Candide

What is one to do when faced with two extremes? Does one choose the devil you know or the devil you do not know? Fight or flight? To be or not to be? In Candide, Voltaire pits the eponymous protagonist and his ragtag group of friends and philosophers against the ruthless world; in which, they face trials and tribulations from an earthquake, auto-da-fé, and a mutilated buttocks. At the end of their torment, they are left to ruminate on their journey thus far and, ultimately, disengage from the…

Voltaire’s Candide, like many of the literature in this class was a bit difficult for me to understand at first. Once I did a bit of research, the story makes senses now. I believe this is because the style of writing today is much different than it is now and I wasn’t there during that time in history. That said, I did find Candide interesting and relatable once I could comprehend it. Satire is the use of humor, irony or exaggeration to expose the corruption or truth behind one’s believe or…

After Candide and Cunégonde meet up again, one would think he would revert to his view of extreme optimism, but Cunégonde's influence on Candide will once again be present, and make it a chore. She relates her story and claimed, "Pangloss cruelly deceived her when he told [her] that all was for the best in this world". A person is always affected by the feelings of someone they love, and Candide loved Cunégonde very much, so he was unable to overlook her feelings about and unhappiness and…

World In Candide, written by Voltaire, is a story where the words "All is for the best," are often repeated by the protagonist, Candide. Among his misadventures that proves that quote wrong, he comes across a city called El Dorado. This city is seemingly a utopia lacking conflict, but all is not as it seems in the utopia. J. Robert Oppenheimer once said “The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it is true.” This book agrees with the quote in that Candide,…

Candide is a book about Candide who goes on a journey looking for this woman, Cunegonde. On Candide’s journey he learned key things about life. The protagonist's journey in Candide helps him find his own philosophy in life. The first stop in the book was the very beginning of the journey, Westphalia. He begins his journey in Westphalia.He lives in a castle and is being tutored by Pangloss. Pangloss’ philosophy of life is “in the best of possible worlds, the Baroness’ castle was the most…

Candide by Voltaire is satire criticizing optimistic views on the world events or the saying that, “this is the best of all possible worlds” and everything happens for the best. Voltaire saddened by two major world events: the Seven years’ war and Lisbon earthquake questioned the reason behind these events. These events killed thousands of people for no reason and still philosophers like Leibniz, continued to believe that this was the best of all possible worlds and behind all evil lied God’s…

As an ironic story that focuses on many problems dealing with philosophy and theology, Voltaire’s “Candide” stands to clarify and possibly teach a lesson to the people that would hold too much faith in these philosophies. Many catastrophic events happen to the lead character, Candide, as well as just about every other character in the story, in order to focus on the problems that lie in detaching yourself from responsibility of their own actions leaving it to God, to fate, or to nature when the…

Even though, the Broadway play complements Voltaire’s novel, Candide, there are noticeable changes made. These changes are made in order to captivate the audience. Considering the change in the time period when Voltaire originally wrote Candide, the changes needed to be made in order to contain more modern aspects that the audience would be drawn to. These changes will be discussed throughout the deliberation of the play, but the most important noticed change would be the doubling of the…

However at one pivotal point in the story, Pangloss’s philosophies do much more harm than that. James, the Anabaptist had helped to cure Pangloss’s disease. At one point, the three of them, Pangloss, Candide, and the Anabaptist found themselves on a ship. The Anabaptist fell overboard. As Candide went to jump in to save him, Pangloss stopped him saying that “The Bay of Lisbon had been made on purpose for the Anabaptist to be drowned”. He proves this at length, all the while the ship was sinking…

Extending and Evaluating “Candide” The satire Candide was written by Voltaire, making fun of the day to day life two hundred thirty years ago. The satire in the story are sometimes used today for example; the way he made fun of the royalty, military,and women. Also candide was excited and full of joy in the learning of the world making Him slow to start and believing everything that he hear.’Pangloss was always telling me, and I see that everything is for the best.’ So some of the story…