A Boy and His Tutor

Candide’s idea that this is “the best of all possible worlds” comes from Dr. Pangloss, Voltaire’s criticism of Enlightenment philosophers such as Liebniz who is even mentioned in the book. Dr. Pangloss’s ideas are so over exaggerated, it’s hard not to laugh at their lack of logic. “Noses were made to carry spectacles, so we have spectacles. Pigs were made to be eaten, [and so] we eat pork all the year round,” (pg 20). Most of Pangloss’s statements are not backed with real world evidence are only assumptions based on the theory that, since God made the world, the world must be good, despite natural disasters, disease, and evil. He almost condones wrongs saying, “misfortunes contribute to the general good, so that the more private misfortunes there are, the more we find that all is well,” (pg 31). Pangloss also seems to suggest that everything happens for a reason by refusing to save John the Anabaptist from drowning, “[the] Lisbon harbor was made on purpose for this Anabaptist to drown there,” (pg 33). The philosopher remains a static character to the last page, holding fast to his belief that “there is a chain of events in this best of all possible worlds,” (pg 144),  even if he himself has trouble believing in the theory. Pangloss starts to doubt the goodness in all occurrences, yet cannot recant “especially as Liebniz cannot be wrong,” (pg 136). In this way, too, Pangloss becomes a criticism for all those people who hold to an idea, despite the amounts of evidence to the contrary. Being written during the Age of Reason and Enlightenment, Candide contains hints of the era in which many religious beliefs were being challenged by new advances in science. Indirectly and, to the cursory reader, seemingly not at all, Voltaire shuns those religious people afraid of progress who cling to the old, corrupt teachings of the church.

A satire still able to be read as one in modern days, Candide gives readers a look into humor of the day and the criticisms that some had. While not meant to be read as a strict account of what all people thought of philosophers or humankind, the exaggerations used in the book can be used to better understand the opinions of others of the time. Just as any good speaker uses rhetoric to prove his point, so, too, does Voltaire use unrealistic characterizations to show and expose that which Voltaire found disagreeable.