Purpose+of+'Candide'

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** Purpose of the Text - Why Did Voltaire Write It? **



Candide is reflective of Voltaire’s reasoned outlook of contemporary philosophy during the 18th century, and his lack of belief in the ‘all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds’ perception, which was popular at the time. He conveys these in Candide through the use of irony and humour, depicting the life of a character who is brought up to believe in cause and effect, but learns otherwise through his experiences. Voltaire was inspired to write Candide by several disastrous historical events which occurred during the mid 1700s. These included: He wrote Candide in order to attack optimism, the philosophy that positive thinking can overcome evil and negative social conditions, and spread his personal beliefs.
 * The 1755 Lisbon Earthquake: This earthquake shook the foundation of ‘the contemporary doctrine of optimism’, a philosophy stating that horrific events like that shouldn’t happen. It occurred on the 1st of November, with a magnitude of 9.0. It was followed by a tsunami and fires, and resulted in 10,000 deaths in Lisbon alone. The earthquake inspired Candide to attack the notion and current belief that ‘all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds’. Voltaire frequently refers to the disaster in Candide, and it is considered by modern scholars to be a vital reason for its creation.
 * The Seven Year’s war: A world wide military conflict that occurred between 1756 and 1763 and resulted in the deaths of between 900,000 and 1,400,000 people, the Seven Year’s War was a hugely impacting event at the time and inspired many literary compositions. Voltaire references this event often in Candide, to portray the horrific extent of it to the reader, and as with the Lisbon earthquake, had the intention of challenging Optimism, with the terrors faced by the characters, though humourous, being reflective of the suffering of victims to these disasters.



Download-able file (13 pages) entitled 'Candide, Voltaire and The Enlightenment': [|yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/excerpts/voltaire_candide.pdf]