Candide is a story of the forlorn misadventures of a Baron’s illegitimate nephew. At an early age, he adopts an unconquerable optimistic view of the world from his tutor, the obdurate Pangloss. Throughout the insufferable torment of their lives, Candide and Pangloss manage to retain their oft-discredited philosophy. Voltaire, the author of the book, wrote the story to oppose the obstinate optimism and flawed logic of his peer, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. This mockery of the Romanticized world lacked the “impossible situations” of other novels published in France at the time. He also wrote to reveal and criticize the innumerable flaws of many accepted institutions. The victims of Voltaire’s portrayal of the world and its wickedness include man’s greed and lust that seem to run society everywhere. He attacked the neglect of human rights and international laws by the military in Europe.
Candide’s experiences with greed are both numerous and devastating. At one point in the story, He mistakenly visits El Dorado with Cacambo and brings back a hundred red sheep filled with “mud and pebbles”. The “mud and pebbles” of El Dorado are obviously gold and diamonds. This brings Candide into enormous wealth and puts Voltaire in a position to sprinkle the story with new written feats of man’s greed. Upon acquiring this opulence, he suddenly encounters an unrelenting stream of cheats and thieves out to get his money. He addresses Martin, his cynical philosopher, asking if men have “always been liars, cheaters, traitors, ingrates, brigands, weaklings, deserters, cowards, enviers, gluttons, drunks, misers, profiteers, predators, slanderers, perverts, fanatics, hypocrites, and morons” . Candide is not nearly as directly affected by men’s lust rather than greed.
Voltaire writes about three kinds of lusts. He criticizes lust for money, lust for women, and lust for things. The characters Candide meets find that none of these are particularly satisfying. Even when their lust is fulfilled, such as the case of Count Pococurante’s collection of books, paintings, and gardens, they get bored and critical of their desires. Pacquette and Cunegonde are able to travel across Europe and reunite with Candide by the many men they meet simply growing tired of them. Voltaire also shows just how many important institutions and figures are affected by the same wickedness that afflicts the rest of the world.
After writing Candide, Voltaire chose to publish it anonymously and denied all accusations of authorship. This was, of course, because he would rather not be executed or thrown in a prison for the rest of his life. He saw the world and its systems as they really were, and he was not afraid to announce his opinion of them. For example, Candide’s very first experience with life outside the Baron’s house is him being tricked into the military, beaten daily, and then sentenced to execution for seemingly no reason at all. Then, he deserts during the “heroic butchery” only to encounter two villages that have been destroyed in accordance with “international law”. This “law” was the recent declaration of human rights by the Catholic church that armies and slaves were apparently exempt from. Later, Candide meets the Grand Inquisitor of Portugal, who is having affairs with possibly numerous women and burning anyone he does not like. These bold accusations would have surely meant an untimely end for Voltaire.
Voltaire’s story of the candid Candide owes its success fully to the writer. He did not let slip the overt attitude of hopelessness and wickedness throughout the book. It was written to cause reform, so any redeeming quality to any of the wrongs in the world would justify them. The wrongs were often established parts of society that no one would want to change. He does show his depiction of a real, ideal country to live in. It is also imaginary. Although the vast majority of the book is spent demonstrating the things wrong with men, Voltaire manages to show a means in madness. The ultimate message of Candide is simply to work hard in the face of wickedness and not dwell on all the evil.
