Candide 1103by his ally Evander, Aeneas becomes filled with a
rage even greater, and more savage, than that of his
enemy. In the final scene of The Aeneid, right before
he thrusts his sword into Turnus’s chest, Aeneas
declares that it is Pallas who wields the sword in sac-
rifice and exacts his due from Turnus’s guilty blood.
Becoming responsible for Pallas, Aeneas ceases
altogether to be responsible for himself. But at the
moment when, in avenging the death of his friend,
he identifies himself with the one for whom he is
responsible, his passion becomes as infinitely selfish
as it once was infinitely selfless.
Anthony Adler
voLTairE Candide (1759)
By the time Candide was published in 1759, Voltaire
(1694-1778) had already suffered the consequences
of his social critiques: His books had been banned;
he had been imprisoned in the Bastille in 1717 and
again in 1726; and he had spent a number of years
in self-imposed (as well as forced) exile from Paris,
living in both England and Prussia. He was, there-
fore, cautious when publishing Candide. While he
was instantly associated with the story, his name did
not appear on the book; instead, he used a pseud-
onym, presenting it to the public as a “translation
from the German of Doctor Ralph.” In an attempt
to further thwart censors, the book was released in
several countries at once. Nevertheless, soon after its
publication, it was banned both in Voltaire’s native
France and by the Catholic Church.
Candide is a philosophical tale that illustrates,
without moralizing, the need for political and
social reform. Building on some of his earlier writ-
ings (notably the Poem on the Disaster of Lisbon),
Voltaire criticized virtually every secular and reli-
gious institution as well as the received ideas of his
day by exploring human suffering, innocence
and experience, coming of age, and the perils
of philosophical optimism. A fierce satire that
overflows with irony and wit, Candide went on to
instant success, which, thanks to its stance on toler-
ance, freedom, and reason, has lasted to this day,
making it one of the canonical texts of Western
civilization.
Katherine Ashley
Hope in Candide
The theme of hope is highlighted in the subtitle to
Voltaire’s story, which is formally called Candide, or
Optimism. Optimism is undoubtedly a form of hope;
however, Voltaire distinguishes between Candide’s
optimistic disposition and the philosophical opti-
mism of Pangloss, who is called “the most profound
metaphysician of Germany” and whose theories
represent distorted versions of the philosophy of
Gottfried Leibniz (Théodicée, 1710) and Alexander
Pope (An Essay on Man, 1734).
For Pangloss, optimism is a doctrine, a belief
system to be adhered to at all costs. Voltaire seeks
to demolish Pangloss’s philosophy at every junc-
ture by having him steadfastly repeat self-evident
truths—such as that there is “no effect without a
cause”—and by showing that there is no connec-
tion between his philosophy and observed reality.
Because Pangloss believes incontestably that they
live in the “best of all possible worlds,” he refuses
to acknowledge that there is anything amiss, even
when all the evidence clearly points to the contrary.
Despite the hardships and miseries that Pangloss
meets, he maintains—falsely—that everything is
“for the best.” His philosophy, therefore, offers little
consolation in the face of suffering. In his system,
there is no hope of—or need for—change. Indeed,
his philosophy of optimism precludes hope.
At the outset of the tale, Candide agrees with his
tutor’s philosophy, for he knows no better. Slowly
but surely, however, through his encounters with
various crises and atrocities, he ascertains that some-
thing is amiss. By chapter 6 and Pangloss’s hanging,
Candide’s questioning has started in earnest. While
Candide trusts that his tutor will be proved right
in his beliefs, Pangloss is repeatedly proved wrong.
Lest there be any doubt, Voltaire has his characters
face deliberately unrealistic and exaggerated situa-
tions that put Pangloss’s philosophy to the test.
Although the theory of optimism is challenged
at every stage of the novel, Candide himself never-
theless remains hopeful. He is hopeful because he
has a goal: He wants to be reunited with his lover,
Cunégonde. Cunégonde is absent for most of the
tale, but the longing to see her again propels Can-
dide forward. Indeed, the desire and the certainty
that he will be reunited with her is so strong that