Candide as a Masterpiece of Satire, Free Essay in Literature

Satire is a method that is mostly used in literature writing. Satire main aim is to criticize and expose the level of corruption and nature of foolishness of individuals also that of the society at large. The use of exaggeration and irony is to improve the nature of humanity through criticizing people who are wrong. There is two type of satire which includes; Horatian satire and the Juvenalian satire. Horatian satire tends to attack foolishness within the society while Juvenalian satire attacks different offense that is termed to be anti-social.

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Voltaire has successfully incorporated and uses satire in his Candide as a way of speaking out his own opinion. Through this, he satirizes region, philosophical optimism and the various forms of evil such as dishonesty and prostitution found in the society. Voltaire satirizes the occasions in various ways; he mostly uses exaggeration in the candide and further goes on to use the concept of understatement. This is whereby something is supported by stating the negative part of it that is opposite and is a frequent tool in ironic expressions. Sharing the same aspect as the euphemism which is a figure of speech, is usually substitutes the indirect report with the direct report. The euphemistic statements are applied by most of the literature writers where they reveal the nature of insincerity. It is used in this candide by Voltaire in an ironic manner that carries a nature of comic effect so that he could be able to present the satire of crime and the levels of injustice. Through the comic effect created by the author, it may be termed as mocking help in criticizing the evil behavior in the society.

Exaggeration is also applied when the author overstresses information of different nature to protect the same purpose. The main purpose of the author was to criticize the level of optimism, and this could be achieved through him exaggerating the information trying to give his own opinion.. The death of the parents and the level of experience are explained in a much-exaggerated way thus enabling to satirize the incident concerning deaths.

Voltaire uses a different kind of forms so that he may be in a position to go up against Optimism which happened to appear every time that needed to be counter-attacked with ironic outcomes that could assist to ridicule the level of optimism. One of the forms which were applied was an understatement that tried to mock the nature of dishonesty. Frequently after facing horrifying dangers that lead to him suffering, the immediate response is that the Doctor might be in the position to distrust his philosophy. When he heard the story from the old lady, he then goes ahead and says that it was with so much pity that Pangloss had been hanged. This was not in line with the customs. He continued by stating that, he could have revealed to them about the moral evil traits that were within the earth but the time is not on his side. He also recalls how he suddenly responded after learning that Orellons believed him as Jesuit and were planning to boil and eat him. He says to himself that it is the cruel state to lose a friend and then get roasted by Oreillons (Korsmeyer 202). The old lady showed conviction about the father that he had stolen the lady's jewels and money thus leading to candide saying that he should leave enough so that they could be in the position to complete the journey. In addition to that, there is also an ironic understatement that is seen when candide lost the card event, and this shocks the youths since candide did not hold any aces. It is by using this type of statement that the writer attains the use of understatement. The ironic part is quite evident and used correctly by the author to bring forth a real critic towards candide losing the cards, which also brings a nature of dishonesty.

The author Voltaire tries to bring out the nature of euphemism within the candide. This is when the doctor is so much euphemistic as he expressed so much optimism so that he could prove that good may be brought out of evil. The author tries to ridicule the doctor's optimism (Wolper 271). Based on the issues that related to the church the nature of euphemistic state served the author's needs. This is because it gave him the opportunity for satire and euphemists statements. The author uses satire whereby he made a lot of euphemism during the Bulgar conflict, In this case, the sergeants had recruited Candide and told him to support and defend the hero of Bulgar. The author tries to bring the concept of euphemism so that he can criticize the conflict that was experienced in Bulgar (Korsmeyer 206). Through this euphemism has greatly opposed the reality that is seen to appear. Using euphemism, he manages to satirize the optimism from the doctor and mock the conflict that had taken place.

In addition to the use of euphemism, the author tries to use it to criticize the immoral behavior that the doctor and Cunegonde mothers' maid brought forth while there were in the bush conducting the experimental physics lesson. Euphemism by the author tries to bring a sense of good moral through mocking the individuals. The author also criticizes religion; this is where the candide shows the various forms of religious mistreatment and persecution which is one of the terrifying aspects of our society. Voltaire who is the author does not agree with the beliefs that some of the churches have started bringing into the light. This thinking was brought forward after the earthquake which took place. Thus the church starts thinking that through mistreatment and persecution of individuals within the society then it will prevent the reoccurrence of the disaster. In the whole society, the church should be the safest place to shelter in case of disasters and wars.

The author Voltaire uses irony so that he can criticize the church together with their beliefs. He does this by stating and showing how ironical it is for the church to start violence. Using irony to mock the churches it tries to show how critic may be used to help in transforming the society. In another incident that the author tries to criticize is when he finds it to be so ironical that the Spanish priest who conducted their duties and controlled the various forms of government, where fathers and had everything they needed but the people had nothing (Wolper 271). The irony is used so effectively here to mock the priests who cannot even offer a helping hand to their people. With irony as a satire, it helps in trying to rebuild humanity within the society. In addition to that, the Voltaire criticize the priests since they hold army positions. He says stressing about it that it is ironical for a priest to hold any army office and goes ahead and kill, then coming to the people preaching that thou shall not kill. The use of irony by the author is greatly demonstrated as it helps to show how the author manages to satirize the issue.

The author Voltaire did not agree with the belief which was proposed by the Optimists. The belief was how to come up with ways to rationalize evil and the nature of suffering. The author failed to believe that everything that happens is always the best. The Age of Enlightenment has a primary philosophy which is the belief that people can work hard leading to the creation of a better world has passed. The author's high concern lies within the primary concern of The Age of Enlightenment but not in the social reforms which are characterized by the political thinking. Through this, he highly criticized several obligations of the movement. The critic highly attacks the optimism idea which states that evil pulled off by other human beings can be in the position to inhibit the rational thoughts. The author went ahead and presented humorous attributes based on the optimist nature. He finally proved through the humorous attribute that an effect could not occur without a cause. Based on this it is clear the author is criticizing the idea through the creation of humor to mock the optimists so that he may be in the position to save the human beings from evil.

The author Voltaire tries to criticize the nature of poor behavior and lack of morals that have cropped up within our society, the emergency of war, religion and the optimistic nature of other individuals. He manages to criticize the various incidences that take place in the candide through the various satires. His aim of criticizing the incidences was to assist in bringing forth responsible civilians and not immoral.

Work cited

Korsmeyer, Carolyn. "Is Pangloss Leibniz?." Philosophy and Literature 1.2 (1977): 201-208. Wolper, Roy S. "Candide, Gull in the Garden?." Eighteenth-century studies 3.2 (1969): 265-277.