Marie Arout - Voltaire
There is said to be no greater figure who has summed up the Enlightenment age than the French philisophe Francois - Marie Arout who worked under the pen name Voltaire. Voltaire was not only a philisophe of the Enlightenment, but was a playwright, historian, poet, and writer as well. During his career which lasted about 60 years in 18th century, his writings consisted of essays, poems, satires, and philosophical tales, all of which carried the same theme of "Ecrasez l'intame," or "crush infamy." This theme attacked "all forms of intolerance and dogmatism" in religious, political, social, moral, and artistic aspects of life during the Enlightenment age (Hurt 289). One satire novel which defined Voltaire and some of his beliefs was Candide, which was a tale that not only attacked the Leibniz philosophy of optimism, but also described the political, and social moods of the 18th century when the novel was written. Candide, or The Optimist, is attacking the Leibniz philosophy of optimism, and therefore the subject of the satire is the problem of how one should live their life having to face the evil of the world. Although Voltaire did not reject all of the Leibniz philosophy, and was known to compliment editors of Leibn
Martin's life was long and he had seen a lot. His Pessimistic outlook came from along line of meetings with selfish, greedy people. Martin believed men had always been bloodthirsty, greedy, hypocritical, foolish beings, and actually compared man to a predatory bird. Candide did not argue with Martin's philosophy. Martin also believed in "free will," and reasoned that good and evil are two equal forces. Martin then stated the he believed that although God sometimes punishes the guilty, the devil punishes innocent people in great numbers. "Come then, Sir, sit down along with us; we will not only pay your reckoning but will never suffer such a clever fellow as you to want money. Mankind were born to assist one another (Votaire 295). In the final chapter, Voltaire makes the point that Candide, or no other man for that matter will ever fully understand the evil in the world. His experiences have become his teachings, and it seems that he is comfortable with his new way of thinking. Candide then begins to follow what he believes in, and made the point that life should not be made any harder than necessary. He also made clear that one should use their common sense, and know the boundaries of their knowledge. Candide then combined the reasoning of Pangloss and Martin, as well as the others he encountered and that led him to believe that "one must cultivate his own garden." Next, Candide meets a character by the name of Martin who is the complete opposite of Pangloss. Martin is a pessimist, and on their voyage to Bordeaux, Martin and Candide begin to discuss reasoning. After this bombardment of unbelievable misfortunes, Candide begins to show doubts, but is once again reassured by Pangloss before his death. Candide realizes that even Pangloss has learned to accept, and not question his terrible misfortune of his illness. Pangloss then accounts his dreadful disease to Columbus's journey to the New World to benefit Europe and bring
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Approximate Word count = 1333
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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