Essay - When Voltaire Wrote Candide, He Wrote A Masterpiece of Satiric...

When Voltaire wrote Candide, he wrote a masterpiece of satiric literature in which he explored many philosophical questions of t***** day. Many of ********** issues intersected with each other, so putting them together in one treatise was a useful w*****y to look at ***** as they *****teracted in a fictional story. This paper will look at five of those issues: f*****e, evil, personal choice, religion, and optimism.

To tell this tale, ***** used two ma***** characters: ***** ***** Pangloss. Neither name seems to be an accident. Candide wants to discover the true nature ***** the philosophical ***** he is grappling with. Pangloss is optimistic to a level of caricature, which suggests his name, glossing over everything, no matter how unpleasant or even ***** it *****.

*****

In Chapter 20 (third paragraph from the end), t***** conversation takes place about fate:

You see," said Candide to Martin, "that vice is sometimes punished. ***** villain, the Dutch skipper, has met w*****h the ***** he deserved."

Very *****," said *****, "but why should ***** passengers ***** doomed also to destruction? God has punis*****d the knave, and the Devil has drowned the rest."

***** this exchange, Voltaire reveals the difficulty of assuming that some divine power rules our fate, using it ***** mete out justice. Candide has judged the Captain "a knave" and finds him worthy of death. His companion points out, however, that many people apparently not as ***** died as well. Why ***** their fate be tied to ***** of the **********? If God is good, then He can***** be responsible for the ***** of the o*****rs. Is it then God and Satan working together? H***** God agreed to let Satan take innocent ***** so God can punish the guilty? If so, then God is not comp*****ely in charge of fate. Voltaire suggests that perhaps disasters just happen when they ***** *****, without any divine intervention. It *****ms unlikely ***** there's ***** rational plan to drowning many innocent ***** just to deal with one evil Captain. The boat could have burned when only the Captain, or Captain ***** crew were on board, reducing the innocent carnage. The Captain could have been hit by a runaway cart in the market.

Chapter five opens with a discussion ***** an earthquake in Lisbon that destroyed three f*****ths of ***** city. Once again ***** must assume that most of Lisbon's residents did ***** deserve this fate.

EVIL

***** spared no w*****ds when describing evil *****ts - that is, acts of mankind against mankind. ***** has a discussion with an old woman who describes the horrific experiences of one young woman. The ***** ***** says (Chapter 12, 10th paragraph):

Figure to yourself ***** distressed condition of the daughter of a Pope, only fifteen years old, and who in less than three months had felt ***** miseries ***** poverty and slavery; ***** been debauched al***** every day; had beheld her mother cut into four quarters; had experienced the scourges of famine ***** war; and was now dying *****