Essay About Francois Marie Arouet De Voltaire And Novella Candide

Candide
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Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire was the French author of the
novella Candide, also known as “Optimism”(Durant and Durant 724). In
Candide, Voltaire sought to point out the fallacy of Gottfried William
von Leibnizs theory of optimism and the hardships brought on by the
resulting inaction toward the evils of the world. Voltaires use of
satire, and its techniques of exaggeration and contrast highlight the
evil and brutality of war and the world in general when men are meekly
accepting of their fate. Leibniz, a German philosopher and
mathematician of Voltaires time, developed the idea that the world
they were living in at that time was “the best of all possible
worlds.” This systematic optimism shown by Leibniz is the
philosophical system that believed everything already was for the
best, no matter how terrible it seemed. In this satire, Voltaire
showed the world full of natural disasters and brutality. Voltaire
also used contrast in the personalities of the characters to convey
the message that Leibnizs philosophy should not be dealt with any
seriousness.
Leibniz, sometimes regarded as a Stoic or Fatalist because his
philosophies were based on the idea that everything in the world
was determined by fate, theorized that God, having the ability to pick
from an infinite number of worlds, chose this world, “the best of all
possible worlds.” Although Voltaire chose that simple quality of
Leibnizs philosophy to satirize, Leibniz meant a little more than
just that. Even though his philosophy stated that God chose “the best
of all possible worlds,” he also meant that God, being the perfection
he is, chose the best world available to him, unfortunately it was a
world containing evil. It seems as though Voltaire wanted to ridicule
Leibnizs philosophy so much that he chose to satirize only the
literal meaning and fatal acceptance of evil of Leibnizs philosophy.
To get his point across in Candide, Voltaire created the
character Dr. Pangloss, an unconditional follower of Leibnizs
philosophy. Voltaire shows this early in the novella by stating, “He
proved admirably that there is no effect without a cause and that, in
this best of all possible worlds.(16)” Pangloss goes on to say that
everything had its purpose and things were made for the best. For
example, the nose was created for the purpose of wearing spectacles
(Voltaire 16). Because of his “great knowledge,” Candide, at this
point a very naive and impressionable youth, regards Pangloss as the
greatest philosopher in the world, a reverence that will soon be
contradicted by contact with reality (Frautschi 75). The name Pangloss
is translated as “all tongue” and “windbag.” The colloquialism
“windbag” implies that a person is all talk, and he takes no action.
In this case, Leibnizs philosophy is Stoic acceptance of the evil of
the world. As the story progresses, though, Pangloss loses faith in
the Leibnizian philosophy. Although Pangloss suffered many hardships,
he still sticks to the philosophy to avoid contradicting himself
(Frautschi 69). Voltaire uses Pangloss and a contrasting character,
Martin, to point out the shortcomings in Leibnizs philosophy.
A contrast to the views of Pangloss is the character Martin.
Martin, a pessimist, is a friend and advisor to Candide whom he meets
on his journey. Martin continuously tries to prove to Candide that
there is little virtue, morality, and happiness in the world. When a
cheerful couple is seen walking and singing, Candide tells Martin, “At
least you must admit that these people are happy (80).” Martin answers
Candides comment with the reply, “I wager they are not (80).” Martin
suggests that Candide invite the couple to dine at his hotel. As the
young girl, now found to be Paquette, tells her story, Martin takes
pleasure in knowing he has won the wager.
Another contrast to this “best of all possible worlds” is
Eldorado. Voltaire describes Eldorado as an extremely peaceful and
serene country. Eldorado, a place that is “impossible” to find, has no
laws, jails, war, or need for material goods. Voltaire uses Eldorado
as an epitome of the “best of all possible worlds.” It contrasts the
real outside world in which war and suffering are everyday
occurrences.
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