Week 4 Analysis, a Literary Analysis

Voltaire, “Candide, or Optimism” (352-413)

            The characters in the play make the world of Candide an interesting one that ties into any of the themes portrayed in the story. One character is Candide, who takes the words of a certain philosopher and expands upon them in a not so bright way. This character is particularly naïve, love obsessed with one woman, yet rather good-hearted for this dark story. Another character is Doctor Pangloss who is a philosopher with a rather optimistic view of the world: “Everything is for the best,” which in his view equals a perfect version of the world. He stubbornly sticks by this saying no matter the murder, hangings, death or floggings they come across. Therefore, he symbolizes the useless speculations of Philosopher’s. He is a way for Voltaire to make fun of these Philosophers who use God as an excuse to broaden any speculation they have, like Pangloss’ view. One more character than is important is Cunegonde, who is Candide’s love interest. She is not an entirely complex character but I do think she is an example of what could happen to a Woman back then. However, she is mainly used for the comical love of Candide and the followings of the useless philosophical view that “Everything is for the best”.

            The themes portrayed in this story are the Optimistic views they have are foolish and the philosophical views are entirely useless. Again, we see this through the characters personalities, actions and beliefs. One example of an optimistic view is when Pangloss uses a foolish statement to stay optimistic: “It was all indispensable, replied the one-eyed Doctor, since private misfortunes make for public welfare, and therefore the more private misfortunes there are, the better everything is” (361) This makes absolutely no sense as in wouldn’t misfortunes just equal more bad and not good? I would think so. Plus, how are murder, disembowelment, hangings and disease equal everything being better? I don’t think it would at all!  One example of a useless philosophical view is: “He wanted to dive to his rescue; but the philosopher Pangloss prevented him by proving that the bay of Lisbon had been formed expressly for this Anabaptist to drown in” (362). How does that make any sense? One could just change that fate by jumping in and saving him. Free will is an important matter in life, therefore, free will would save this poor man who died by a useless philosophical statement. This all basically ties into the fact that this story is a satirical story in order to teach a lesson that philosophical speculations are pointless and do not help anyone.

            One context that fits into this story well is the history context of the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was a time of philosophical ideas being spread through Europe in the eighteenth Century. It was a time of intellectual thinking and philosopher’s spreading views of how the world or anything worked. In this stories case, Voltaire uses the philosophical idea that “everything is for the best” to make fun of philosophical thinking. He basically pointed out that Philosophy was a useless expression of ideas because it was pointless and didn’t help anyone. It seemed that he was also expressing that Philosopher’s used God as an excuse like how Pangloss used God’s perfect world as a way of looking optimistic and explaining the wrong-doings in the world.

Voltaire."Candide, or Optimism". The Norton Anthology World Literature, Third Edition, Vol. D. Martin Puchner. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012. Pages 352-413. Fairfield Medium with the display set in Aperto.