Candide

Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire was the French author of the

novella Candide, also known as "Optimism"(Durant and Durant 724). In

Candide, Voltaire sought to point out the fallacy of Gottfried William

von Leibniz's theory of optimism and the hardships brought on by the

resulting inaction toward the evils of the world. Voltaire's use of

satire, and its techniques of exaggeration and contrast highlight the

evil and brutality of war and the world in general when men are meekly

accepting of their fate. Leibniz, a German philosopher and

mathematician of Voltaire's time, developed the idea that the world

they were living in at that time was "the best of all possible

worlds." This systematic optimism shown by Leibniz is the

philosophical system that believed everything already was for the

best, no matter how terrible it seemed. In this satire, Voltaire

showed the world full of natural disasters and brutality. Voltaire

also used contrast in the personalities of the characters to convey

the message that Leibniz's philosophy should not be dealt with any

seriousness.

Leibniz, sometimes regarded as a Stoic or Fatalist because his

philosophies were based on the idea that everything in the world

was determined by fate, theorized that God, having the ability to pick

from an infinite number of worlds, chose this world, "the best of all

possible worlds." Although Voltaire chose that simple quality of

Leibniz's philosophy to satirize, Leibniz meant a little more than

just that. Even though his philosophy stated that God chose "the best

of all possible worlds," he also meant that God, being the perfection

he is, chose the best world available to him, unfortunately it was a

world containing evil. It seems as though Voltaire wanted to ridicule

Leibniz's philosophy so much that he chose to satirize only the

literal meaning and fatal acceptance of evil of Leibniz's philosophy.

To get his point across in Candide, Voltaire created the

character Dr. Pangloss, an unconditional follower of Leibniz's

philosophy. Voltaire shows this early in the novella by stating, "He

proved admirably that there is no effect without a cause and that, in

this best of all possible worlds....(16)" Pangloss goes on to say that

everything had its purpose and things were made for the best. For

example, the nose was created for the purpose of wearing spectacles

(Voltaire 16). Because of his "great knowledge," Candide, at this

point a very naive and impressionable youth, regards Pangloss as the

greatest philosopher in the world, a reverence that will soon be

contradicted by contact with reality (Frautschi 75). The name Pangloss

is translated as "all tongue" and "windbag." The colloquialism

"windbag" implies that a person is all talk, and he takes no action.

In this case, Leibniz's philosophy is Stoic acceptance of the evil of

the world. As the story progresses, though, Pangloss loses faith in

the Leibnizian philosophy. Although Pangloss suffered many hardships,

he still sticks to the philosophy to avoid contradicting himself

(Frautschi 69). Voltaire uses Pangloss and a contrasting character,

Martin, to point out the shortcomings in Leibniz's philosophy.

A contrast to the views of Pangloss is the character Martin.

Martin, a pessimist, is a friend and advisor to Candide whom he meets

on his journey. Martin continuously tries to prove to Candide that

there is little virtue, morality, and happiness in the world. When a

cheerful couple is seen walking and singing, Candide tells Martin, "At

least you must admit that these people are happy (80)." Martin answers

Candide's comment with the reply, "I wager they are not (80)." Martin

suggests that Candide invite the couple to dine at his hotel. As the

young girl, now found to be Paquette, tells her story, Martin takes

pleasure in knowing he has won the wager.

Another contrast to this "best of all possible worlds" is

Eldorado. Voltaire describes Eldorado as an extremely peaceful and

serene country. Eldorado, a place that is "impossible" to find, has no

laws, jails, war, or need for material goods. Voltaire uses Eldorado

as an epitome of the "best of all possible worlds." It contrasts the

real outside world in which war and suffering are everyday

occurrences.

Another example