VOLTAIRE’S “CANDIDE: OR, THE
OPTIMIST”
-Amber Fystro
Josh Litkenhus
Berkley Stilwell
Nathaniel Leighner
BIOGRAPHYHe is known for the fight against injustice and criticized
wastefulness of war, the intolerance of organized religion,
and the indifference to the poor.
He studied law, but became a writer.
He was brutally beaten by nobleman.
Influenced by Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, and
Newton. They emphasized influence in experimental
method in science.
His essays focused on how people actually lived and
worked.
He wrote in every literary genre.
CANDIDE, SUMMARYThe main character’s name is Candide. He is a young,
simple-minded, honest, and gentle boy that lived in
Westphalia.
He comes from a well respected lineage/household.
Candide likes the baroness, which turns out to
backfire on him. They kiss, and the Baron walks by and
catches them. Candide is then kicked out of the castle.
He wanders to the next town over where his is
spotted by two Prussian soldiers. They ask him his
height and invite him to dinner.
He went through training for the Prussian military and
progressed so fast that he was looked at as a prodigy.
After his training one night, Candide went on a walk where “…
four heroes, each six feet tall, fell upon him, bound him, and
dragged him back to a cell. He was asked by his judges
whether he would rather be thrashed thirty-six times by the
whole regiment or receive a dozen lead bullets at once in his
brain.” (Voltaire 469).
Candide was very philosophical and his first response was that
every man had freewill and choice, showing his optimism, but
after they made him choose he chose the thirty-six thrashings.
The King of the Bulgarians heard about
Candide’s daring response and that he was a
young philosopher that was unaware of worldly
rules and structures and let him go on mercy.
https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK1v_8tIJkI
VOLTAIRE’S SATIRE Satire: prominent in politics. It is the use of humor and irony to
expose people’s stupidity or vices.
Voltaire is recognized as one of the greatest satirical writers in
literature, along with Jonathan Swift.
Candide himself is very satirical because of his approach to the
Bulgarians. His first instinct is to choose freewill, which is not
their style. He is mocking them and their ways of punishment
and rulings.
SATIRE CONT.“…he was named Candide. Old servants in the house
suspected that he was the son of the Baron’s sister and a
decent honest gentleman of the neighborhood, whom
this young lady would never marry because he could
only prove seventy-one quartering's and the rest of his
genealogical tree was lost…The Baron was one of the
most powerful lords in Westphalia, for his castle
possessed a door and windows. His great hall was even
decorated with a piece of tapestry.” (Volatire 467-468).• What is the satire in this?
Identify the satire in this passage
“the next morning, the shivering Candide, penniless, dying of cold
and exhaustion, dragged himself toward the neighboring town,
which was called Wald-Berghoff-trarbk-dikorff. He halted sadly at
the door of an inn. Two men dressed in blue noticed him. ‘Comrade,’
said one, ‘There’s a well-built young man of the right height.’ they
went up to Candide and very civilly invited him to dinner ‘...are you
not five feet tall?’ ‘yes gentlemen,’ said he [Candide], bowing, ‘that
is my height’ ‘ah, sir, come to table; we will not only pay your
expenses, we will never allow a man like you to be short of money;
men were only made to help each other” (Voltaire ch. 2)
PANGLOSSPangloss is Candide’s mentor, and helps build his views on
philosophy and the world. At the center of his philosophy is
"since everything was made for a purpose, everything is
necessarily for the best purpose." (Voltaire Ch. 1) This is a
parody of the Leibniz, who was an enlightenment era
philosopher. He believed the world was perfect and even evil
was a means of a greater good. The word “Pangloss” means
“all tongue”. Pangloss is who decided that the castle was the
best possible cast…with one door and two windows, it was
most definitely not the best castle. Voltaire is using Pangloss
to show the ridiculous of such optimism, by using
exaggeration.
QUIZ!!!!What did Voltaire study?
What did he eventually become?
What Genre did Voltaire write?
What is satire?
what happened to Candide among the
Bulgarians?