"The Enlightenment" is the name for a movement that encompasses a wide variety of ideas and advances in the fields of philosophy, science, and medicine that began in the seventeenth century and peaked in the eighteenth century. The primary feature of Enlightenment philosophy is a profound faith in the power of reason and rational thought to supposedly lead human beings to a better, happier social structure. Candide reflects Voltaire's lifelong aversion to Christian regimes of power and the arrogance of nobility, government, and the military, but it also criticizes certain aspects of the philosophical movement of the Enlightenment. It attacks the school of optimism that contends that rational thought can curtail the evils perpetrated by human beings upon human beings.

Pangloss is responsible for the novel's most famous idea: that all is for the best in this “best of all possible worlds.” This optimistic sentiment is the main target of Voltaire's satire. Pangloss believes that the world must be perfect if a perfect God created it. When human beings perceive something as wrong or evil, it is merely because they do not understand the ultimate good that the

In the case of human nature, the entire piece of Candide might very well be quoted as to the state of the human condition (heart). Man is by nature sinful, and left to his own devices will ultimately destroy himself and the world around him. Voltaire’s portrayal of the human nature is in my opinion not satirical but grievously accurate in virtually every detail. Notwithstanding the fact that in the beginning of his narrative, Voltaire satirizes such nature by justifying the “natural necessities of the Bulgarian heroes”, his tendency to that style seems to wane in later chapters.

Finally In chapter 26 Voltaire has used satire on kings. He is depicting the pathetic condition these great people can fall into. They have lost their power and kingdom. One of them is likely to be arrested for debt along with his servant. Voltaire indulges in mockery when the kings are addressed as ‘Your Majesty.’ He indulges in further mockery when four more Highnesses are addressed as "Most Serene Highnesses." It can be noted that the six kings depicted earlier in this chapter were actually historical kings. The scene of so many dethroned kings at the same table in comic and brilliantly depicted. At the same time it is extremely satirical. The kings have submitted to

The proud and pompous Baron, Thunder-ten-tronckh introduced in the first chapter resembles Fredrick the Great with whom Voltaire had close connection for a long time. The Baron’s son is inferred to be vain and very powerful. He (the Baron) is most patriarchal in nature, not hesitating to inflict immediate retributive punishment for the least offense, as Candide’s backside would most notably attest. In Chapter two the king again is representative of Fredrick the Great. He is however portrayed as more humane and ends up pardoning Candide, even though there was no evident infraction begging pardon. After the war, the two Kings were causing Te Deums to be sung in their camp. This is satirical indictment of the arrogance, pompery, and pride of monarchs, typical of every age. In Buenos Ayres a certain governor Don Fernando d’Ibaraa y Figueora y Mascarenes y Lampourdos y Souza (whew!) is meticulously described: “This nobleman carried himself with a haughtiness suitable to a person who bore so many names. He spoke with the most noble disdain to everyone, carried his nose so high, strained his voice to such a pitch, assumed so imperious an air, and stalked with so much loftiness and pride, that everyone who had the honor of conversing with him was violently tempted to bastinade his excellency”. Pg. 37. I know someone like this! This is such a stupendous portrait of typical nobility and sovereigns that every monarch in history should have this printed in bold face type below their portraits. He of course also believed it his privilege to have any woman that pleased his senses and made immediate requisition of the lovely Cunegund. Later, he reunites with his dear Cunegund’s brother and yet another delicious rendition of birthright at its most pompass occurs. The false pride and snobbery of the aristocracy is exposed. The Baron’s son is not willing to listen to any sensible argument from Candide. He knows that his sister Cunégonde and Candide really love each other. Yet, he clings to the argument that Candide has only seventy-one quartering of nobility. (Actually I believe that this would have been a sufficient qualification for at least Knighthood in that period) Candide argues that Pangloss had said that all men are equal. The angry Baron (Commandant) strikes him with the flat of

Some topics in this essay:
Jensen Enlightenment, Baron Commandant, Adam Eve, Baron Thunder-ten-tronckh's, Lampourdos Souza, Finally Voltaire, Providence Voltaire, Constantinople Voltaire, Lisbon Pangloss, Jacques Anabaptist, adam eve, pangloss’s philosophy, baron’s son, voltaire satirizes, bulgarian army, religious leaders, eden adam eve, practice war, bay lisbon, eden adam, international law, garden eden adam, adam eve enjoyed,