Essay on Satire - Voltaire's Candide as a Satirical Peice

Voltaire's Candide as a Satirical Peice

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.