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Examples Of Satire In Candide

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Candide- A Satire on Philosophy by a Philosopher
Satire is a comedic view to parodize a subject in order to put it into perspective. One of Voltaire’s most famous works, Candide, was written as a satire on different philosophies at the time. With the events that reflect parts of Voltaire’s own life, showing the development of a philosophy in the main character, Candide, Voltaire satirizes different aspects of the two popular philosophies at the time regarding optimism. Optimism, being the level of hope a person maintains throughout the best and worst of times, becomes a major part of the theme of Candide. Concerning a satire of the two popular philosophers regarding the world, with a plot reflecting Voltaire’s life of fleeing throughout Europe, Voltaire’s Candide reflects both his opinion in satire and his own philosophy as a solution to the conflict.
Philosophy and reality do not line up for the most part. Their disconnect is where the main conflict of the story lies. Over the course of his many travels and encounters with many colorful different strangers, Candide’s idea that this is the best of all possible worlds, stemming from his learning at Pangloss’s side, begins to make a shift. There is a startling disconnect between that philosophy and Candide’s gritty reality. It is only through realizing how …show more content…

Even while describing the horrors of a battle, Voltaire maintains a very calm tone, “Here, old men covered with wounds, beheld their wives, hugging their children to their bloody breasts, massacred before their faces” (Voltaire [Page #10]). The tone stays calm, even though Voltaire talks about some very gritty, sad parts of reality. It begins to affect the reader with a bit of uneasiness. In the parts where it discusses some of the worst aspects of humanity, in that same calm, unaffected tone, it becomes a bit

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