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...

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...

As one observes with Candide, irony is a weapon in Voltaire's hands. He uses it to attack the irrationalities and abuses of the world. Possibly one of the most striking examples of situational...

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...

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 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...

Candide, ou L'optimisme, traduit de l'allemand de M. le docteur Ralph (in English, Candide, or Optimism, translated from the German of Dr. Ralph), written by Voltaire, was first published in 1759....

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 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...

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...

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...

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....

Much of the information about the old woman comes from her biography as she provides it. Once a wealthy, great beauty and the illegitimate daughter of a pope, by the time Candide meets her she is a...

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...

Verbal irony is when dialogue (or sometimes narration) appears to say one thing on the surface but really means something else entirely. It is often sarcastic and used for satirical purposes, which...

Candide is a French satire published in 1759 by Voltaire, who was a prominent philosopher of the Enlightenment. The novella tells the story of the titular character who lives a sheltered life in a...

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...

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...

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,"...

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...

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...

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....

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...

Voltaire has his title character witness all of the ills of the world so that Candide can test out his teacher Pangloss's philosophy that "all is for the best in this best of all possible worlds."...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

The Enlightenment and the Romantic Movement emphasized different relationships between man and the world. In the eighteenth century, the Enlightenment stressed the importance of using reason to...

This section of the novel comes at the very end, when Candide has finally achieved his long-awaited goal of marrying Cunegonde, and the characters have settled down to a traditional happy ending on...

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...

John Locke's theory of property is very complex, but its most important component is actually quite simple. According to Locke, man turns the common fruits of the earth into private property by...

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...

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....

In Voltaire's Candide, the main character goes through many trials and tribulations, including military service, imprisonment, and much more. In addition to his own sorrows, he witnesses many other...

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 Candide is a quintessential satire: there is hardly a paragraph that does not express ridicule. The main focus of this ridicule is the Optimism of Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz based...

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...

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....

Voltaire's aim in Candide is to disprove the philosopher Leibniz's optimism. This held that our world is the best of all possible worlds and also suggests that any tragedies in this world in some...

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...

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...

Candide is a philosophical work whose plot moves very quickly. It moves so quickly, in fact, that skipping single chapters means you skip Candide's entire military career, an entire character's...

When the commandant says he can talk with Candide because they are both German in Chapter XIV, the two rejoice to see each other. However, in Chapter XV, the baron, who has called Candide his...

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,...

The ending of this story exposes the hilarity of Voltaire's thoughts concerning intense philosophical speculation. After spending an entire novel trying to show that the characters live in the...

All three of these schools of thought are definitely portrayed in Voltaire's classic satire Candide. Voltaire shows these schools in different ways, however. You can see the young Candide as an...

The primary target of Voltaire's satire in Candide is the German philosopher Leibniz who claimed that our world is "the best of all possible worlds". Leibniz argued that, in spite of its many...