The eighteenth century is called the Enlightenment because it was a time when
        reason and knowledge were cultivated.  But was it an enlightened age?  In 1759,
        Voltaire published Candide, his satiric masterpiece.  He ridiculed the popular
        philosophy of Leibnitz*, who claimed that because God is perfect, he must have
        created for us the best of all possible worlds.  To that, Voltaire responded, “If this is
        the best of all possible worlds, what must the others be like?  (as Candide asks in the
        novel).

                 (Francois-Marie Arouet) de Voltaire was chief of the French representatives of
        the Enlightenment and perhaps also represents the best of the  intellectual climate of
        the 18th century.  Poet, playwright, historian,and popularizer of scientific and
        philosophical ideas, Voltaire's influence upon history, both literarily and socially, has
        been has been huge.

                 His thought is influenced by his profound regard for the conscience and human
        freedom, by a belief in the progress of civilization, and by faith in the usefulness and
        success of man's actions in life.  When he was nine years old he went to a Jesuit
        seminary for his preparatory education.  At seventeen he began astudy of law,
        which he came to despise.  He turned to writing, being banished from Paris for
        several months on suspicion of lampooning the Duc d'Orleans.  Entering his early
        twenties he was accused of a worse offense -- a more serious lampoon -- and was
        thrown in the Bastille.

                 Following his release, Voltaire continued to be involved in political intrigues,
        and was soon again threatened with imprisonment (1718).  He escaped to England
        where he came to associate with Pope,Chesterfield, Swift, and other literary figures
        (1726).  He was able to return to France a few years later.

                 While residing in Paris, Voltaire became wealthy buying shares in the
        government lottery and by speculating in the corn trade.  Always an opportunist, he
        came under the patronage of Mme. de Pompadour, who aided him in being
        appointed royal historiographer (and arranged his election to the French Academy).

                 In 1750 he went to Berlin as Frederick the Great's chamberlain but quarreled
        with the monarch and moved to Geneva in 1755.  Candide (1759), usually classified
        as a philosophical tale, is the best example of Voltaire's caustic wit and independent
        spirit.  Although his writings cover the fields of drama, philosophy,romance, history,
        literary criticism, and poetry, he is best known for his satire against religious
        intolerance and hypocracy (much like a relative contemporary, Moliere).  Voltaire
        was also critical of traditional institutions and beliefs, which to him seemed
        ridiculous, and being so, he made many enemies.  In his later yearshis efforts
        toward reform began to be appreciated and he was showered with distinctions.

                 As a philosophic novel, Voltaire satarizes the optimism of the 1700's.  Candide
        grows up in a German castle.  His tutor, Dr. Pangloss, teaches him that “All is for the
        best in this best of possible worlds.”  When Candide becomes separated from his
        love, Cunegronde, he searches for her throughout the world,encountering disaster
        wherever he goes.  When he finally finds Cunegronde, now grown ugly over time,
        they take comfort in settling on a pice of land where they cultivate their garden
        together.

               Candide was condemned and banned, but in this film, Voltaire proposes to
        show "how perfectly harmless it is."  Voltaire was a philosopher, playwright, poet,
        novelist, historian, and journalist - perhaps the greatest thinker of his times.  In
        Candide he provided not only a satire on his age (time), but  also acommentary
        on the human condition.  The hero was to be a victim of or witness to all the evils
        that afflict mankind: social institutions, human passions, and nature.  These were
        presented as wars, rape, and disease and earthquakes.  Everyone was unhappy,
        but no one committed suicide, so life was conveyed as mediocreand just tolerable.
        There are a few good people, and some good deeds, as well as some evidence of
        humanity, honesty, and even a little happiness, but these were few and far between.
        "Life is not good, but it can be improved by work.  Practical action must replace idle
        speculation (Lanson 129)." ** However, Candide was not purely negative or critical.
        It is the principle parable of Voltairian philosophy, most ofthese parables tending
        toward greater human betterment and well-being.
        ------------------------------------------------------------
        *In Leibnitz's philosophy, each person and thing is a monad, or completely separate
         being, whose existence is in harmony with God and is separate from outer
         experience.  He believed that man shouldaccept his lot in life and should not
         try to change it, because this was the "best of all possible worlds."

    **Lanson, Gustave.  Voltaire. New York:  John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1966.
       ------------------------------------------------------------

      Some Questions for Thought:

      1)  In your viewing of Voltaire Presents Candide, identify the real issues or events that
          are being ealt with (satirized) in the story.  List as many as you can from sketch to
          sketch in the film.

      2)  Describe Dr. Pangloss.  Why do you suppose Voltaire uses such a character in his story?
           What do you think he represents?

      3)  How are the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 and the Seven Years War, which began in
           1756, reflected in Candide?

     Background information: An earthquake at Lisbon in 1755 destroyed most of
     the city's buildings and killed about 10,000 persons.  The Seven Years War,
     beginning in 1756, involved nearly every nation in Europe in a struggle for power.
     Prussia and Austria fought for control of Germany; Prussia's ally, England,and
     Austria's ally, France, battled for control of the seas and of territories in North
     America.  When it was over, Prussia had become the leader of the German state,
     and England had driven the French out of North America.  The Treaty of Paris
     officially ended the war, February 10,1763.
 

     4) Compare Voltaire with other 18th century writers such as Pope and Swift.  Also,
         how does Voltaire compare with later satirists such as Mark Twain?   Is Voltaire's
         view of the world applicable today?  Explain your thinking here. . .

    Background information: The cultural climate of England at the time of
    Voltaire's exile (1726-1729) delighted the young Voltaire.  He was welcomed in Tory
    and Whig circles alike.  Among his friends and acquaintances were the leading
    literary figures of the day, among them Pope and Swift.  He recordedhis respect
    and admiration for Swift's  A Tale of the Tuband the newly published Gulliver's
    Travels, a work which was not without influence on Candide.  But especially he
    revered Alexander Pope, with whom he had so much in common -- the satiric gift,
    wit, great facility at versifying, the critical temperament, andthe vindictiveness,
    the inability to suffer a fool gladly.  Yet, it is through Pope's Essay on Man that the
    optimistic philosophy throughout Europe rationalistically justified the ways of God
    to man philosophically.  In Candide, Voltaire picked up Pope's recurring phrase,
    "whatever is, is right" and made a mockery of it: "Tout est bien" in a world filled
    with misery!  The key passage is found in Epistle I, lines 281-294, as quoted here:

                                   Cease then, nor ORDER Imperfection name:
                            Our proper bliss depends on what we blame.
                            Know thy own point: this kind, this due degree
                            Of blindness, weakness, Heav'n bestow on thee.
                            Submit.  In this, or any other sphere,
                            Secure to be as blest as thou canst bear:
                            Safe in the hand of one disposing Pow'r,
                            Or in the natal or the mortal hour.
                            All Nature is but Art, unknown to thee;
                            All Chance, Direction which thou canst not see;
                            All Discord, Harmony, not understood;
                            All partial Evil, universal Good:
                            And spite of Pride, in erring Reason's spite,
                            One truth is clear, WHATEVER IS, IS RIGHT.
 
   5)  If this is "the best of all possible worlds," what must other worlds be like?

   6)  What is the overriding message of Candide?  Explain how this is accomplished in the
        story?

   7)  How effective is Voltaire in making his points in the story?  Explain clearly.

   8)  Relate these two quotations central to an understanding of Candide:

          A) "All is for the best," -- "in the best of all possible worlds."

          B) "We must cultivate our garden."  Explain its application?
 
 

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