Candide Paper

Candide Essay

Throughout the book Candide, Voltaire uses Candide in this book to critic and to criticize theories and beliefs that Voltaire himself also criticized and questioned throughout his life time. Candide questions the Leibnizian Optimism. Candide questions and criticizes Leibniz theory that God created this world and he created it to the best and perfect world it is. That since God created the world and earth and that gods perfect so earth and everything in this world is also perfect since god created. These beliefs are also followed and abided by the Pope and Candide’s tutor Pangloss. Pangloss explains to Candide how everything that he thinks is evil and bad happening in this world is really a good thing happening for a good reason. That everything that happens is happening for a reason and leads to something great in life. He states that man lives in the “best of all possible worlds.” Candide did not believe in these beliefs and fought against it throughout the book. He saw throughout the world and town that people were suffering and dieing and these acts are not suppose to happen for a good cause and that if there was a god that he would make the world a better place without all the suffering and killings and wars. He witnessed floggings, rape, robbery, execution, diseases, death, and the Lisbon earthquake. Candides experiences and events throughout his life is what influence him to contradict Leibniz’s theories. Candide also scrutinizes war and religion. He believes that the religious men such as priests and monks are a bunch of hypocrites who don’t live up to or do the things they should be doing that the religion talks about. He claims that the church, the Catholic Church to be more specific, is the most corruptive and violence leading institutions and they should be gone. He goes against all that they practice and all that they believe in. Candide’s resolution at the of the book is that he realizes that the world is not perfect and that yes god...