Voltaire's Candide: An Analysis

In his satire, Voltaire provides his own commentary of social, religious and philosophical views of his time. In this passage, Candide meets his old teacher, Pangloss, who has become a physically disgusting and revolting being.

Through the way that Voltaire chooses to describe Pangloss' outward appearance, he parallels what becomes of Pangloss to the worth of his philosophy that all is "for the best." He mocks the philosopher to mock the philosophy. And through all of the tragedies and sufferings and both Candide and Pangloss undergo, Voltaire satirizes their constant naive assurances that all is for the best. Voltaire does not praise the fact Pangloss claims that he still believes his philosophy unconditionally when he is in such a pitiful state but ridicules his naive ability to go about life without wishing for something better, without striving for improvement. Pangloss chooses instead to believe that everything works out in the end, which Voltaire shows is not only a worthless philosophy but also one that denies reality.

In this passage with the men threatening to eat Candide and his companions before they find out he is not a Jesuit, Voltaire satirizes Candide's naïve and deluded ability to praise the Oreillions for their hospitality after they tried to roast him alive. Voltaire views his optimism as not only ignorant but potentially harmful. Voltaire seems to argue in the novel that optimism is a deluded philosophy with which to view life, and he mocks it in Candide as he puts Candide in ridiculously tragic circumstances. In this particular scene, however, Voltaire is also commenting on the fight between the Jesuits and the Oreillions. The harshness with which the men were going to treat Candide after suspecting they were Jesuits is mostly exaggerated by Voltaire as commentary on the fightings within both political and religious factions at the time. As mentioned in the introduction, Voltaire believed that the fighting among sects during his time were "foolish and unavailing." Here he blatantly exaggerates their hatred through cannibalism to parallel what he considers as the absurd hatred between religious sects of the Church.

On his journey to find Cunegonde, Candide dines at an inn with six kings. They represent countries both big and small, and all of them have been dethroned. The kings all have violent histories and they stand for the countries of the world that Voltaire points out are ravaged by war and disorder, leaving dethroned kings left and right. Voltaire views the wars between the countries as pointless and expensive (in money and in lives). The Seven Years' War had finished about the time this book was written, and Voltaire himself saw a lot of pain and suffering which may have prompted his satire on Candide's optimism in this book. Candide's sterile attitude with which he comments on his dinner with the kings show that optimism, in a way, seems to kill compassion for one's situation since it is believed that everything is the best is can be. Voltaire uses the situations in the novel to comment on social and religious situations of his time, and he uses Candide's reactions as commentary on his view of optimism.

Note: Although Candide's optimism is ridiculed in the novel, Voltaire also satirizes to some extent Martin's absolute pessimism. In the end, Voltaire calls for a little of both in gauging reality.