Voltaires candide essay

Candide is the protagonist of the novel and throughout the novel he travels around the world and almost everywhere he goes he is met with misfortunes, but he still follows the love of his life Cunegonde. Candide has a number of salient traits, he is naïve, bland and highly susceptible to the influence of stronger characters. However, just like many other characters, Candide is less realistic and he does not embody the folly that Voltaire wishes to put across. Pangloss is the philosopher of the novel and he is doubles up as Candide’s tutor. Thus, as a philosopher and Candide’s mentor, most of the salient ideas in the novel revolve around him. ” Voltaire did not agree with this argument and he wrote this novel to satirize the character.

To satirize Leibniz, Voltaire creates a character by the name Pangloss who is an ardent believer of Leibniz’s philosophy. Just like Leibniz, Pangloss believes that this is the best of all possible worlds and he also believes that everything that is had its purpose and things were made for the best. Pangloss gives an example of the nose which according to him was created solely for wearing spectacles. Pangloss which can loosely translate to “windbag” or “all tongue” tells us that this is a person who talks a lot with little or no action. ” Eldorado is described as a serene and extremely peaceful place. Thus Eldorado is an impossible place to find since it has no laws governing it, there are no jails, no war, and the people have no need for materials goods.

According to Voltaire, Eldorado is the embodiment of the “best of all possible worlds. ” This country greatly contrasts the actual world in which there is war, suffering and many other occurrences. Europeans are always thought to be fair-minded and they lack corruption. It was just a matter of time before Candide came to accept the fact that there is nothing as “best of all the worlds” since everything that happened around him contradicted such a belief. The author’s point of view is now even stronger after a naïve character is able to see the reality of the world. Likewise, as the reader, it strengthens the perspective I had formulated from the beginning of the novel-the best world does not exist.