Essays on Candide by Voltaire

In the current essay I would like to consider famous novel of an outstanding French writer and philosopher – Candide by Voltaire. To begin with, it should be noted that Candide is a philosophical tale, which was published in Geneva in January 1759. After that, the novel was reprinted twenty times while Voltaire was alive and more than fifty for today. As a fact, the novel immediately became a bestseller despite the fact that it was banned for many years under the pretext of obscenity. Voltaire himself regarded it as trinkets and in some cases even refused to acknowledge his authorship.

The genre of Candide is a philosophical tale with a touch of cynicism and obstruction, which is “hidden” under the picaresque novel. The main heroes of the story – Candide, his friend Kunigunda and mentor Pangloss, who travel around the habitable world, being present at the battles of the Seven Years’ War, the capture of Azov by Russians, the Lisbon earthquake, and even visit the fabulous land of Eldorado. THESIS: in my opinion, Voltaire used the novel and its characters as an occasion to ridicule the government, theology, military science, literature, art and metaphysics. It is clearly seen in describing Leibniz’s optimistic doctrine, according to which “everything is for the best in our best world”. It can be said that these words sound extremely sarcastic refrain every time, when the heroes suffer from new disaster.

It is essential to note that Candide favorably differs from other novels of that time by the fact that in this novel author’s voice does not sound in every action, but his opinion – is everywhere: usually, it is embedded into the mouth of the minor characters. Moreover, it should be noted that despite the disapproval of the idea of illustrating Voltaire’s literary works, the story was illustrated by many artists, among them was Paul Klee, who called “Candide” his favorite piece of art. Also, Leonard Bernstein wrote popular operetta “Candide”, which is based on Voltaire’s story. It should be noted that the term “Pangloss” – one of the characters of the novel, became a household name, which designates inveterate optimist. It should be mentioned that in the end of the first paragraph of the novel appears sarcasm, which mocks the social conservatism of the nobility arrogant, certainly as Moliere a century ago was practiced at the expense of small provincial aristocracy. Candide is a story of a journey that will transform his eponymous hero as a philosopher, a new kind of Telemachus. It is important to note that the word “candid” comes from the Latin candidus, which means white. The choice of such a name should indicate the innocence of the hero and his friends. In other words, Voltaire found blank slate, on which brand in appearance, he was surprised to observe that throughout his tribulations, like seemingly childish Socrates in the Platonic dialogues, was personifying and, according to the etymology of the word, the irony – feigned ignorance.

As a matter of fact, in that time in Europe the doctrine of world harmony developed by Leibniz was extremely popular. In this doctrine, good and evil are in balance with each other. However, in 1755 an earthquake destroyed the city of Lisbon. In the poem “On the death of Lisbon” in 1756, Voltaire said that he refuses recognize the “world harmony” and the optimism of Leibniz. In some sense, the novel “Candide” is devoted to debunking this theory. That is why noseless, persecuted, tortured, beaten and almost hanged, burned almost miraculously escaped again and tossed in a sea of troubles Pangloss is the eternal pattern of blind stupidity of complacent, who preaches optimism. Ingenuous and naive Candide does not dare to question the preaching of his teacher. Moreover, Candide is ready to believe Pangloss. Although, Candide followed Pangloss’ theory, world of facts overthrew and broke his believes. It is essential to note that Voltaire did not give specific recommendations how to act or what to believe in, he only infects the reader with an idea of the imperfection of the world. However, despite all that I think that Voltaire was optimistic, but in another sense – he believed in the perfection of man and all its institutions. Prominently in his story is a description of the ideal state Eldorado, where there is no monarch, prisons, there are no judges, no tyranny, and everybody is free. It can be said that Voltaire praised the prosperity of the inhabitants of innocence and a utopian country, but Eldorado is quite civilized country. There is a magnificent palace of science, “full of mathematical and physical tools” and so on.