Essay/Term paper: An analysis of the novel candide by voltaire

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Argumentative Essays

An Analysis of the Novel Candide by Voltaire


The novel Candide by Voltaire is a great peice of satire that makes fun
of the way people in medievil times thought. The book is about a man, Candide,
and his misfortunes. Throughout the book Candide has countless things go wrong
in order to show that this is not "the best of all possible worlds" Voltaire is
trying to make a point through the exaggeration of the inhumanities of man in a
humorous way.

The story begins in a castle in Westphalia. Candide is convinced by
Cunegonde to take a lesson in "experimental physics". The two are caught and
Candide is kicked out of the castle. While Candide is suffering from hunger and
cold he is met by two men who trick him into service in the Bulgarian army.
Candide has a terrible time in the army, he tries to escape, and he is punished
severely. During the confusion of war Candide manages to escape. Time passes
and Candide meets some other interesting individuals and has one bad experience
after the next. One day Candide meets a woman who takes care of him and this is
none other than Cunegonde. They amuse each other with stories of misfortune and
travel around the world. At every place Candide goes something unthinkable
seems to happen to him. Candide meets several people along the way who all
have their own interesting story of misfortune and the inhumanities of mankind.
Candide ends up on a small farm, married to Cunegonde and living with two
philosophers. He argues with others at the end of the book if this really is
the best of all possible worlds and they conclude the we must "work without
reason" and "must cultivate our garden".

In this novel Voltaire is extremely influenced by his frame of reference
and mindset. He finds room to include almost all of his political views. He
takes Candide on a journey through all of the wrongs he beleives in the world in
order to prove that it was not the best of all possible worlds. He shows us the
inhumanities of man through war and social interaction. He basically paints an
exaggerated picture of the wrongs of medievil people. Voltaire is just as
biased as any other capable person of the time. Everybody has a certain element
of prejudice that they hold within. His thoughts are taken into exaggeration
but that is the basis of satire. The conclusions arrived at by Voltaire are
valid. He does not have excessive prejudice and his conclusions cannot be
invalid because they are thoughts of personal opinion. Voltaire's ideas do not
completely follow others'. He is one of the only writers that stepped out and
confronted major philisophical issues even if they were hidden within humor.

Voltaire's novel Candide is a book about all of people problems during
the time period in which it was written. Voltaire wrote the book in order to
confront these problems in a humorous way so to allow the public to ingest the
reading easier. Voltaire accomplished his theme very well because of the
creative uses of humor in the book.

Voltaire is right in what he is saying. When looking at satire it must
not be evaluated too closely. If it is picked apart and some of the things are
taken too seriously then the general idea trying to be presented is not
recognized. Voltaire uses alot of great humorous filling inside of a few major
ideas and attacks the areas needed to be attacked in a witty and humorous matter.


The novel Candide is a well written, funny, to the point book stressing
that this is not the best of all possible worlds. The writing is not too
difficult to read and is organized in an efficient manner. The book does not
die through translation like several other medievil books do. The ideas brought
about in the book are important ideas of the time that needed to be discussed.
Voltaire created a satirical masterpeice in Candide. This book adds to people's
general knowledge of medievil man's problems and the distorted philisophical
ideas of the times.

Voltaire presents some major ideas in his novel Candide. Through satire
he proves that this is not the best of all possible worlds by showing the reader
the problems of medievil times. Voltaire presents these ideas through a young
boy, Candide. Voltaire's Candide is a great satirical peice that makes fun of
medievil people's ideas in hope to open minds and inform the reader.