Voltaire's hilarious novel of ideas was an instant hit when it was first published in 1759 and time has done little to dim the wisdom and perceptiveness of his words. The principle philosophical thread running through the
tale is a refutation of a prevalent idea of the day, most widely espoused by the German philosopher Leibniz. It claimed that the world we live in is the
best of all possible worlds and that all events, no matter tragic, could not be otherwise and are necessary for the purposes of divine providence.
The title Candide refers to our eponymous hero, a young, naive and highly principled young man who is brought up to the believe most profoundly that all is for the best in the world.This is a simple thing for Candide to believe in as he living an untroubled life at the start of the tale. He is tutored by Dr Pangloss, a Leibnizian philosopher who's wisdom he admires above all men, lives in Westphalia, a German province he takes to be a utopia, and is in beginning of a love affair with the beautiful Lady Cunegonde. However his idyll is soon shattered when the Baron Thunder-ten-tronckh physically kicks him out of Westphalia for having designs upon his fair daughter.
Cast out into the world, Voltaire uses a series of amusing and bizarre episodes in Candide's travels to drive home his view that the philosophy of Leibniz and the optimism of the
day is untenable. In one instance early on in the
story Candide is hoodwinked and drafted into the Bulgar army. Setting off for an illicit walk one day he is recaptured by the Bulgars and given an option of punishments; the choice he is given is to be shot through the head 12 times or to run the gauntlet through his own regiment, essentially being flogged with some 2000 strokes. The absurd choices that Candide is faced with, and there are many others in this brief tale, are the devices with which Voltaire mocks the optimism of our best of all possible worlds and the current faith in the fairness of providence.
For the rest of the story Candide travels widely and meets a variety of characters, all of whom have tales of misfortune to tell, including his tutor and his beloved Cunegonde. He is reunited with them when they are themselves cast into a troubled world when the army of the Abars decimate the fair kingdom of Westphalia, butchering Cunegonde's family and ravishing her almost to death. Candide makes and loses a fortune and finds a true utopia and abandons it for the sake of his beloved whom he has become separated from. After many travails Candide and his companions meet up, all but penniless, and in Cunegonde's case, significantly uglier.
The story ends with Candide married to the now shrewish Cunegonde,and he and his companions cultivating various crops in a commune of sorts. At this point we have had the idiocy of the optimism of the day ably demonstrated by Candide's ludicriously tragic adventures. Voltaire leaves us finally by exhorting the reader to rely on good, honest work to keep the great evils of boredom, vice and poverty at bay, a sound philosophy, not just for the unintelligible world of his day, but for any world and any day.
More reviews about the Candide