Candide is a satire that is certainly a product of the century it was written in, the eighteenth century, and reflects the larger intellectual movements of the Age of Enlightenment. Discuss how themes of the Enlightenment are clearly illustrated in the various strands of the work, specifically using satirical commentary. How does Voltaire engage with these ideas and what is his ultimate stance about them? You might want to develop a theme connected to ideas of a particular character or characters, and connect them to institutions existing in late early-modern France.
Although Candide is obviously a fictional tale, Voltaire did not write the satire merely to entertain but also to instruct. An Enlightenment era philosopher, Voltaire wished to illustrate the importance of rational thought and expose the errors of superstition. Perhaps the most obvious manifestation of this is the novel's disdain for religious hypocrisy, although it also shows similar contempt for…...

Voltaire and Dostoyevsky
Dostoyevsky's Notes from Underground and Voltaire's Candide are precisely similar works: in attempting to construct a narrative critique of a philosophical system, they slip from harsh satire into a form of sentimentality. I would suggest that comparing the two works' differing approaches to the philosophical problems of optimism, adversity, and violence are indicative of a different attitude altogether toward the philosophical problems presented. Dostoyevsky is passionate but ultimately sees no alternative between traditional religious morality and nihilism; Voltaire, by contrast, sees traditional religious morality as banal and proposes his own alternative. But in my conclusion, I will compare and contrast the role played by comedy in both works -- although each takes a broadly satirical approach toward the philosophical fashions of the present-day, only Candide is the genuinely comic work.

In comparing the role played by optimism in both works, it is important to recall that this was Voltaire's…...

This section of the novel opens our eyes to the real monster of the story and, as a result, we feel sympathy for the creature. His desire to learn about life and the world around him is amazing and his encounter with the De Lacey family demonstrates just how much he wants to makes friends and be a part of his "community." He teaches himself to read and attempts to make friends with this family because he is aware of the importance of connecting with others. atching them, he is filled with "sensations of a peculiar and overpowering nature" (Shelley 93) and wants to be a part of their world. He is a good creature at first and Shelley does an excellent job of portraying him in this light. He only becomes evil after he suffers rejection and abuse from those that he is trying to connect with on…...

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Work Cited

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: Bantam Books. 1981.

Voltaire. Candide and Other Stories. New York: Signet Classics. 1961.

Voltaire and Story of a Good Brahmin
According to Merriam-ebster's Collegiate Dictionary, the word "Brahmin" is defined as "a Hindu state of the highest caste traditionally assigned to the priesthood" (Mish, 149). This means that a good Brahmin is at the highest level of enlightenment within the Hindu social system. One would think this state of being would be an accomplishment and would bring about happiness and peace. This paper explores on many levels Voltaire's Story of a Good Brahmin found in many of his collected works.

Upon reading the text, it appears that despite the good Brahmin's path to Nirvana, he also has a dilemma in life. It appears he has spent too many years pondering the big questions in life, with no one to listen to him and he feels this plight has made him miserable. This state of being brings up many questions for the reader. Should he have…...

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Works Cited

Mish, Frederick, ed. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary: Eleventh Edition.

Springfield: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2004.

Voltaire. The Portable Voltaire. New York: Penguin Books, 1977.

Voltaire's "Candide" is several novels rolled into one. (Homer and Hull, 1978), he returns to the life of a commoner. His life has gone full circle. From flights of fancy, he derives pleasure from one of the most basic occupations -- farming. Voltaire's epic works at several levels. His disdain for philosophies at the cost of realism is evident. Pangloss, the "metaphysico-theologo-cosmonolonigolo" ic tutor is not particularly equipped when confronted with life's harsh realities. In the long run, there is a reversal of roles: from Candide's starry eyed wonderment of Pangloss' learning, to Pangloss' life at the pleasure of Candide.
The essay will argue that in keeping with the alternative title for Candide -- Optimism -- throughout the narrative, Candide always looks ahead to the future. His travails would have put paid to most people. ut his optimism and will to survive enables him to use all his abilities to protect…...

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Bibliography

Caddy, Caroline. Conquistadors. The Australian Poetry Series. Ringwood, Vic., Australia; New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books assisted by the Literature Board of the Australia Council, 1991.

Homer, and Denison Bingham Hull. Homer's Odyssey. Greenwich, Conn.: Hull, 1978.

Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm von. Essays of Theodicy on the Goodness of God, the Freedom of Man and the Origin of Evil. Trans. F.M. Huggard. Ed. Austin Farrer. London: Routledge, 1952.

Mason, Haydn Trevor. Candide: Optimism Demolished. Twayne's Masterwork Studies; No. 104. New York, Toronto: Twayne Publishers; Maxwell Macmillan Canada; Maxwell Macmillan International, 1992.

Voltaire's "Candide" (lake and Kazin, 1976) contain aspects of anti-religious sentiments. oth epics are quasi-historical -- they provide a commentary on the prevailing times; both works also provide a view into lake and Voltaire's personal opinions and leanings. Voltaire was educated by the Jesuits -- priests belonging to the society of Jesuits. Voltaire railed against the prevailing cultural and religious mores that sought to forget socio-economic conditions to satisfy some pre-ordained, religious (mis)interpretations of divine mandates. lake, similarly, was mortified by the dualism practiced by the religious of the time. He did not like or appreciate the way in which every thing was seen from the point of black or white. If the Church deemed something unfit, the practitioner of that aspect of life came under severe remonstrations and even met the ultimate penalty of death. oth authors struggle against the fact that these rules were beneficial to those…...

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Bibliography

Blake, William, and Alfred Kazin. "Songs of Innocence and of Experience." The Portable Blake: Selected and Arranged with an Introduction by Alfred Kazin. Ed. Alfred Kazin. New York: Penguin Books, 1976. 83-118.

Caddy, Caroline. Conquistadors. The Australian Poetry Series. Ringwood, Vic., Australia; New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books assisted by the Literature Board of the Australia Council, 1991.

Hirsch, E.D. Innocence and Experience: An Introduction to Blake. 2d ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1975.

Homer, and Denison Bingham Hull. Homer's Odyssey. Greenwich, Conn.: Hull, 1978.

Voltaire wrote Candide, he wrote a masterpiece of satiric literature in which he explored many philosophical questions of the day. Many of those issues intersected with each other, so putting them together in one treatise was a useful way to look at them as they interacted in a fictional story. This paper will look at five of those issues: fate, evil, personal choice, religion, and optimism.
To tell this tale, Voltaire used two main characters: Candide and Pangloss. Neither name seems to be an accident. Candide wants to discover the true nature of the philosophical issues he is grappling with. Pangloss is optimistic to a level of caricature, which suggests his name, glossing over everything, no matter how unpleasant or even evil it seems.

FATE

In Chapter 20 (third paragraph from the end), this conversation takes place about fate:

You see," said Candide to Martin, "that vice is sometimes punished. This villain, the…...

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Bibliographical Data

Text of Candide, by Voltaire, came at  http://www.ericjonas.com/features/candide/fulltext/default.asp .

Accessed via the Internet 2/25/02

Candide
In his signature work Candide, French author Voltaire offers an extensive criticism of seventeenth and eighteenth-century social, cultural, and political realities. Aiming the brunt of his satirical attack on the elite strata of society, Voltaire simultaneously criticizes some liberal Enlightenment philosophies. Voltaire mocks the authority of both Church and State, showing the corruption inherent in each. Similarly, the novel points out the insipid arrogance of the aristocracy, especially via his relationship with the Baron and his family, all of whom except for his beloved Cunegonde remain farcically nameless throughout the novel. Although Voltaire sympathizes with the core values of Enlightenment thought such as social justice, reason, and egalitarianism, his novel demonstrates disappointment with the distortion of those values. Excess optimism, represented clearly by Pangloss, and excess pessimism, represented by Martin, are portrayed as the two impractical extremes of Enlightenment values in Candide. Furthermore, while Voltaire appreciates the burgeoning rationalism and…...

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Works Cited

Voltaire. Candide. Retrieved 28 July 2005 online from Literature.org at  http://www.literature.org/authors/voltaire/candide/index.html

arfare was obviously distasteful for Voltaire as he showed with 'Te deum' or the Christian hymn of thanksgiving. The soldiers of both the parties sing the song even though neither side was in a position to have won the battle. Voltaire showed that the atrocities of war would never be prevented even with international laws. As Voltaire depicted two armies present as a glorious spectacle, he was showing the terrible atmosphere that was created in the music and gunfire. Candide saw that on the battlefield that guns and bayonets would lead to more thirty thousand rogues death and Candide trembled in terror. So when the both kings and their armies sing 'Te Deum' only Candide seems to understand that both sides of the village are ruined. In summary, Voltaire is quite clear when he describes all that Candide saw from the shocking massacre of the community was the soldiers'…...

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Works Cited

Yahoo Education. Voltaire, Francois Marie Arouet de. Retrieved on 24 Jan. 2005, from  http://education.yahoo.com/reference/encyclopedia/entry?id=49637 .

Voltaire's Candide

d.).
Hewett (2006) stated Locke believed that merely facts from abstract ideas are eternal "as the existence of things is to be known only from experience," this moreover emphasize his line of reasoning that related to morality for he added that "the truth and certainty of moral discourses abstracts from the lives of men, and the existence of those values in the world, whereof they treat." Locke believed in inquiring everything and denying the authority either of the past or of the clergy for he desired everyone to depend on their own judgment and reasoning which is exactly the he created an contention to defend believing in God, and made sure to rebut the thought that reason is different to faith, saying that faith can never sway us of anything that opposes our knowledge and disagreeing that, apart from in the instance of divine revelation, people must constantly look first…...

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References

Binga, T. (2000). Voltaire. Retrieved on March 19, 2009, from Council for Secular Humanism:  http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=hall_of_fame&page=voltaire 

Hewett, C. (2006). The Life of Voltaire. Retrieved on March 19, 2009, from the Great Debate:

 http://thegreatdebate.org.uk/Voltaire.html 

Hewett, C. (2006). John Locke's Theory of Knowledge. Retrieved on March 19, 2009, from the Great Debate:  http://thegreatdebate.org.uk/LockeEpistem.html

Even in this moment of supreme individual stupidity and rigidity, which Voltaire plays up with brilliant sarcastic comedy, Pangloss attributes his continued optimism to the intellectual worship of Leibniz. This instance shows that men are generally not stupid individually, in Voltaire's view, but rather that they are dependent on others for this quality.
Other examples of stupidity and other negative human qualities being obtained through association abound. In Paraguay, Candide has an unlikely encounter with the brother of Cungeund, whom he plans to marry. Immediately after embracing him as a brother himself, Candide reveals his intentions to marry Cunegund, and explains his careful reasoning over the brother's angry protestations. After Candide again insist that he will marry Cunegund, her brother responds thusly: "e shall see to that, villain!' said the Jesuit, Baron of Thunder-ten-tronckh, and struck him across the face with the flat side of his sword" (Voltaire, 36). IThough…...

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Works Cited

Voltaire. Candide. New York: Dover, 1991.

he has lived through violence, rape, slavery, and betrayal and seen the ravages of war and greed. The old woman's story also functions as a criticism of religious hypocrisy. he is the daughter of the Pope, the most prominent member of the Catholic Church. The Pope has not only violated his vow of celibacy, but has also proven unable and unwilling to protect his daughter from the misfortunes that befell her.
Candide also displays this sense of hope in light of his many hardships. He honors his commitment to marry Cunegonde at the end of the story despite the physical abnormalities that have plagued her. Cunegonde is a young and beautiful woman at the beginning of Candide. Mirroring Candide's naive optimism, their love plays out in unrealistic romantic cliches: a blush, a dropped handkerchief, a surreptitious kiss behind a screen. However, this romance in the shelter of the Baron's estate…...

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Stromberg, Roland. "The Philosophes and the French Revolution: Reflections on Some Recent Research." Eighteenth-Century Studies 21: 321-339.

"Francois-Marie Arouet Voltaire" Literature Network

 http://www.online-literature.com/voltaire/

That the story is real and that we can learn from it becomes an extremely important aspect. Improvement begins with realization.
The old woman reveals one of the most horrific tales in the story. Chapter 11 reveals some of the most heinous treatment of women. The old woman recounts a tale of being taken to Morocco and sold as slaves. On the ship to Morocco, she tells of how she was raped by Prince of Masa Carrara, a "abominable Nergo who yet thought he was doing me much honor" (37). She wraps up her rape story by saying "these things are so common that they are not worth speaking of" (37). Things were not better in Morocco as the Europeans "fought with the fury of the lions, tigers and snakes of the country to see who should have us" (37). All the women were cut and massacred and many were…...

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Works Cited

Feder, Helena. "The Critical Relevance of the Critique of Rationalism: Postmodernism,

Ecofeminism, and Voltaire's Candide." Women's Studies. 2002, Vol. 31. Information

Retrieved 12 April 2010.   Web.http://www.infotrac.galegroup.com 

Voltaire. Candide and other stories. New York: Signet Classics. 1961.

Do you disagree with any of Pope's opinions or pronouncements in the Heroic Couplets or "An Essay on Man"?

Pope is critical of individuals who "cry, if man's unhappy, God's unjust," suggesting that the unhappiest people are people who blame God, rather than themselves for all of their troubles, or who curse God because their lives are imperfect. The need to accept life's imperfections while still working to enact positive changes within the limitations of humanity is a positive message still relevant for people today.

Based on what you have read of "The Rape of the Lock," what do you think the poem's theme or central message is? What or who are the objects of his satire? Does the epic, "The Rape of the Lock" apply in any way to society today? Identify two passages that could serve as satiric commentaries on people's behavior today. Your answer should discuss both the passage…...

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 he seems to see the world clearly, unfiltered…...

The Printing Press and the Dawn of Modernity

Amidst the complexities of history's tapestry, certain events emerge as pivotal catalysts, indelibly shaping the course of human civilization. Among these, the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in the mid-15th century stands alone as an epoch-defining innovation. Its profound impact on modernity cannot be overstated, for it not only revolutionized the dissemination of knowledge but also sowed the seeds of countless other societal transformations.

1. The Explosion of Knowledge and Ideas:

Prior to Gutenberg's ingenuity, knowledge was largely confined to the privileged few who possessed access to handwritten manuscripts. The printing press....