Pessimism and Optimism in Candide
In its time, satire was a powerful tool for political assault on Europe's corrupt and deteriorating society. Voltaire's Candide uses satire to vibrantly and sarcastically portray optimism, philosophical views from the Enlightenment that only tries to bury the horrors of 18th century life: superstition, sexually transmitted diseases, aristocracy, the church, tyrannical rulers, civil and religious wars, and the cruel punishment of the innocent. Through the steady adversity faced by Candide, Voltaire brings up important questions about how the nature of optimism appears to commoners. Pangloss's philosophy of "the best of all possible worlds" - an example of the misleading optimistic theory advocated by the philosophers of the Enlightenment which Voltaire deems absurd, - is "listened to attentively and believed innocently" (2) by the young and naive Candide at the beginning of the novel. However, as the novel progresses Candide begins to balks at this optimist idea, in the end suggesting to his comrades to "cultivate our garden" (87). This, his own conclusion, can be interpreted as humble work is the only answer to a life continuously plagued with bad luck. Through the actions of his silly characters, Voltaire preaches that man is u
As the young girl, now found to be Paquette, tells her story, Martin takes pleasure in knowing he has proven his gloomy outlook on the situation. The willingness of Candid to accept Pangloss's wild conclusion without questioning it sets him up for his ill-fate. Candid, lacking his own judgment and depending on Pangloss's guidance, will suffer worse fates than sexually transmitted diseases. The Utopian castle remarks are contradicted when Candide's simple and easy life is complicated by his ousting from the "most magnificent of castles. For example, Voltaire has Pangloss (a characterization of the "typical" optimist) "prove admirably that there is no effect without a cause, and that, in this best of all possible worlds, the Baron's castle was the most magnificent of castles, and his lady the best of all possible Baronesses" (1). Voltaire uses Eldorado as an epitome of the "best of all possible worlds. Voltaire portrays Pangloss as the true dolt of optimism, never really comprehending the errors of his own reason. This flaw in their character, leaving behind the Eldorado Utopia, illustrates that there is ultimately no perfect, happy place. Though Candide's hypothesis is the simplest and the best for everyone, Martin's is much more realistic. Pangloss plainly responds that the disease was a "necessary ingredient in the best of worlds" (8). It can be concluded that Voltaire attacks optimism because he did not believe that the sole power of thought and reason could overcome modern social institutions with. our labor preserves us from three evils - weariness, vice, and want" (86).
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