As a well-known French satire, Candide (or, the Optimist) discusses conventional perceptions of science, religion, the state and is severely criticized. It displays antipathy of Voltaire to Catholic totalitarian regimes and aristocratic hubris.
During the Renaissance, leading theologians and philosophers accepted a worldview dominated by optimism. The philosophers were still distressed with misery, suffering and the issue of evil, yet they found ways to see opportunity for hope and optimism. Particularly Leibniz has written persuasive doctrines that advocate an optimistic world view. Although much of the Renaissance had dominated this perspective, the Enlightenment era of the 18th century brought criticism and condemnation from those who viewed this misguided optimism. Enlightenment philosophers believed in the reconstruction and development of life and society through reason and scientific exploration rather than dogma and tradition.
Candide, in a broader sense, means pure, clean, unaware of the world. This novel is accepted by Voltaire as a criticism of the “optimistic philosophy” put forward by Leibniz, which Rousseau also defended, to the theory that sees the world as a work of art and that “God assuredly always chooses the best because he is a benevolent god.” Voltaire wrote his work to criticize Leibniz’s “best of possible worlds” philosophy, which argued that the sufferings of the world are necessities and that God could not create a better world than this. As if he wanted to destroy the idea that ‘everything is best in the world’, Voltaire created an ongoing adventure with the character of Candide and Pangloss.
Voltaire has fictionalized such a book to mock the optimistic philosophers who play a kind of Polyannaism, meanwhile, he wrote this novel by making fun of religion and politics.
Critics consider that Voltaire depicts Leibniz and Renaissance philosophy of optimism through Pangloss. The historical background of the period in which Voltaire applied his critique was very effective in revealing his work. Apart from optimistic philosophy, one of them is the Inquisition. The events of the Inquisition in 1480 and the atmosphere of religious persecution of that time received their share of criticism from Voltaire. The Inquisition was perhaps the most publicly recognized and dismissed among the many institutions that were typically linked with religion because of its intrinsic inhumanity and ferocity. The justice system of the Inquisition is significantly different from the typical usages of the secular court. Candide witnesses Pangloss hung in front of his eyes having just been mercilessly tortured by the Inquisition. He cannot stop crying out loudly in despair, but this is the best of all possible worlds. Observing the corruption of the church, Voltaire made criticism of this hypocrisy and corruption in Candide.
In the ninth chapter, what happened to the grand inquisitor, the brutality of this inquisitor is unfolded. During the Portuguese Earthquake in the novel, Candide states that “If this is the best possible worlds, what are others like?” and “It is proved,” he used to say, “that 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. Observe: our noses were made to carry spectacles, so we have spectacles. ” Besides, after the Lisbon Earthquake, the responsibility was placed on people. It was said by the church and clergy that people were punished by God for their allegedly immoral and evil lifestyles. As a result of the events that took place in the era of optimism and enlightenment, Voltaire juxtaposed the behavior and personalities of the characters with the brutality of the existing corrupt system to process his social criticisms, and presented the real suffering of man. Various pains dominate the story, deaths one after the other, disasters are heaps, hunger and torture always encounter with the characters. Though he was blinded by optimism during her adventures, Candide eventually realizes that this world is not the best of all possible worlds because of the sufferings.
“Oh, Pangloss!” cried Candide, “thou hadst not guessed at this abomination; it is the end. I must at last renounce thy optimism.”
“What is this optimism?” said Cacambo.
“Alas!” said Candide, “it is the madness of maintaining that everything is right when it is wrong.”
Voltaire reveals that in this cruel and absurd world, heaven does not exist. Evil is everywhere, war, slavery, arrogance, intolerance and so on so forth. At the end of Candide, a message of hope, saying that in order to achieve happiness, we must cultivate our garden delivers by Voltaire. He actually knows the negativities in society, but he displays a conscious ignorance. Through the eyes of his protagonist, Candide, he describes these negativities naively, as if he were unaware.
Although Voltaire seems to be describing a social disorder in an impartial way, there is a heavy criticism behind the text. The social structure, historical inaccuracies, bureaucratic corruption is felt with a subtle sarcasm in the author’s narrative. The purpose of the author is not to make people laugh, but to show that people are guided to think optimistically in the face of hurtful realities.
For Voltaire, a world full of firewood piles with scaffolds and people burned alive is not the best of worlds. When Candide is expelled from the castle, he encounters violence, war and death.
Voltaire also reveals the absurdity of the religious practices of his age in chapter six. Fearing the earthquake that destroyed three-quarters of Lisbonne, Spain’s scribes consider preparing a fire to burn people as a remedy. So that there will be no more earthquakes. By order of the Inquisition, Candide and Pangloss are dressed in San Benito, which is given to those condemned to be cremated in Spain. While awaiting their cremation, Pangloss is executed by hanging. And Candide realizes that we do not live in the best possible world. In order to live, we must think and produce more. We must develop our minds, we must produce new ideas.
Through the years since then, this masterpiece reminds me of modern-day…
Thanks for reading! :)
