Francois Marie Arouet - Voltaire's Candide

Candide

Voltaire, whose real name was Francois Marie Arouet, was a man whose cynical style of writing brought attention upon himself, both in the positive aspect and in the negative. Francois associated himself with a group of politically power-hungry people who held a frantic hatred against the duke of Orleans. He was wrongly believed to have printed two libelous poems that defaced the duke and due to the false accusation he was imprisoned in the Bastille. This oppression of his right, by imprisoning him wrongly, might have led to Voltaire's less than favorable way of introducing France within his novel Candide. Near when Voltaire was in his 60's a great quake took place in Lisbon killing thousands of people and the tragedy of the quake was written about in the novel, and only a year after, a devastating Seven Year War began which was also referenced within the novel Candide. Because of the overall suffering that man has brought upon each other and was given to them by nature he rejected the concept of a rational and well regulated universe and has often made puns at that philosophical ideal within the Candide.

Voltaire's Candide tells of the struggle of a man who went through much misfortune in life to pursue happiness and love. The protagonist was a man, who went by the name of Candide and the story gives a vivid detail of his adventures as he sought to win the love of Miss Cunegonde. Candide started his life within a castle of magnificent wealth, and although he took no part in its fortune, he was provided with education and fair treatment from those within the castle. All seemed well within his life until he happened to get kicked out of the castle due to his flirtation with the baron's daughter, Miss Cunegonde. After his exile from the castle, Candide ventured around the globe in hopes of finding some way to win Miss Cunegonde's favor. As his adventure continued, Candide was introduced to the flaws of society and its religious leaders.

The novel brings light to how greed for something greater than what is given brings ill fortune upon people. From the beginning of the story, our protagonist and hero Candide had forsaken what could have been happiness within the castle of the baron Thunder-ten-tronckh by trying and pursuing the favor of the baron's daughter, Miss Cunegonde. After Candide's exile from the castle, civil war broke out between the Bulgarians and the Abares for power and land. Due to the war, the citizens and soldiers of both sides suffered greatly for the ambition of the kings on both sides. One of those that suffered was the inhabitants of the castle of the baron, whose door was broken in by the Bulgarians and its inhabitants either were slaughtered or sexually demoralized till their death. However it is brought to light that not all of those within the castle suffered death as it was once believed. One of the few that escaped the clutches of death was the fair Miss Cunegonde, who through many turns of events ended up becoming one of the mistresses of a wealthy and powerful man in Portugal.

During his travel around the globe, Candide encountered the hidden city of El Dorado which like its legend said, the roads were paved with gold and other riches. The people there were friendly and even the poorest of those within its borders found happiness and contentment. That was so because of the lack of greed for any monetary items due to most of the country's wealth lining the grounds upon which they lived. However due to Candide's ever long ambition to court Miss