Voltaire Satire in Candide

Voltaire Satire in Candide

Voltaire was born as Francois Marie on November 21, 1964 in Paris. He went to College Louis-le-Grand in Paris, which he was taught by Jesuits. He learned Latin, Greek, Italian, Spanish and English. Francois Marie left Louis-le-Grand at the age of seventeen. He studied law before he began his writing career in 1711 to 1713. During this time he had problems with authority. For example, he would attack the government and the Catholic Church which led to imprisonment and exiles for him. He was imprisonment for eleven months because of his satire he wrote about aristocracy. While in prison, Francois Marie wrote Oedipe and became Voltaire.

Voltaire got exiled from Paris because he insulted a young nobleman name Chevalier De Rohan in 1726. He went to England and began to get interested into philosophy. He studied the philosophical rationalism and natural sciences. He wrote a book dealing with English customs and it was interpret that he was criticizing France. He was forced out of Paris again then he returned to write another story.

Voltaire wrote a short satire story called Candide. The story is a great piece of satire that criticizes the religion, military, and philosophy of other philosophers. Candide is about a specific man’s journey having an affect with his philosophy on life. He began his journey believing that “Everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds”. It started with Candide being in Westphalia, where he got kicked out the castle of Thunder-Ten Tronckh for kissing the Baron’s daughter Cunegonde.

Candide was approached by two men that trick him into the military. He was mistreated and nearly died in the military, so he wanted to get out. Voltaire shows his satire dealing with the military when Candide and Martin are passing through England. Candide sees a man in the army being killed by one of his own, because he did not kill enough people in the battle. Voltaire had demonstrated how the military were...