Candide Essay -- essays research papers

Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaires novella, Candide, incorporates many themes, only concentrates a necessitate assault on the ideas of Leibniz and Pope. These two head-known philosophers both held the suck in gunpoint that the introduction created by God was the best of all possibilities, a world of stark(a) order and reason. Pope specifically felt that each human existence is a part of Gods great and all clear-sighted plan or design for the world.Voltaire had a very opposite point of view in that he saw a world of gratis(p) 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 govern custodyt agency that was anything but perfect. Thus, the major theme of Candide is one of the world not existence 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 banter directed at various organ izations 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 Voltaires com custodyts are simply chosen to convey his point that those in power were completely subvert 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 present upon others. Voltaire first attacks the men of the Church and their hypocrisy in chapter three. After escaping from the Bulgars, Candide was evidently in need of food and possibly medical attention, but could fuck off no help. When he came upon a minister who had just spoken of liberality, Candide asked for slightly food to eat, but was harshly turned away. After speaking of liberality to others, the minister turned Candide away just because they didnt share the very(prenominal) view of the Po pe. To make matters worse, the ministers wife proceeded to throw a pot of urine over Candides head. Voltaire used these rather horrific acts to show the hypocrisy found in many church machine-accessible men of his time. One minute the minister was talking to the townspeople of charity and brotherly love, while the next minute he rudely brush off a man in need of that very Christian ideal. season I dont completely agree with Voltaire that the religious men of that time were so blatantly hypocritical, ... ... as it should be.Even after Candide travelled to England, he saw vicious acts of cruelty surrounding him. One utilization is the death of an admiral that did not have enough dead men to his credit, (111). Voltaire used this brutal death to show that the people of the times were to a greater extent concerned with numbers than lives. A man was killed merely because he did not kill enough innocent victims. In Voltaires eyes, this was the worst make believe of brutality he coul d imagine. In a world where everything has a purpose, Voltaire could not fit where unreasonable deaths fit in. Although the novella, Candide, was partially written for entertainment purposes, it was to begin with written to discredit the views of Leibniz and Pope. These philosophers felt that the world around them was just as God would have it, but Voltaire adamantly disagreed. He presented his point of view by satirizing the Church, the arrogance of aristocrats, and war and violence. Voltaire looked at the world with the idea that thither could be something done about all the evil in the world. Although he knew the world would never be perfect, he wanted people to see that the world they were living in was one that could be improved upon.