The Philosophical Views of Voltaire's Candide

Voltaire ridicules organized religion by using a sequence of hypocritical and corrupt religious leaders who come into view all through the novel. The audience comes across the Pope’s daughter, an irony because as a Catholic priest, the audience expects that he should have been celibate (Voltaire 159). However, it is clear that he is a forceful Catholic Inquisitor who deceitfully or hypocritically made the decision of having a mistress. In addition, the pope has been illustrated as a Franciscan friar whose functions was that of a jewel thief; regardless of having made a promise of poverty normally taken by all staff of the Franciscan group. Lastly, Voltaire introduces the audience a Jesuit colonel with apparent noticeable homosexual behaviors or tendencies. More importantly, the novel illuminates religious leaders who carry out cruel campaigns of religious coercion in opposition to those individuals who oppose them regardless of the magnitude of theological matters. For instance, the inquest persecuted Pangloss for the reason of articulating his views and those of Candide was for just paying attention to them. Even though Voltaire offers these plentiful examples or instances relating to hypocrisy and immorality and religious elders or leaders, he does not denounce the normal or average believer. As an example, Jacques, who is a recognized ardent believer of Anabaptists a radical Protestant sect, is questionably the most humane and generous character in the entire novel.

Social, Multicultural and Historical Analysis

Voltaire illuminates social, multicultural and historical issues such as demeaning the power of money. This is illustrated in the moment Candide successfully gets hold of a fortune in Eldorado; the audience is made to see as if the most awful of his problems may be completely eliminated. Bodily injury and Arrest are no longer threats to Candide because he finally had the capacity of enticing his way out of most difficult situations. Nevertheless, it appears as if Candide is discontented or unhappy as a rich man. Essentially, this is caused by the experience he was forced to undergo of watching his money dribble away to dishonest officials and merchants test his hopefulness or optimism in a manner that disheartens him. In fact, contrary to Candice's and the readers’ expectations, his optimism appears to have depressed him further after getting cheated by Vanderdendur. As a result, it was at that point that he chose the pessimist Martin to become his traveling cohort. Historically, money has been associated with corruption while the society assumes that it has the capacity of changing one’s life for the better, however, as illustrated by Candide’s case, his wealth frequently brought in false friends and misery (Voltaire 159).

Citing the Paragraph

Cultivating the garden essentially symbolizes the need of hard work for the purpose of attracting a quality life. Whereas Candide was lying beneath debris following the Lisbon earthquake, his requests for wine and oil are ignored by Pangloss ignores his requests for oil and wine who instead made an effort to establish the root or cause of the earthquake (Voltaire 159). At the conclusion of the novel, Candide discards philosophies developed by Pangloss concerning the ethics of hard and useful work. Lacking any leisure time for the idle assumption, Candide, as well as other characters, discover that happiness had long eluded them. Thus, judgment opposing work ethics philosophy permeating Candide is dramatic and surprising following Voltaire’s position as a valued philosopher of the Enlightenment.

Works Cited

Voltaire. Candide and Other Tales. Dent, 1982.