Candide parodies the philosophy of optimism promulgated by
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz that stated that because God created the world, and God
is perfect, everthing in the world is perfect. One example of this philosophy, which
Voltaire found ridiculous, is in Chapter XXVIII where Candide talks with Pangloss, who
personifies Leibnitz's nonsensical reasoning:
"Tell me, my dear Pangloss," said Candide, "when
you were hanged dissected, cruelly beaten and forced to row in a galley, did you still
think that everything was for the best in this world?"
"I
still hold my original opinions," replied Pangloss, "because, after all, I'm a
pilosopher, and it wouldn't be proper for me to recant, since Leibniz cannot be wrong,
and since preestablished harmony is the most beautiful thing in the world, along with
the plenum and subtle
matter."
When Cacambo asks
him what is human reason, Candide replies in Chapter
XIX,
"Alas,
it's a mania for insisting that everything is all right when everything is going
wrong."
As exemplification of
this definition of man's irrational reason, Cacambo and Candide leave Eldorado, the only
place where everything is perfect because Candide always wants something else, such as
his desire to marry Cunegonde. Ironically, at the narrative's end, even though Cunegonde
has become ugly, Candide still desires to marry her, but the barron refuses him saying
that his sister will not marry except to a baron of the Empire. Angered, Candide
says,
"I've
rescued you from the galleys and freed you and your sister; she was wasing dishes here,
and she's ugly, and yet when I'm kind enough to offer to make her my wife, you still
claim the right to prevent me! I'd kill you again if I listened to my
anger!"
"You can kill me
again," said the baron, "but you'll never marry my sister while I'm still
alive."
In the conclusion, Chapter XXX, Martin
decides
that
man was born to live in either the convulsions of distress or the lethargy of boredom.
Candide did not agree, but he affirmed nothing. Pangloss admitted that he had always
suffered horribly, but having once maintained that all was for the best, he still
maintained it, without believing
it.
According to Voltaire, it
seems that without the ability to reason, little ability to reform. After Paquette and
Brother Girofee arrive at the farm in abject misery, having squandered their fortunes,
quarreled, and been imprisoned, Martin tells Candide that he knew they will spend their
money and become worse off than before. Pangloss and the others simply "philosophize
more than ever."
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