Candide

A detailed Summary of Candide

Beginning in the seventeenth century and peaking in the eighteenth century, the winners of the Enlightenment period called for a rebellion against superstition, fear and prejudice. The rebellion was mainly led by a man named Francois Marie Arouet who later took the pen name "Voltaire" while in prison. During his lifetime, writings attacking the aristocracy and the church were attributed to him whether he wrote them or not. Candide, which reflects Voltaire's life-long hatred of Christian regimes of power and the arrogance of nobility, is a prime example of the philosophical values of the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment is a term applied to a variety of ideas and advances in the fields of science, medicine and philosophy.

On the surface Candide is a clever story but however when inspected deeper it is nothing more than a tirade of words against people of an uneducated status. Candide is an archetype of these idiocracies, for he lacks reason and has optimism that is truly irking, believing that this is the best of all possible worlds. Thus Voltaire uses a witty, bantering tale on the surface, but in depth a cruel bombast against the ignoramuses of his times. Candide has reason only in the form of a companion upon w

This book relates to class lectures and other readings throughout. In class we talked about Voltaire and how he wrote Candide and was the leader of the Enlightenment during his time period. We talked of how it was considered Voltaire's greatest and most significant work. The book itself tells of all his plans such as his criticism against the nobility, the church and philosophy. It critiqued many of the philosophies during the Enlightenment and showed how it was considered the furthest thing from a monolithic movement. Another thing that we talked about in class was that Candide was considered the most influential text of the time period. The reason many think that is because it got many people involved and led to the beginning of the French Revolution.

hich he relies for advice. His companion is Dr. Pangloss. He consistently talks to Dr. Pangloss about what should be done. Eventually Pangloss is killed by being hanged. But this means that Candide's reason is also dead! Candide goes and finds a new companion, "Lacking him [Pangloss], let's consult the old woman" (Voltaire, 37). He soon loses her, gains another, looses him, and then gains another. Thus we see that Candide can only think if he has a companion. Voltaire is thus saying !

that all the nobles are really idiots and says they are only smart because they have philosophers. This is typically Enlightenment, because nobles are stupid and must have philosophers to make them Enlightened. For example L'Hospital's a French Noble, had in his "possession" mathematicians that developed new ways of taking limits (a Calculus idea). Yet in today's society we call this way "L'Hospital's Rule," not Bernoulli's rule who is the one who "invented" it.

Candide is a book that attempts to help explain a time period better. It may be difficult for some readers to understand it because it sometime uses Voltaire's language. If one wants to better understand him and his work, then they better do some re

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Approximate Word count = 1326
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History