Candide, or Optimism
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Candide, or Optimism (1759) was and is VoltaireÆs most popular philosophical novel, in part because of the wickedly clever way in which it satirizes the optimistic creed of Liebnitz and his followers û ôAll is for the best in the best of all possible worldsö. Voltaire, that keen voice of the Enlightenment and champion of the importance of rationality as a defense against the vices of the befuddled past, wrote Candide to show the many ways in which all was not for the best in the world of France at the end of its monarchical period û but did not necessarily have to remain that way. The moral of VoltaireÆs work û- that we must cultivate our garden û- might be better translated as ôWe must cultivate our garden because we can -û because we can make things better.ö That extended meaning is often ignored or diluted, perhaps because while VoltaireÆs readers in the agrarian 18th century would have known the value and effect of cultivation, readers in the industrial 21st century tend to see cultivation as a metaphor rather than as a form of actual, productive work.The novella has always remained so well-read and beloved not simply because of the amusing quality of VoltaireÆs satire, however, but also because of two other important aspects. One of these is simply the elegance and eloquence of VoltaireÆs writing, a preciseness of and pleasure in wordplay that remains clear even in the English translations of his works. The other is the fundamental message of VoltaireÆs hero in this w
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are at once archetypes and individuals, and an examination of that skill is the focus of the rest of this paper.
An initial reading of Candide, especially from the vantage-point of the early 21st century, gives one the impression that the work is very much a metaphorical one. There is Pangloss, who is nothing more than a symbol for the follies of fatalism and blind optimism. There is the Inquisitor, who is nothing more than a symbol of blind cruelty and the corrupting influence of power and the terribleness of a religion with a monopoly on souls. There is Cunegonde, who is nothing more than a symbol of the ways in which women can lead even good men astray with their beauty. There is Candide, who is the hero, nothing more than a symbol of how fortune favors the brave.
And yet, of course, these characters are more than this. For Pangloss is both a symbol and a fool, a man who has chosen a limited philosophy because he cannot understand more complex ones and also because he finds personal salvation in it. Cunegonde (the most unsympathetic ôgoodö character in the work, a measure of the fate of women in the hands of even good 18th-century male writers) is both a siren and a victim, but more than this she is someone who perhaps too ca
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Approximate Word count = 2255
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)
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