Commentary: Candide is a story that satirizes the rigid optimism of the 18th century enlightenment. The story can be described in many ways; it's hilarious, depressing, exciting, gross, and philosophical. The plot can be summed up as a series of humorous tragedies confronted by the main character, Candide, as he travels around the world in search of the woman he loves. The point of the story is very clear, but Voltaire's emphasis on the same theme throughout the story is interesting every time. Dr. Pangloss, Candide's tutor, always says that they are living in the "best of all possible worlds" and that everything that happens is for the best, but with all the horrible things that happen to Candide and the people he knows, Voltaire makes it painfully clear how stupid this philosophy is.
The heading in French at the top of this screen is the last line in the novel. It stresses that rather than studying politics, religion, philisophy etc. and theorizing about how to make this world as good as possible, one must instead focus on himself or herself.
Interesting Excerpts:
"But he had not gone six miles before he was caught, bound, and thrown into a dungeon by four other 6-foot heroes. At the court martial he was graciously permitted to choose between being flogged thirty six times by the whole regiment or having twelve bullets in his brain. It was useless to declare his belief in Free Will and say he wanted neither; he had to make his choice. So, exercising that divine gift called liberty, he decided to run the gauntlet thirty-six times, and survived two floggings. The regiment being two thousand strong, he recieved four thousand strokes, which exposed every nerve and muscle from the nape of his neck to his backside. The course had been set for the third heat, but Candide could endure no more and begged them to do him the kindness of beheading him instead."
"'If this is the best of all possible worlds,' he said to himself, 'what can the rest be like?'"
"'You unspeakable ass!' exclaimed Candide. 'I have taken you from the galleys and paid your ransom, and I have paid your sister's, too. I found her washing dishes, and she's as ugly as a witch. Yet when I have the decency to make her my wife, you still pretend to raise objections. I should kill you again if my anger got the better of me.'"
9/16/00 By Pouya Rebek"The old woman's speech produced fresh reflections. Martin's conclusion was that man was born to suffer from the restlessness of anxiety or from the lethargy of boredom. Candide did not agree, but he admitted nothing. Pangloss allowed that his sufferings had been uniformly horrible; but as he had once maintained that everything would turn out right in some marvellous way, he maintained it would, however little he believed it."