Throughout Candide, Voltaire uses irony to express – what he considers – an enlightened view of the world, human nature, and God. Pangloss, Candide’s teacher, presents a shallow optimistic view of the world which can be equated to a representation of human naivety and human folly. Martin, a character met near the end of the book, presents an opposing view of life to that of Pangloss. He recognizes that there is an evil complex to the human nature. While Voltaire may not agree with all of Martin’s views, he makes it a point to severely criticize the beliefs of Pangloss. In Candide, the view that human beings possess an evil nature which leads to a world incapable of reaching a harmony particularly because of organized religion can be seen throughout the journey that Candide embarks on.
Voltaire continuously attacks many of the fundamentals of 18th century European society. Voltaire sees dissention as the root of unhappiness in the world. The root of dissention is can be traced to organized religion in Candide. Voltaire relentlessly attacks any dominant organized religion of the time. Protestants are seen as hypocritical in chapter three. In chapter ten, Franciscan friars are equated to being robbers. Religions including Islam, the Jesuit order, and others were also brutally attacked by Voltaire. The deistic view of the people of El Dorado was the only religious form that led to a harmonious existence. After speaking of El Dorado’s religious views, “Candide was overjoyed will all these speeches (Candide, 37).”
He also uses Candide to criticize the optimistic worldview of Leibniz. Leibniz’s view, seen through the character of Pangloss, seems to maintain that the world is as good as it can be. Everything happens for the best possible ending. According to Voltaire, this viewpoint, being fully optimistic, is a naïve approach to life. The naivety of this approach can be seen through the life of Pangloss. By the end if Candide, Pangloss is obviously considered an...