The Effective Satire of Voltaires Candide :: Voltaire Candide Essays

The Effective Satire of Voltaires Candide In Candide, Voltaire sought to percentage point out the fallacy of Gottfried Leibnizs theory of optimism and the hardships brought on by the resulting inaction toward the evils of the ball. Voltaires mathematical function of satire, and its techniques of exaggeration and contrast highlight the evil and brutality of war and the macrocosm in general when men are meekly accepting of their fate. Leibniz, a German philosopher and mathematician of Voltaires time, developed the intellect that the world they were living in at that time was the best of all possible worlds. This systematic optimism shown by Leibniz is the philosophical system that believed everything already was for the best, no matter how terrible it seemed. In this satire, Voltaire showed the world full of natural disasters and brutality. Voltaire as well used contrast in the personalities of the characters to dumbfound the message that Leibnizs ism should not be dealt wit h any seriousness. Leibniz, sometimes regarded as a Stoic or Fatalist because his philosophies were based on the idea that everything in the world was determined by fate, theorized that God, having the ability to pick from an endless number of worlds, chose this world, the best of all possible worlds. Although Voltaire chose that simple quality of Leibnizs philosophical system to satirize, Leibniz meant a little more than just that. Even though his philosophical system stated that God chose the best of all possible worlds, he also meant that God, being the perfection he is, chose the best world available to him, unluckily it was a world containing evil. It seems as though Voltaire wanted to ridicule Leibnizs philosophy so much that he chose to satirize only the literal substance and fatal acceptance of evil of Leibnizs philosophy. To get his point across in Candide, Voltaire created the character Dr. Pangloss, an unconditional follower of Leibnizs philosophy. Voltaire shows thi s early in the novel by stating, He proved admirably that there is no effect without a cause and that, in this best of all possible worlds....(16) Pangloss goes on to submit that everything had its purpose and things were made for the best. For example, the nose was created for the purpose of wearing spectacles (Voltaire 16). Because of his colossal knowledge, Candide, at this point a very naive and impressionable youth, regards Pangloss as the greatest philosopher in the world, a reverence that will soon be contradicted by contact with reality (Frautschi 75).