Many of the ideals of "The Enlightenment" can be read and seen in Voltaire's Candide.

             Enlightenment was a new view of investigation that tried to improve the conditions of humanity .

             by applying rational thought to natural happenings. Voltaire depicted these ideas and his personal .

             thoughts on the Enlightenment within the pages of his most famous novel Candide. Candide is .

             the story of a man who lives life under all possible conditions and learns that not everything is the .

             best of all possible worlds as he was once told. Candide's teacher, Pangloss, stood firm that .

             everything that happened was for the best of all worlds. The Christian church was against the .

             Enlightenment and therefore Voltaire, along with other "philosophes" of the Enlightenment, were .

             against the church because of its beliefs. Unlike the European beliefs, the people of Eldorado had .

             a different view of God. .

             The author of Candide and supporter of the Enlightenment was Francois Marie Arouet, or .

             more commonly known as Voltaire. Francois was born to a middle class family in Paris on .

             November 21, 1694. During this time period, the king of France was Louis the XIV and most of .

             the population lived in poverty. Francois was educated at the College Louis-le-Grand. His witty .

             intelligence many times infuriated his teachers thus setting the stage for his controversial writing .

             career. .

             The witty epigrams written by Francois became famous in France. With this fame also .

             came trouble and Francois was exiled to Sully. Using his people skills, Francois was able to .

             convince those in power to end his exile. He returned to Paris but was accused of writing an .

             article that attacked the government and shortly thereafter was sent to the Bastille. This is when.

             Francois took the pen name Voltaire. Voltaire continued to write during his prison term and he.

             was finally released in 1718. .

             Oedipe was Voltaire's first play and shortly after he left the Bastille, this play was produced in .