The Double Purpose in Writing Candide: Candide, Chapters XXI - XXX

One aspect I noticed about Voltaire’s assails against the society of his times was that his criticism got more direct and straightforward as the novel progressed. At the beginning, XVIIIth century optimism was attacked with Pangloss’s philosophy, which preached that “‘all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds’.” (back cover). Satirical approaches, such as glorifying war and using ridiculous names like Thunder-ten-Tronckh, were used by Voltaire in order to arouse public conscience and make individuals realize that the ideals they upheld were completely erroneous. In the last ten chapters the author of Candide decreased the use of satire, replacing it with more direct criticisms:
“‘What can you expect?’ said Martin. ‘That’s how people here are made. Imagine every possible contradiction and inconsistency, and you will find them in the government, the law-courts, the churches, and in the whole life of this absurd nation.’” (pgs 99-100).
The reason for this shift in the form of writing still remains unclear to me. I do not understand why, after using sarcasm in such an artistic and crafty way, Voltaire decided to begin stating his grievances in such a straightforward manner. I noticed that all of this began with the appearance of Martin, a very honorable character that contradicted Pangloss by condemning the world and the human race. These two individuals hold opposite views on life and nature of mankind. Pangloss’ innocence makes him seem like a fool in the eyes of the reader, while Martin’s objectivity and realism makes him a very wise and learned man. I believe that Voltaire used direct criticism to characterize Martin and promote the ideals modern society should uphold, ideals that contradicted “Panglossian” conformism embraced by XVIIIth century society.
“‘Do you think,’ said Candide, ‘that men have always massacred each other, as they do to-day, that they have always been false, cozening, faithless, ungrateful, thieving, weak, inconstant, mean-spirited, envious, greedy, drunken, miserly, ambitious, bloody, slanderous, debauched, fanatic, hypocritical, and stupid?’
‘Do you think,’ said Martin, ‘that hawks have always eaten pigeons when they could find them?’
‘Of course I do,’ said Candide.
‘Well,’ said Martin, ‘if hawks have always had the same character, why should you suppose that men have changed theirs?’” (p. 96).
Men are evil by instinct, and there is nothing we can do about it. We cannot please ourselves by believing that every cause leads to the best possible consequence, as men possess a wicked character that only leads to suffering and war. Voltaire is trying to promote a different view of life where men are unhappy and forced to bear the terrible happenings of an imperfect world. We cannot hold an optimistic view towards life, but rather try to battle our evil nature and make our existence bearable.

Martin is the key figure the reader should follow and learn to imitate. His pessimistic views about life managed to convince the stubborn Pangloss and the optimistic Candide, both of which abandoned their old ideals on human goodness and life’s perfection.
“Martin’s conclusion was that man was born to suffer from the restlessness of anxiety or from the lethargy of boredom. Candide did not agree, but he admitted nothing. Pangloss allowed that his sufferings had been uniformly horrible; but as he had once maintained that everything would turn out right in some marvelous way, he still maintained it would, however little he believed it.” (p. 140).
Although Candide and Pangloss publicly objected Martin’s views on human suffering, Martin’s ideals proved to be victorious in the struggle against optimism. Candide’s naiveness was impossible to defeat; however, deep inside there were no arguments that managed to contradict Martin. Pangloss remained as stubborn as ever; although he still defended his philosophy that “‘all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds’.” (back cover), Pangloss ceased to believe in it and, therefore, undermined its entire foundations.

“Panglossian” conformism towards the outcomes of life needs to be rejected. Like Martin and the Turk said, work is the only solution that will make our existence bearable and free us from life’s three evils: “‘boredom, vice, and poverty.’” (p. 143). The motives for writing the novel Candide are placed in a totally different light. Maybe Voltaire not only meant to challenge the conformism and optimism of his times by proposing a different way of dealing with life, but also engage in a personal struggle in which the work involved in producing a text of such great magnitude would free him of life’s greatest evils.

“‘That’s true enough,’ said Candide; ‘but we must go and work in the garden.’ (p. 144).