1. What are three examples of surprising discoveries in Candide? In reference to such discoveries, with what popular fiction does Voltaire’s narrative have affinities? 2. What evidence is there that Voltaire’s attack upon religion was not limited to Christianity or even to Catholicism? 3. What are the chief elements of […]
Read more Study Help Essay QuestionsCritical Essays Satire and Irony
Basically satire is of two kinds: that which follows the tradition of Horace, which is mild, urbane, good-natured, and which aims to correct by means of tolerant, sympathetic laughter; and that of Juvenal, which is biting, vituperative, derisive, and which is filled with moral indignation at the corruption and evil […]
Read more Critical Essays Satire and IronyCritical Essays Structure and Style
Strictly speaking, however, the picaresque novel (as the adjective indicates) is the story of roguery. But the technique which it popularized recommended itself to writers of other types of narrative. So in Candide one finds a hero living in his utopia, the castle of Baron Thunder-ten-tronckh. Voltaire then posed the […]
Read more Critical Essays Structure and StyleCritical Essays Other Sources of Influence
Voltaire had endeavored to play the diplomat and to bring together Frederick the Great and the Duc de Richelieu in hope that peace could be secured; he failed. On October 11, 1557, he wrote to Mme. de Saxe-Gothe that 20,000 men had already died in a quarrel in which no […]
Read more Critical Essays Other Sources of InfluenceCritical Essays Poeme Sur Le Desastre De Lisoonne
We have seen that Voltaire’s pessimism had become more pronounced as the years advanced. Long before the earthquake, he had rejected general optimism. Among other things, his attitude, no doubt, had been influenced by his age and continued illness, the death of Mme. du Chatelet, the Berlin-Frankfort experience, and his […]
Read more Critical Essays Poeme Sur Le Desastre De LisoonneCritical Essays Alexander Pope’s Essay on Man
Voltaire could have been called a fervent admirer of Pope. He hailed the Essay of Criticism as superior to Horace, and he described the Rape of the Lock as better than Lutrin. When the Essay on Man was published, Voltaire sent a copy to the Norman abbot Du Resnol and […]
Read more Critical Essays Alexander Pope’s Essay on ManCritical Essays The Philosophy of Leibnitz
Although as early as 1733, Voltaire had written in a note in Temple du gout that no man of letters had done Germany greater honor and that Leibnitz was more universal than his revered Newton. It was not until 1737 that he really became interested in the philosophy. In that […]
Read more Critical Essays The Philosophy of LeibnitzFrancois Voltaire Biography
The man who inspired these words, often called the Father of the French Revolution, may indeed have had limitations as regards his personal life, but he did emerge as the leading apostle of tolerance and freedom in the eighteenth century, which has been called the “century of Voltaire.” Voltaire is […]
Read more Francois Voltaire BiographySummary and Analysis Chapters XXVII-XXX
Summary Cacambo had made arrangements for Candide and himself to sail aboard a ship commanded by a Turkish captain under orders of the Sultan Ahmed. Both prostrated themselves before his “miserable Highness.” En route, Candide, in whose breast hope sprang eternal, contemplated the lot of the six kings he had […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapters XXVII-XXXSummary and Analysis Chapters XXIV-XXVI
Summary Immediately upon reaching Venice, Candide began searching for Cacambo. Every day he had all the ships and boats investigated, but he learned no news of his servant. As he explained to Martin, after his long journey from South America he had met only a tricky abbe from Perigord. He […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapters XXIV-XXVI