¶ … entourage minor characters accompanies Candide assists / hampers journey. Voltaire characters express personal ideas criticisms contemporary French society politics. Discuss minor characters acts a spokesman Voltaire's complaints French politics, society, culture early 18th century.
Martin in Voltaire's Candide
'All is for the best in this best of all possible worlds.' So Voltaire's Dr. Pangloss proclaims in the satire Candide. Candide skewers the philosophy of life of the idealistic philosopher Leibnitz, with whom Voltaire disagreed vehemently. Leibnitz believed that the world existed in a state of perfect harmony. The unbridled optimism embodied by Pangloss is constantly undermined by the horrible events in the world around him, including inquisitions, rapes, and murders.
To take issue with the Panglossian philosophy of optimism, Voltaire introduces a man named Martin who functions as Pangloss' antithesis. Martin, like all of the characters of the work, has survived countless horrors, but...
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