Candide

Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire's novella, Candide, incorporates many themes, yet concentrates a direct assault on the ideas of Leibniz and Pope. These two well-known philosophers both held the viewpoint that the world created by God was the best of all possibilities, a world of perfect order and reason. Pope specifically felt that each human being is a part of God's great and all knowing plan or design for the world.

Voltaire had a very opposite point of view in that he saw a world of needless pain and suffering all around him. Voltaire, a deist, believed that God created the world, yet he felt that the people were living in a situation that was anything but perfect. Thus, the major theme of Candide is one of the world not being the best of all possibilities, full of actions definitely not determined by reason or order, but by chance and coincidence.

To prove his point, Voltaire uses pointed satire directed at various organizations and groups prevalent in his time period. In particular, Voltaire takes aim at organized religion, in particular Catholicism, as well as aristocratic arrogance and war. All of Voltaire's comments are precisely chosen to convey his point that those in power were completely corrupt in all their thoughts and actions.

Throughout the entire book, Voltaire portrays religious men, such as monks and priests, as hypocrites who do not live up to the religious standards that they set upon others. Voltaire first attacks the men of the Church and their hypocrisy in chapter three. After escaping from the Bulgars, Candide was obviously in need of food and possibly medical attention, but could find no help. When he came upon a minister who had just spoken of charity, Candide asked for some food to eat, but was harshly turned away. After speaking of charity to others, the minister turned Candide away just because they didn't share the same view of the Pope. To make matters worse, the minister's wife proceeded to throw a pot of urine over Candide's head. Voltaire used these rather repulsive acts to show the hypocrisy found in many church affiliated men of his time. One minute the minister was talking to the townspeople of charity and brotherly love, while the next minute he rudely dismissed a man in need of that very Christian ideal. While I don't completely agree with Voltaire that the religious men of that time were so blatantly hypocritical, I do feel that they were a bit confused. They were so content on teaching others by words and not actions. In many situations, it is the actions that make the impact...not the words. Voltaire saw the ministers speak of brotherly with their mouths, but turn their back on those who needed the guidance and love of which they preached.

Voltaire elaborated further on brotherly love by introducing the character of James, the Anabaptist. James is described as, "A man who had never been christened...a creature without wings but with two legs and a soul." (27). This very man took Candide in with an offering of bread, drink, money, and the opportunity to learn a trade. James was the exact opposite of the minister in more ways than just his kind actions towards Candide. The description of James said that he was not an angel, but he did have a soul. By using this severe character contrast, Voltaire is saying that those who may not hold high positions of power in the Church, many times show more Christian love than those who do. I agree with Voltaire in that many times people look to those in authority to find guidance, when in reality, they can find true love and fellowship right in their midst. During the Enlightenment, officials in the Church were not the same people who truly touched the hearts and lives of the people around them.

Beyond attacking men of faith, Voltaire depicts the Church as oppressive, corrupt, and he felt that it was of no need to the general public. In chapter six, Pangloss is hanged for his speech and Candide simply for listening with "an air of approbation" The reason given for this hanging is that the people believed a ritual hanging would keep the earth from quaking again. Voltaire uses this barbaric sacrifice not only to show that the church had too much power, but that the Church's abuse of power directly went against the principles they so strongly advocated. In this example, it seems that Voltaire is more opposed to the spread of power than to the actual principles of Christianity. In Voltaire's eyes, the Church had become a form of government more than an institution to provide spiritual support to the people. This idea is supported by Candide's encounter with the wise man of Eldorado in chapter eighteen. Upon discussing religion with Candide, the old man claims that the people of Eldorado all have the same belief, so therefore it would be foolish to have an instituted or forced religion for everyone. I feel that the people of Eldorado did not fear religion, because they thanked God each morning. In this instance, Voltaire is just trying to say that religion is more beneficial if not pressed upon the people. Instead, let them find what they believe on their own.

Voltaire's view of the aristocrats was worse than his perception of the Church. He continually attacked many members of the bourgeois about their pride and conceit in their lineage. Voltaire's first example of aristocratic attitudes of pride occurs very early on in the book. Candide's origin is discussed, and it is stated that his mother and father did not marry because his father, "could only claim seventy-one quarterlings, the rest of his family tree having suffered from the ravages of time." (19). This goes to show that Voltaire saw the aristocrats as people merely concerned with a another's title or stature in