Optimism In Voltaire's 'Candide'

Candide Writing Assessment Candide is a satirical work that focuses around how someone sees the world. For Pangloss and his philosophy, the world could only bring out good and everything eventually could be traced back to a good consequence. Candide was a great believer in this philosophy and always tried to be optimistic. This blind optimism, though, could not always hold up. When Candide is with Martin and sees the crippled slave, he just could not see how any good could come about because of his condition. This causes candide to reject his optimistic philosophy that his teacher, Pangloss, loved so much. This single moment in the book shaped the meaning of the work as a whole because it made the work stand for a deeper, more relatable message. It also gave Candide more relatability as a character. Along with what was already mentioned this …show more content…
Here, Voltaire is trying to convey through Candide that there will be terrible things that happen to people but also good things that happen to people in life. It was this balance of the two philosophies of Martin and Pangloss that Voltaire is trying to impress into the reader about how to view life. This balancing of the two philosophies shifts the work from an example of blind optimism being applied to every circumstance, as brought out by Pangloss and Candide, to an outlook on life that is more balanced between optimism and pessimism. Voltaire is trying to tell the reader that only following one of these philosophies will never work in every circumstance and that the reader should instead not just look at one side or the other but by mixing both philosophies and carefully weighing both philosophies the reader can have the right outlook on life. This further deepens the work as a whole by deepening the overall message being conveyed by