Examples Of Optimism In Candide

Many ideals of the Enlightenment can be seen in Voltaire’s Candide. The Enlightenment was a philosophical movement of the eighteenth century, which was characterized by reason and by changes in education, religious, and political views. Voltaire depicted these ideas and his personal thoughts on the Enlightenment within his novel Candide. One of the main ideas in this story is Voltaire’s view of hope and optimism versus the reality Candide encounters during his adventures throughout the story. Voltaire has an unconventional way of exaggerating contrast of Candide’s optimism and misfortune that makes the reading intriguing. Throughout the novel the rise and fall of Candide’s hope and optimism depends solely on his early beliefs. Historically

El Dorado was portrayed as the perfect place to live. A place where money is abundant and a place where there is no religious persecution, courts, or prisons. It also had an advanced educational system devoted to teaching science and philosophy. Candide obtained a fortune during his stay in El Dorado, however, it brought him many problems. When Candide decided to leave he found himself the target of crooks, as Vanderdendur and the Surinamese officers trick Candide and take his money. Once again, this experience crushed Candide’s optimistic outlook that El Dorado brought and further brought out a pessimistic view. El Dorado, a village where natural law and reason seemingly ruled, turned out to be the same as anywhere else in his

When Candide was in Lisbon he witnessed different religious prosecutions. One example is when the Portuguese authorities decided to burn people to prevent future earthquakes. Two of the people were picked because they refused to eat bacon so the authorities assumed that they were Jewish. These authorities also hang Pangloss for his opinions and flogged Candide for approving of them. Religious leaders within the novel carried out campaigns of religious oppression against those who disagreed with them. An example of this is when Martin was telling his life story to Candide. Martin claimed that the Surinamese clergy persecuted him because they thought he was a Socinian. In return Martin claimed that he was not a Socinian, but a Manichee. Manichaeism sees the universe in two forces of good and evil and that these forces are always in conflict in the world. This thought was also contradictory to Pangloss’ philosophy because a world partially dominated by evil cannot be