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“Candice” through the Enlightenment
The Age of the Enlightenment, from 1600 to 1770, is a term applied to a wide diversity of thoughts and advances in the fields of philosophy, science, and medicine. The main characteristic of Enlightenment philosophy is the belief that people can enthusiastically work to form a better world. During Age, the men felt they were an “Enlightenment” group. They had the beliefs that they had come closer to any other age to figure out how the universe and man worked and how to live more rationally and a good life. It was sometimes called the Age of Reason because most of the great thinkers’ and educated men of this time thought that the universe and world was logical, rational, and reasonable and, this could stabilize or a man’s modern passions and actions.
Francois Marie Arouet, called Voltaire, was a remarkable French writer, philosopher and satirist of this era. In the mid mid-eighteen century he came out with “Candice”, a story of an optimistic and naïve character, Candice who travels around the world and having lots of different experiences that prove that Devil exists.
“Candice” on the surface is a witty story. However, when inspected deeper is a philosophical work against people of an uneducated status. Candice lacks reason and has optimism that is truly irking, believing that this is the best of all possible worlds. He has reason only in the form of a companion, in other words Dr. Pangloss. When Dr. Pangloss is hanged, Candice reason died with him. Then, he finds another “reason”, the old woman, loses her, and after that another one, loses him and so on. Therefore, we can notice that Candice can only think if he has a companion.
The attack on the refrain of the novel that this is “the best of all possible worlds” is obvious throughout the entire story. Throughout the story, satirical references to this theme contrast with natural disaster and human misconduct. If everything was for the best in the best of all possible worlds why would these characters continue to search for something better only to find things worse? Voltaire shows very plainly to the readers that no matter how bad your own life seems to be, there is someone who has it worse than you.
Get help with your essay from our expert essay writers...We can see that in this work Voltaire presents reason as something that creates problems and cannot solve anything. We can see that at the end of the book when Candice argues with others if this really is the best of all possible worlds, they conclude we must ”work without reason” and “must cultivate our garden”.
Voltaire did not believe in the power of reason to overcome contemporary social conditions. Through his characters’ experiences, relationships, and final resolution to their many troubles, Voltaire shatters the doctrine of “rationally” optimistic and pessimistic philosophies, replacing them with a vision. Voltaire portrays optimistic philosophies as totally unconnected from lived reality. His main supporter of this belief system is the character Dr. Pangloss who try to use logic to explain the existence of evil. He upholds such thinking to the point of absurdity, by explaining all events through cause-and-effect relationship. Voltaire balances Pangloss’s influence in the Novel, however, by differencing him with men like Martin and the affluent Pococurante, both of whom reflect the inadequacy of total negativity, showing it to be as self-defeating as irrational optimism.
Martin’s assertions are often penetrating and sarcastically clever, but they also are essentially empty. He thinks that misery is universal and inevitable; any efforts to limit it are useless. This philosophy enables him to avoid emotional attachments or commitments to others. For example, even though he stays with Candice and the group on their farm, he does so only because “things are just as bad wherever you are” and working without argument is “ the only way of rendering life bearable”. Many people have viewed Martin as a voice for Voltaire’s own views.
More realistic characters like the old woman, Jacques, and Cacambo expose the limitations of pure practicality. The old woman, Jacques, and Cacambo all suffer considerably throughout the course of the work.
When it comes to Candice, Voltaire made his protagonist naïve and innocent. Candice’s trustfulness is so extreme, his trials so outrageous, and his reactions so laughably naïve that he often appears ridiculous.
We can conclude that Voltaire had ambivalent feelings about the values of the Enlightenment period. If we could make sure that Voltaire believed human beings are naturally good creatures who are only spoiled by an evil society, then we could conclude that he was romantic before his time. When you read about the next literary and philosophical advancement, Romanticism, you’ll promptly realize that many of the principles of the Romantics would have been repugnant Voltaire. Like the thoughtful writers, philosopher and satirist he was, Voltaire rebelled against some important Enlightenment assumptions. And in that respect, his thinking anticipates that of later writers in some ways.
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