Essays on Candide

Violence and other cruelties are such a large part of the world that they can never be fully rooted out, no matter how hard the effort is to remove them. A common coping mechanism of handling the tragedies of everyday life is to ignore or...

Would the attention brought to the horrors of rape and the oppression of women by Voltaire be considered a progressive form of literature, or a form of shock value? In Candide, Voltaire brings light to the ugly nature of rape culture and the unfortunate normalization...

One of the primary objectives of the Enlightenment was to promote reason and rationalism as a method of achieving social and political reform. However, Voltaire, a powerful and renowned philosopher and writer during the period, often criticized particular aspects of Enlightment philosophy. In his short...

Voltaire wrote Candide in 1759 during an “era… in which the conventions and inequities of European society were being questioned and attacked on all sides” (v). It is apparent from the text that his ultimate goal in writing the novel was to point out flaws...

Voltaire’s novella Candide is a satirical piece detailing the eventful travels of Candide in order to criticize many aspects of Enlightenment philosophical thought, including theodicy and Leibniz’s philosophical optimism, rationalism, and the complacency indicative of stoic philosophical contemplation. Candide is used to explore many of...

In Voltaire’s Candide, the title character voyages from continent to continent in search of love and the meaning of life. On his journeys, his optimism–learned from his ever-present tutor, Pangloss–is slowly whittled away. Candide experiences corruption and deceit, particularly in the church. Most importantly, Candide...

If the entire world were experiencing hardship, one is forced to wonder, would it be equal? If the entire world were experiencing joy, one is forced to wonder, would it be equal? If the entire world were to experience any one specific event–any one specific...

Voltaire’s Candide bears the mark of a piece written during a time of reform. It is heavy with satire, poking fun at whatever issues become tangled in its storyline. The subjects tackled range from the political to the religious, and each receives its share of...

Candide journeys through life with a childish naivete and shies away from making his own philosophical proclamations, often allowing others to do his thinking for him and serve as his surrogate brain. Instead of stepping back and truly pondering the world for himself, Candide is...

Familiarizing oneself with philosophical ideas of 18th century Europe means understanding the ways in which writers during this time dealt with the unique philosophical problems – social, political, scientific and religious – of the Enlightenment period. In the writings of Voltaire, one of the most...

“Men,” said he “must, in some things, have deviated from their original innocence; for they were not born wolves, and yet they worry one another like those beasts of prey. God never gave them twenty– four pounders nor bayonets, and yet they have made cannon...

Although the main characters in Voltaire’s Candide supposedly resign themselves to work and cultivation rather than philosophizing in the end, it is necessary for them to survive struggle and turmoil in order to come to this realization. The adventures that bind Candide to his companions...

Throughout Voltaire’s Candide the reader was introduced to a wide variety of unique characters, each seemingly with their own philosophies and beliefs on how life should be viewed. Voltaire seems to stress through the development of the protagonist, Candide, just how influential the people we...

Introduction Every culture has certain historical events that alter the way that culture functions and appears. For much of the world, the world wars were this historical influence. Many countries had not experienced such a sudden loss in population, and for many families, it meant...

A stark parallel can be drawn between the two central female characters of Voltaire’s satirical philosophic thrust, Candide. It is through the tragic strife and oppression of first the Old Woman and then Cunegonde that we see two sagas woven of such similar threads that...

A child has the ability to make the most critical and objective observation on society and the behavior of man. How is this possible? A child has yet to mature and lacks proper education and experience. However, it is for this very reason that a...

Candide, a novel written by French Philosopher Voltaire, takes place in Europe throughout the 1800’s. Women in the 1750’s did not have many privileges and were taken advantage by the men. Voltaire portrays this through the very limited female characters of Cunegonde, Paquette and the...

François-Marie Aroused, more commonly known as Voltaire, was an 18th century philosopher, and writer known for his, satire and wit, and influence on the age of enlightenment. The Ancien Régime or old regime is a word to describe the social and political system of France...

Voltaire’s work portrays a profound admiration for social and political English models. As a young man, he met an exiled Tory statesman in 1722, Viscount Bolingbroke who represented a form of cultural pre-eminence that thrilled him. This encounter and Voltaire’s desire to make a name...

The English Enlightenment seemed to be one of the first intellectual movements that dominated the era. Many people started to distrust God and believe rationality came from within and not from following God’s will. Science was important during this era; saying that reason is the...