In the story Candide by Voltaire, satire has been largely used. Satire is mainly used by authors to criticize members of the society such as leaders and other prominent people. In the book Candide, Voltaire uses satire to criticize other philosophers. Voltaire had a different view about life as compared to other philosophers and this is why he uses satire to argue against the arguments of other philosophers (Frautschi, 43). The other philosophers claimed that the society has no problems and therefore people from different society live a good life. However, candied argues that the society is not perfect since it has many flaws. Voltaire therefore illustrates the flaws in societies throughout the story.
Voltaire shows that he has experience that the world has a lot of evil and therefore it is not right to conclude that the world is the best place to be. The use of satire in the story is mainly to pass the personal opinions of the writer (Voltaire) about the world. Voltaire has also successfully used satire to criticize some of the beliefs that were found in the European society during the time when he lived (Frautschi, 47). He used satire to criticize the religious beliefs that were not reasonable. He tried to prove that religion is not a perfect thing to assure happiness in the society but instead, the religion is full of many evil activities.
During the life of Voltaire, there were very many evils that were happening that were being covered by the government and the philosophers (Frautschi, 57). There were many sexually transmitted diseases at the time, corruption in the government and even dictatorship by the leaders. The aim of Voltaire was to highlight some of these evils in a way that people can easily see what was happening in the society. In addition, the mixture of humor in the story ensures that people get to understand later the message being passed.
The use of satire in the book Candide has made the story more effective. First, it has facilitated greater understanding of the people about the message being communicated. The writer aimed at making people to think more about the information being communicated. People could therefore have to think more and compare the book with the real life situations in order to understand the message.
Voltaire also aimed at communicating information about the evils of the society and especially about the government in a way that would not seem to directly attack the leaders who were in power. However, the aim was that the people get to understand the evils that were present in the society.
Voltaire was motivated by several issues to write his book, Candide. First, the religious superstitions that were witnessed in the church motivated his work (Frautschi, 78). During the days, the church believed that the sinners could be hanged or killed. They believed that this would help to reduce the evil in the society. He believed that this was lack of civilization. This is why he states that the actions of the church show the high level of lack of civilization in the church.
The bad behavior among the leaders also played a role in motivating Voltaire to write the story. The leaders in the government were so corrupt and they just imposed decisions to the citizens without considering their wish. To criticize these leaders, he had to write the book.
Volatile travel to various parts of the world motivated him to write the book (Frautschi, 96). He found out many problems that were present in the world. These problems motivated him to write the book showing some of the problems that were present at the time. In addition, the teachings by his teacher played a role in motivating Voltaire.
Work cited.
Frautschi, R.L. Barron's Simplified Approach to Voltaire: Candide. New York: Barron's Educational Series, Inc., 1968.
