Essay Networks

Voltaire uses satire to point out the follies in society during his time in order to help the community reshape their behavior and attitudes. He brings to view sin, selfishness, and religious intolerance that are created by the upper class citizens and religious leaders. Voltaire has an ideal society and government in mind, but he knows that it is impossible to achieve. In order to avoid misery, one should live life happily through hard work and honesty. Voltaire’s idea of reform in his novel can be characterized as positive. He suggests the need for reform by revealing the evils in society, such as hypocrisy, especially in the name of religion and the arrogance of wealthy people.

Throughout the novel, Voltaire attacks hypocrisy, most prevalent in religion, and displays the cruel actions of the priests, monks, and other religious leaders. When Cunegonde and Candide are reunited for the first time, Cunegonde tells him the most unfortunate story. First she was raped by a Bulgarian and was then held as a prisoner of war (Voltaire, 40). Later the Bulgar captain sold her, as though she was a commodity, to a Jewish man by the name of Don Issachar, who had to share her with the Grand Inquisitor (Voltaire, 41-42). Soon after, the readers find out that the old woman was also sold again and again. Voltaire is showing the immorality of every class and religion. This was seen twice in the novel to highlight the lack of human values. The old woman was also raped by the Moroccan pirates when she and her mother went on a holiday (Voltaire, 51). They were then taken to Morocco, where the Emperor’s sons fought to win the old woman and some other ladies (Voltaire, 52). Voltaire tells us that during the bloodshed and rape, the Moroccans never failed to pray five times a day, which was recommended by their religion (Voltaire, 53). His purpose was to explain that whether you are Christian or Moslem, they were not practicing what they preach. Another example of Voltaire’s condemnation of priests who did not practice what they preach is when Candide and Cacambo met a slave from the sugar plantation. He told Candide that if someone had caught a finger in the grindstone, they would chop off your hand and then cut off one’s leg to prevent them from escaping (Voltaire, 85). Voltaire criticized the horrible treatment of human beings. The Dutch fetishes preach that all humans are children of Adam, yet they abuse them (Voltaire, 86). Priests were expected to be kind and considerate people, who lived a life without luxuries. Voltaire showed that even religious fanatics were not free from greed. When Candide, Cunegonde, and the old woman reached Avacena, Cunegonde discovered that she had been robbed (Voltaire, 46). The old woman suspected that it was the reverend friar (Voltaire, 47). Candide, following Pangloss’ philosophies, declared that everyone has an equal right to worldly goods and then said, “That being so, the friar certainly ought to have left us enough to finish our journey,” (Voltaire, 47). Cunegonde replied that the monk left then nothing (Voltaire, 47). In this incident, Voltaire is satirizing the morals of the monks. The monks are supposed to give up riches and pleasures, but here is an example of a monk who steals. Candide later runs into Cunegonde’s brother, who is now the Jesuit priest. In this scene, Candide is taken to a beautiful house and joins the priest for a meal that is served on golden dishes, while the Paraguayans eat food from wooden bowls out under the hot sun (63). Voltaire ridicules the life of the Jesuits because the fathers have taken everything from the Paraguayans and given them nothing in return (Voltaire, 62). By uncovering these hypocritical moments, Voltaire is trying to show contempt towards the actions of the religious leaders and followers. He satirizes these events to pinpoint the problem of society in hopes that they will change for the better.

Voltaire satirizes kings to show how worthless people in his contemporary society can be. When Candide and Martin meet Cacambo for dinner, they meet six strangers at the table (Voltaire, 124-125). They soon find out that all of them have been kings at one point or another (Voltaire, 126). One of the Majesty’s servant warns him that they might be arrested for debt (Voltaire, 126). Here, Voltaire is portraying the pathetic conditions that individuals can fall into. Just like in Europe, the upper class people do not know what it is like to work, for all the work is done by the merchants and members of the lower class. Louis XVI also had financial problems and became bankrupt. When Candide and Martin arrived in Paris, it was chaotic; mobs of people were all out for pleasure (Voltaire, 94). Martin describes Paris from what he has seen, “But wherever you go in France, you will find that their three chief occupations are making love, backbiting, and talking nonsense,” (Voltaire, 94). This shows how unproductive they are. Voltaire paints this image to attack the uselessness and low morals of society.

The aristocratic people appear haughty because they refuse to marry anyone that does not have the same level of nobility. Voltaire satirizes their way of thinking by showing how much they resisted marrying anyone of lower nobility. In the beginning of the novel, the Baron’s sister will not marry her lover because his nobility is only one step beneath hers (Voltaire, 19). The same situation appears with Candide and Cunegonde. Cunegonde’s brother refuses to let Candide marry his sister, even in the end when Candide pays the Turk to free him and Pangloss (Voltaire, 138). Voltaire attacks the ridiculous thinking and unnecessary pride that the upper class citizens have in order to provoke improvement in the attitudes of the elite. This is very similar to the idea of the Great Chain of Being, in which you are born into the world with the same status as your parents. There is no way for you to move up the ladder; if you are born a peasant, you die a peasant. This shows how the European leaders were similar to Voltaire’s aristocratic people.

In Candide, Voltaire creates the ideal society in Eldorado with the ideal government. In Eldorado, Candide and Cacambo encountered a man that was 172 years of age (Voltaire, 78). This indicates that people who lived there can enjoy a long and happy life. In the land of Eldorado, there are many riches available, such as rubies, emeralds, silver and gold, but the people there are not attracted to these expensive materials. The king is not full of vanity and he treats Candide and Cacambo with hospitality. There are also no churches, prisons, courts, or parliament (Voltaire, 79). There is not even a single priest to be found, for the king believes that they are all priests, in the sense that the King and the heads of each family perform prayers of thanksgiving every morning (Voltaire, 80). Candide and Cacambo go through a long and dangerous journey before reaching the ideal land of Eldorado. Voltaire is showing that this ideal place is distant and almost impossible to achieve. Although life can never be as perfect as Eldorado, Voltaire is suggesting that one can make the best out of it and therefore create less complication than there generally is. When Candide states in the end that, “we must go and work in the garden,” Candide is politely brushing off Pangloss and his philosophies (Voltaire, 144). Candide realizes that Pangloss’ theories are shallow and clearly sees the importance of work, after hearing the Turk talk about his children working on the farm (Voltaire, 143). They seem to be better off than the six kings Candide met earlier (Voltaire, 143). Voltaire is showing that life can be tolerable if one works hard and takes responsibility for him or herself. One’s existence would be without misery if he or she were honest, diligent and accepting of a practical view of life.

Voltaire uses satire throughout the entire novel to criticize his society. He believes that hypocrisy is prevalent in religion. Voltaire promotes the idea of reform in almost every chapter. He disagrees with how the government works, how the nobility acts, and especially the religious leaders who do not practice what they preach. Although Voltaire shows how impossible it is to reach an ideal society, he suggests that people should work hard and be honest to live life as happily and practically as possible.