Optimism In Candide

In Candide, a novel by Voltaire, a series of negative events happen despite the main character’s optimistic philosophy. Candide’s mentor, Pangloss, who is a philosopher, has taught Candide about optimism saying that “all is for the best”. Voltaire uses this way of thinking, which originally came from the German philosopher, Wilhelm Leibniz, as the basis of his satirical novel. This philosophical optimism is upended through the deaths of various characters, the exploitation of women, and the never-ending misfortunes throughout the tale. All these examples enforce the idea that we indeed do not live in “the best of all possible worlds”.
Deaths of the characters are continually happening, yet Candide still insists that it was for the best and moves on …show more content…
Whether he had ended up with her or not, it would not matter to him since he would have believed it was “for the best”. With Cunégonde, Voltaire showed that in both situations, Candide would not have gotten a good result. If he did not end up with Cunégonde, his journey would have had no purpose and if he did end up with her, which he did, it turns out he does not love her as much as he thought seeing that he was disappointed after the loss her beauty. Pangloss, the next to be proclaimed as dead, represented foolishness seeing that he was reason for Candide being so naïve towards the situations that he faced. Before the death of Pangloss, Candide had to be flogged because of his relation with the philosopher and yet Candide still continues to question optimism when he should be more concerned about getting hurt. He asks, “If this is the best of all possible worlds, what are the others like?” (364). Clearly, by now the answer should be known that it is not the best and there are many flaws to discover in his world but he is still so foolishly blinded by the philosophy of optimism. In the end, he had to watch his greatest influence be hung to death which made Candide lose hope. When Candide found