Candide: Genre 1 key example

Above all, however, Candide is an extended satire on the sort of philosophical optimism which he associated with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, a prominent German philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. In particular, Voltaire takes aim at Leibniz’s argument, expressed in his Théodicée published in 1710, that Earth is “the best of all possible worlds.” Voltaire holds this optimistic outlook in contempt throughout the novella, in which Candide is educated during his upbringing in a minor German court by Professor Pangloss, a thinly veiled parody of Leibniz. 

Though Pangloss preaches an optimistic philosophy, vainly attempting to explain how even seemingly unfortunate events might be regarded as necessary or fortunate, the professor meets an ironically grim fate. After an earthquake strikes the Portuguese capital city of Lisbon, Pangloss, Candide, and a few other men are rounded up by the religious authorities: 

They marched in procession thus habited and heard a very pathetic sermon, followed by fine church music. Candide was whipped in cadence while they were singing; the Biscayner, and the two men who had refused to eat bacon, were burnt; and Pangloss was hanged, though that was not the custom. The same day the earth sustained a most violent concussion.

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This passage demonstrates the far-reaching nature of Voltaire’s satire. The Catholic authorities of Portugal are satirized for their superstitious belief in the very un-Christian practice of human sacrifice, which fails to stop future earthquakes. More critically, the Leibnizian optimism espoused by Pangloss fails to prevent him from being unfairly hanged. Voltaire uses the tool of satire to argue that any optimistic philosophy has failed to recognize and account for widespread suffering, violence, and injustice on Earth.