Candide

Even though El Dorado is filled with splendour and great wealth, Candide and Cacambo leave because Candide wants to go back and pursue Cunegonde. Initially, Baron Thunder Ten-Tronckh, Cunegonde’s...

Voltaire wrote Candide to refute and parody Liebniz's philosophy that our world is the best one God could have created. In Candide, Liebnitz's optimism is summed up in the words of Candide's tutor,...

Cunegonde's loss of beauty is yet another proof that Pangloss's theory (from Leibniz)—that "all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds"—is absurd. Cunegonde loses her youthful beauty as...

At first, Candide appears to be purely a satire on optimism, in particular the philosophy of Leibniz, which is expressed by Pangloss in the famous formula: "All is for the best in this, the best of...

No, Candide and Cunegonde's relationship would not have been considered incestuous at the time. For one thing, sexual relations between cousins were considered perfectly acceptable in those days....

Voltaire's commentary on greed mostly arises from the "El Dorado" section of Candide. The streets of El Dorado are littered with precious gems and stones. Candide and Cacambo are surprised to learn...

At the end of chapter 1, the eponymous Candide shares a passionate kiss with the beautiful Cunegonde. The kiss is obviously very passionate and heartfelt because "their knees trembled" and "their...

There is a recurring theme across world literature concerning utopias and perfect societies, and Voltaire's treatment of El Dorado certainly fits in with this theme. Throughout Candide, Voltaire...

Voltaire's novel Candide is replete with examples of situational irony (in which expectations conflict with what actually happens) and dramatic irony (in which readers of a given work of literature...

Candide begins in a place called Westphalia, which is is west-central Germany. He is the illegitimate nephew of Baron Thunder-ten-tronckh and lives with his uncle in a castle in Westphalia. Candide...

Candide satirizes or pokes fun at the philosophical concept popular at the time which stated that all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds. Voltaire thought this idea, identified with...

When Cacambo and Candide reach Eldorado, Candide concludes that this must be utopia, a place where everything "is for the best." However, he is yet unhappy because he misses Cunegonde, and Cacambo...

Candide and Cundegonde's relationship is packed with irony. For one, they start out as idealistic lovers who are hopelessly devoted to one another. Candide goes on a quest to reunite with...

El Dorado, in Voltaire's famous Candide, is the legendary shining city of splendor. When Candide and Cacambo accidentally stumble into this magnificent city in the middle of their journeys, they...

Voltaire's novel Candide repeatedly expresses a negative view on sex. There are many instances where sex is used in a negative way throughout the book, all of which accelerate the story and...

Voltaire’s Candide can be classified in several genres: satire, parody, picaresque, and bildungsroman. Clearly, the book is a satire and a parody of such Enlightenment philosophers as Liebniz....

We must remember that when we read Voltaire's Candide, we are reading a satire. What does this mean? It means that he is ridiculing and lampooning the social norms of his time. Published in 1759,...

Voltaire views war as atrocious and anything but heroic. Candide is forced to fight against his will for the Bulgarian king, and his treatment by the soldiers is brutal. His "fellow heroes" treat...

The "old Turk" refers to the deposed Turkish sultan, Achmet III, who Candide meets in Chapter 26. It is clear that Achmet, and the other five former kings and rulers with whom Candide finds him, is...

Voltaire had a pessimistic view of human nature, finding it largely irrational. This is illustrated in chapter 28 in a scene where Candide has a conversation with Pangloss. Pangloss recounts that...

Two of the major themes of Candide are the arbitrary nature of fortune and the universal nature of misfortune. Chapter 26 represents perhaps the strongest statement of this theme, as it carries...

In Voltaire's Candide, quarterings refer to noble lineages of a person or family. Quarterings are displayed on a family's hereditary shield, and they show each noble line from which the family...

Voltaire's story is largely an indictment of claims that there are forces that presume a power higher than human intellect or reason. As one of the Enlightenment philosophies, this makes sense....

The main causes of human suffering and dissatisfaction in Voltaire’s Candide come from a few select sources. The top five are the following: religion, war/violence, nature, sex, and lack of...

Pangloss and Martin have two conflicting viewpoints on life and on the nature of the world. Pangloss is the champion of optimism (and a mocking satire of Leibnitz). For Pangloss, this world must be...

In Chapter XVII of Voltaire's famous satire, Candide and his servant Cacambo, in desperate straits, reach Eldorado where they are amazed at the riches, as well as the cultivation of the country for...

In Candide, Voltaire is questioning whether the philosophy of optimism is a viable perspective on the world, given all of the tragedy that occurs every day. Voltaire satirizes this philosophy in...

The young Candide lives in the German principality of Thunder Ten Tronck and studies with his tutor, Doctor Pangloss, an incurable optimist and theorist of optimism. The equally optimistic Candide...

In Voltaire's novel, Candide, the three themes that stand out in the old woman's tale for me are: one cannot depend that things will always stay the same: being rich and famous one day does not...

Love is not an especially prominent theme in Candide. But it's there all the same. Candide's love for Cunégonde is the catalyst for his weird and wonderful odyssey. Candide has been separated from...

When Cunegonde enters the park, she observes Pangloss and a chambermaid engaged in an activity that is described as "a lesson in experimental natural philosophy." Voltaire goes on to use language...

Although Candide goes through many terrible experiences that show that all is not to be for the best in the best of all possible worlds, one can nevertheless see evidence of the need for conflict...

Humanism puts humans and their individual worth and dignity at the center of life, often rejecting religion or subordinating it in favor of reason. Humanism encourages people to cultivate their...

Best known by his nom de plume, or pen-name, Francois-Marie Arouet, criticized his society; in fact, he signed everything "Ecrasez l'in-fame," or "down with infamy." His famous work, "Candide,"...

Voltaire seems not to advocate removal from the world, nor disinterest in the larger forces that affect people. However, he does certainly reject Pangloss's approach to philosophy—optimism—and the...

While Voltaire had many of the philosophical credentials of his fellow Enlightenment philosophers—namely, a belief in the power of reason, the importance of independent thought, and the rejection...

In Voltaire’s Candide, the character Cacambo is Candide’s servant or valet. Cacambo travels with Candide through El Dorado in South America (where they become separated), later reenters the action...

The events that drive the plot of Voltaire’s Candide are heavily satirical critiques of pre-revolutionary France. Another key consideration is how Candide himself is characterized and how his...

In the final chapter of Candide, Candide, Pangloss, Martin, Cacambo, Cunegonde, and the old woman settle down and decide to "cultivate the garden." The Turk whom they speak to in this chapter tells...

When tracing changes in the character Candide in Voltaire’s novella, it helps to examine the author’s philosophical beliefs and attitudes in the Age of Enlightenment of the mid-eighteenth century....

In chapter 19, Candide meets a black slave missing his left leg and right hand. Candide asks him what happened. The slave explains that when you lose a finger in the mill on the sugar plantation,...

There are scenes of rape and forceful sexual acts in Candide. Voltaire was an insightful philosopher. He understood conditions of unfairness that existed in the world. At the time, women suffered...

Candide parodies the philosophy of optimism promulgated by Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz that stated that because God created the world, and God is perfect, everthing in the world is perfect. One...

Voltaire was a satirist and has created Dr. Pangloss in that spirit. The doctor's touchstone phrase is “all is for the best in all possible worlds," but it is clear the good doctor is not to be...

Voltaire's picaresque satire was intended as an attack upon the philosophical and religious orthodoxies of his time—in particular the Monadology of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. This classic work of...

The strongest example of freedom as a concept in Candide is the title character’s own freedom after he is thrown out of the castle. This event takes place at the beginning of the story and sets the...