In Candide, Voltaire illustrates the direct and indirect characterization of Pangloss and Martin to convey the deeper meaning of society through the life and increase maturity level of Candide. Voltaire portrays the companionship between Pangloss and Candide compared to Martin and Candide through the use of satire and rhetorical devices such as exaggeration, euphemism, and comparison and contrast of optimism and pessimism. Voltaire uses euphemisms to convey his message of anger through the characters. Pangloss and Martin are influential in the decisions that are made by Candide In doing so, Voltaire forces the reader to stand between the …show more content…
The actions of Candide express the way people can react when put under a huge amount of pressure. Candide tends to debate mentally between optimism and pessimism which emphasizes the evolution of Candide’s character exemplifying the view of society. In this philosophical novel, Voltaire uses the recurring differences of optimism in Pangloss and pessimism in Martin to create a battle of life for Candide to determine himself what he truly wanted for his life and what type of outcome was for him.
Candide embarks on a journey alongside Pangloss and Martin. Pangloss was a wholehearted optimist who supported the fact that “there is no effect without a cause” (Candide, 1991). As we all know, in everyday life events can not come to pass or occur without something or someone releasing an impulse or cause. For example, when neurons communicate to one another, a nerve impulse is sent across the axon. Without the nerve impulse, the axon would not be able to release the neurotransmitters. Lastly, if the …show more content…
Martin seemed to be the most realistic character in the novel Candide because he did not have the type of attitude to just go with things based on the appearance but he actually analyzed things from his own personal experiences.Martin’s rather direct experiences such as when he was “robbed by his wife, beaten by his son, and abandoned by his daughter… persecuted by the preachers of Surinam” play a critical role in his interpretation of the world as we know it (Candide, 1991). Martin believes that the world is innately evil which results in the diminishing of acts of goodness in the world. Martin states, “Everywhere the weak execrate the powerful, before whom they cringe; and the powerful beat them like sheep whose wool and flesh they sell” (Candide, 1991).Martin is referring to people of higher social statuses as people who mistreat and take advantage of the poor just because they can. Because Martin’s judgement seems to be more realistic, his point of view has more of stable basis in Candide. Martin expresses the idea of “this is how men treat one another” that people of this society that we live in treat each other with such disrespect that it is too hard to believe (Candide,