Analyzing Voltaire's 'Candide'

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“Candide Essay” By: Kyle Stephens Candide was written by Voltaire and takes place in the middle of the 18th century. The story is about a man named Candide who grows up in the Baron’s castle in Westphalia while following the teachings and beliefs of his mentor Panglos. He teaches Candide that, “this world is the best of all possible worlds”. Basically he tries to teach the most optimistic view about the world they live in. However the Baron whose castle Candide has lived in for all his life catches him kissing Cunegonde which happens to be the Baron’s daughter, so he exiles Candide from the castle. This is when Candide’s adventure begins and he is exposed to the true outside world beyond the walls of the Baron’s castle. He finds that people in the outside world don’t think much of his optimistic view on the ways of life. Like when he tries to talk his way out of the gauntlet from the Bulgar Army by saying he shouldn’t have to…show more content…
Voltaire shows how Candide slowly realizes this logic when he encounters constant conflict and disaster after leaving the Baron’s castle and his old “perfect world”. Candide sees how almost everyone in this world acts selfishly only to reap benefits for themselves and take away from their fellow humanity. Some people probably think that Voltaire may come off as a pessimistic, but he really is just trying to show how foolish optimistic people and corrupt religion can be when you live in a world that constantly challenges you and makes you suffer so much. Essentially Voltaire is trying to tell us that the happiness of humanity is impossible, because the only “real” life is the life where you endure good things and bad things and not the life where you live in the best of all worlds and have no problems and everything is handed to
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