the aristocracy, and the military. For instance, the Grand Inquisitor; the Bulgarian Captain; and the arrogant Young Baron all represent the absurdity of that time.

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