Happiness In Voltaire's Candide

The most influential ideas in history are found in the writings by the wisest of writers. Voltaire, along with other Enlightenment thinkers such as Montesquieu, were against several ideas brought on to society by the government. During 1740 to 1790, a philosophical movement, known as the Enlightenment, emphasized the use of reason, nature, progress, and individualism. Voltaire targets several Enlightenment tenet in his writings. Candide, one of his most famed works, tells the story of a young man by the name of Candide. It portrays a dark vision of human life. In the story, Candide is literally kicked out of a castle, in which he lived in, for kissing the Baron’s daughter, Cunegonde. Candide is then forced to travel the world and he encounters …show more content…
Voltaire ridicules the Enlightenment concepts and indirectly states that happiness is unachievable, everything isn’t always for the best, and reason is a greater asset than emotion or faith. His views are clearly represented through his unhappy ending, the misfortunes of his characters, and through his incorporation of idiotic decision-making of his characters primarily because of emotion.
Most significantly, Voltaire strongly believes happiness is truly unachievable. He ridicules the Enlightenment idea that all are allowed to “the pursuit of happiness,” (The Western Perspective 693) which he claims is pointless, as it’s evident from his ironic ending. At the end of Candide, Candide, Cunegonde, and the others realize what they strived for wasn’t what they really wanted. Despite all the adversity the group had come across, they realize everything they did was in vain. Voltaire demonstrates that Another notable example is El Dorado, the utopian society Candide and Cacambo come across. El Dorado highlights the key points in why there will never be true happiness in this world. It is a place free of greed, bigotry, religious limitation, and …show more content…
His desires aren’t satisfied and he questions his relationship with Cunegonde, despite his embodiment of their future together. Candide pulls through with their relationship, but is left miserable at the end. Maybe their relationship wasn 't for the best. Philosopher Pangloss is also key in demonstrating Voltaire’s position. He is created by Voltaire to display how illogical and comedic the idea that everything is for the best. Pangloss was the instructor of a wealthy Baron, and eventually became a homeless squatter, but aren’t all things for the best? Pangloss a well-respected philosopher, who is stranded in Turkey, eventually becomes a nobody, but aren’t all things for the best? He also had sexual intercourse with a maid named Paquette, who he extracts syphilis from, but in the words of the wise philosopher, “... all is necessarily for the best,” (Candide, 1) right? Overall, Voltaire scorns the concept that everything is for the better, as seen through his use of satire and sarcasm in his