Voltaire was one of the greatest writers and philosophers during the age of enlightenment. Using his controversial works, including more than 50 plays, he was able to “knock mankind on the head and reassure it at the same time” (Academy). Throughout this era, the enlightenment was used to undercut religious belief and replace it with logical reasoning. This ideology was strongly opposed by Louis XIV, who was one of the best dictators at the time due to his intelligence. This became apparent when Voltaire was thrown into the Bastille for being disrespectful towards the government.
In Voltaire’s Candide, Candide struggles with the concept of what he considers a utopia, which is shaped by the influence of Pangloss, Martin, and his own personal experience.Starting in Westphalia, Candide blindly believes Pangloss’s theory when he says that the world they live in is the best of worlds including how “things cannot be other than they are, for since everything was made for a purpose, it follows that everything is made for the best purpose” (Voltaire 20). This is believed regardless of how people are suffering, including those that are close to him. This includes when Candide saw the people that were massacred due to the war between the Bulgars and Abars as “old men, crippled with wounds, watched helplessly the death-throes of their butchered women-folk...[and] girls who had satisfied the appetites of several heroes lay disemboweled in their last agonies” (26) while looking for the ‘sufficient reason’ for this destruction while innocents perished. A gradual shift began in Candide’s views of the world while he was being persecuted in Lisbon, wondering “if this is the best of all possible worlds...what can the rest be like?” (Voltaire 37) as he contemplates why people he cared about, including Pangloss, the Anabaptist and Cunegonde had to suffer if this world is truly the best. This is due to basically everything in the world contradicting Pangloss’s theory at every turn, the most ironic being him losing an eye and ear to syphilis and his death by hanging.This is pondered further when he and Cacambo end up in El Dorado, a society that in literal terms is considered a utopia. When they first arrive, they are amazed by the children in the street playing ninepins in the street and assume they are of royalty due to them playing with gems “the least of which would have been the grandest of the ornament of the …show more content…
Martin shaped Candide’s personal ideology as it allows him to see that there is indeed evil in the world as “crime is sometimes punished. That rogue of a Dutch captain has had the fate he deserved..but why should the passengers have perished too? God has punished a scoundrel, but the devil has drowned the rest” (Voltaire 94) in order to be a foil for Pangloss’s theory of optimism. This continued as the money that Candide was given from El Dorado had given him more trouble than its worth as he continuously got scammed and robbed which emphasized how defective the society he returned to was. Even when Candide tried to stay positive meeting Paquette and Giroflee, stating that they must me happy the truth quickly review reveals itself when Paquette tells Candide about her misfortunes after getting kicked out of the Barons house and Giroflee being forced to become a
In Voltaire’s Candide, Candide struggles with the concept of what he considers a utopia, which is shaped by the influence of Pangloss, Martin, and his own personal experience.Starting in Westphalia, Candide blindly believes Pangloss’s theory when he says that the world they live in is the best of worlds including how “things cannot be other than they are, for since everything was made for a purpose, it follows that everything is made for the best purpose” (Voltaire 20). This is believed regardless of how people are suffering, including those that are close to him. This includes when Candide saw the people that were massacred due to the war between the Bulgars and Abars as “old men, crippled with wounds, watched helplessly the death-throes of their butchered women-folk...[and] girls who had satisfied the appetites of several heroes lay disemboweled in their last agonies” (26) while looking for the ‘sufficient reason’ for this destruction while innocents perished. A gradual shift began in Candide’s views of the world while he was being persecuted in Lisbon, wondering “if this is the best of all possible worlds...what can the rest be like?” (Voltaire 37) as he contemplates why people he cared about, including Pangloss, the Anabaptist and Cunegonde had to suffer if this world is truly the best. This is due to basically everything in the world contradicting Pangloss’s theory at every turn, the most ironic being him losing an eye and ear to syphilis and his death by hanging.This is pondered further when he and Cacambo end up in El Dorado, a society that in literal terms is considered a utopia. When they first arrive, they are amazed by the children in the street playing ninepins in the street and assume they are of royalty due to them playing with gems “the least of which would have been the grandest of the ornament of the …show more content…
Martin shaped Candide’s personal ideology as it allows him to see that there is indeed evil in the world as “crime is sometimes punished. That rogue of a Dutch captain has had the fate he deserved..but why should the passengers have perished too? God has punished a scoundrel, but the devil has drowned the rest” (Voltaire 94) in order to be a foil for Pangloss’s theory of optimism. This continued as the money that Candide was given from El Dorado had given him more trouble than its worth as he continuously got scammed and robbed which emphasized how defective the society he returned to was. Even when Candide tried to stay positive meeting Paquette and Giroflee, stating that they must me happy the truth quickly review reveals itself when Paquette tells Candide about her misfortunes after getting kicked out of the Barons house and Giroflee being forced to become a