Orgon and Candide
The Enlightenment philosophers believed that God created the world, and as God is the most benevolent, capable mind possible, then the world must be the best possible world. Humans are incapable of understanding the role of evil in the world because they do not understand how the force that God set in place to govern the world. Therefore, when humans see bad things happening, they are unable to comprehend that every bad thing occurs for a greater good. This philosophy is grounded in a strong sense of cause and effect, the pursuit of which leads humans to misperceptions and, ultimately, to misplaced faith.
Orgon's misperceptions are so acute, that it leaves one wondering if his gullibility was native. Orgon's search for salvation brings him to set aside the cautions and warnings of his friends and fall completely for Tartuffe's flattery and trickery. Orgon's blind faith is driven by his obsession with Tartuffe and his willingness to shut out anyone and anything that threatens his belief. Tartuffe skillfully cements Orgon's belief in his goodness by listing his faults and exaggerating how he is perceived, and finally suggesting that Orgon forgive...
Aside from Candide and Pangloss, the character who suffers the most in this novel and demonstrates that the world is far from the best of all possible places is Cudgeon's servant, the old woman. With the characterization of the old woman, Voltaire makes it quite clear that he is satirizing human suffering and the value of philosophy that seeks to endorse or even defend one's existence in such a cruel
On the one hand his gesture can be interpreted as the desire to reconstruct the original garden of paradise. This hypothesis could be supported by the name of the character and the reader could understand that he maintains his innocence despite having seen and experienced the evil which characterizes the real world. The fact that he dedicates himself to gardening also suggest that his awareness regarding the fact that if
Candide LIFE IS WORTH LIVING Voltaire earned much fame and criticism at the same time for his powerful crusade against injustice and bigotry, expressed in brilliant literature. He went up against the government and the Catholic hierarchy, particularly because of the Grand Inquisition. His character, Candide, was very much patterned after his own personality and experience, but his character begins by believing in goodness as prevailing in the world and ends the
The group does not end up at a house or on the road or at a castle but in a garden, at work where new seeds can grow, yield produce and perhaps enhance the quality of life. As members of a small group of individuals away from the world's corruption, they can each have a personal task as well as set and reach goals together. This, after all, is what
" (Voltaire, Chapter 30) as much as the reader might have suspected Pangloss' increasing embitterment, irrational emotional ties to creed, in the world of the novel, still hold true, although rather than believe him or attempt to show disrespect towards the former tutor who has proved so useless to him, Candide stresses that the mans remarks are "excellently observed...but let us cultivate our garden." (Voltaire, Chapter 30) Let us, in other
He has refused to see the world clearly for so long, that once he has no choice other than to apprehend reality with its full force, it hurts him to see Cunegund grown ugly and shrill, and himself in mean and reduced circumstances. He resolves to find some inner strength and bear down upon his ill temperament, to make his garden grow and to take pleasure in the simple tasks
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