However, after a shipwreck on the way to Lisbon and an earthquake there casing local authorities to conduct an auto-da-fe during which Pangloss was hanged, Candid starts to doubt the true goodness of this world: “If this is the best of possible worlds, what then are the others?” (Voltaire 17). “private misfortunes make the general good, so that the more private misfortunes there are the greater is the general good” (Voltaire 15). Pangloss tells the story of the baron’s family gory perishing but despite all their hard experiences both heroes still keep a firm belief that all that happens is unavoidable and occurs for the best: Escaping from horrible pictures of wartime devastation, he faces a heartless reception by a religious Dutch couple and is rescued from his misery by a generous Anabaptist, who later on gives shelter to Pangloss as well.
However, after being banished from the castle as a result of affair with the baron’s daughter, Cunegonde, Candide opens his eyes on a less perfect world than he imagined he was living in.īeing simple-hearted by nature, Candid, exhausted by hunger and cold, easily falls victim of Bulgarian army recruiters and learns his first lessons of human cruelty during the regiment training and the battle with the Abares. As such, Candide is the story of education of its hero, a young and naïve man called Candide, raised in a Westphalian baron’s estate and truly believing his preacher Pangloss that all is for good in this world and things cannot be different from what they are. Candide can be viewed as “a satire on systems a discussion of the problem of evil a comparison of Utopia and reality a pursuit of the secret of happiness an education…” (Pearson 110). Voltaire’s renowned shrewd outlook and sober judgment found reflection in his famous satire Candide, or Optimism – a book which, met with a scandal immediately after publication, has enjoyed great popularity for centuries due to the vital and burning problems discussed in it.
In the scope of classical literature, the writings of Francois Voltaire occupy a prominent position.
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