Voltaire’s Candide Through the 17th and 18th centuries, a European intellectual movement started where developments in art, philosophy, and politics took off. The Enlightenment, as it was called, revolutionized the intellectual and political ways of thinking in Europe. From the movement, came out many men such as: Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Baron de Montesquieu, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Denis Diderot and others who contributed greatly during this time of the enlightened. François-Marie Arouet, more famously known as Voltaire is one of the most well known enlightenment thinkers. He was neither interested in music like Rousseau or in art like Diderot but rather language and writing. His most successful works include: the tragic plays Zaire, Mahomet,
…show more content…
The answer would be no because of multiple reasons rooting from not only Candide but also of how he deliberately differentiated himself from his peers. Candide serves as an extension of Voltaire himself and his beliefs. Following in the footsteps of John Locke, Voltaire believed that man’s natural desire to pursue one’s happiness as inborn. He reflects this with his overly optimistic title character Candide believing in the goodness in all people to achieve happiness. Voltaire deviates from this thinking after he experiences the catastrophic Lisbon earthquake of 1755 killing approximately 40,000 people, which in turn caused him to abandon his sense of optimism. While Voltaire believes in the existence of God, he also believes in the presence of the devil just like his character Martin who discourages any efforts to change the negativity of the world for the better. Voltaire’s fearlessness to mock the arrogance of the nobility and mercilessly satire religious leaders and social order in Candide are perfect examples of how this man was not the typical enlightenment thinker. Voltaire pushed the freedoms of reason, consciousness, and research which all contributed towards the development of contemporary European culture. What Voltaire has accomplished was a result of stepping out of one’s boundaries and expressing themselves with the freedom of
The answer would be no because of multiple reasons rooting from not only Candide but also of how he deliberately differentiated himself from his peers. Candide serves as an extension of Voltaire himself and his beliefs. Following in the footsteps of John Locke, Voltaire believed that man’s natural desire to pursue one’s happiness as inborn. He reflects this with his overly optimistic title character Candide believing in the goodness in all people to achieve happiness. Voltaire deviates from this thinking after he experiences the catastrophic Lisbon earthquake of 1755 killing approximately 40,000 people, which in turn caused him to abandon his sense of optimism. While Voltaire believes in the existence of God, he also believes in the presence of the devil just like his character Martin who discourages any efforts to change the negativity of the world for the better. Voltaire’s fearlessness to mock the arrogance of the nobility and mercilessly satire religious leaders and social order in Candide are perfect examples of how this man was not the typical enlightenment thinker. Voltaire pushed the freedoms of reason, consciousness, and research which all contributed towards the development of contemporary European culture. What Voltaire has accomplished was a result of stepping out of one’s boundaries and expressing themselves with the freedom of