Candide Religion Essay

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Voltaire himself was against anti-religious man, especially when it comes to the Catholic Church in Voltaire’s views, religion perpetuates superstition which in turn creates fanaticism and intolerance. The notion of Christianity that all things happen for a reason- Voltaire rejects this philosophy. In the novel, many aspects of religion come off as unreasonable and unnatural. The corruption and hypocrisy is discussed throughout Candide. After the reformation of Church, the authority of Church was questioned. Voltaire depicts his views on religion through his ironic portrayal of saints through his central characters. “The character Cunegonde gets her name from Saint Cunegonde, wife of Henry II.” Later in Chapter 5, Voltaire’s dislike of…show more content…
Martin can be considered Kantian whereas Pangloss follows the philosophy of Leibiltz. The fact that Voltaire does not make Martin's views look as ridiculous suggests that Voltaire was in favour of the ideals of Enlightenment which are represented by Martin. Portrayal of new world (may be the world of Enlightenment) represented by Eldorado, is also significant. Johnson Kent Wright in the essay “Candid, Voltaire and the Enlightenment” writes: Candide opens with depiction of a community that is an elf model of Old Regime European society as a whole- hierarchical, authoritarian, laughable unaware of its own poverty, convinced that is it is the best of possible worlds... Halfway through the journey toward a new home, however Candide stumbles on a second community, Eldorado, which is the exact opposite of the first “enlightened”, egalitarian, blissfully unaware of its own wealth, oblivious to the fact that is the best of all possible worlds. (Wright, Johnson Kent) This opposition in the two worlds, one having blind faith and the other having reason and rationality, has been emphasised in the masterpiece. Candide, when freed from the tutelage and is allowed the use of reason, is able to make his life better, or in the views of Kant, he sets out on the path of

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