Essay on Satire in Voltaires Candide -- Candide essays

Use of Satire in Voltaires Candide Voltaire successfully uses satire as a means of conveying his opinions around life. In his novel, Candide, Voltaire satirizes the philosopher Liebnitzs philosophy that this is the best of all possible worlds. In the novel, the always optimistic and naive character, Candide, travels around the world, having various experiences that prove, at least to the reviewer, that satanic does exist. In one particular passage, Voltaire uses explicit diction, exaggerated details and manipulated phrase structure in order to contrast the optimists romantic view of battle with the alarming reality that is warfare. Voltaires grossly exaggerated details give a jolly comical description of an otherwise horrible event. The cannons battered down about... ...between the senseless ideas of the optimist and the truth that only the realist could see. His choice of syntax leaves the reader with unforgettable images of war that will have a lasting effect. Through hi s clever satire, Voltaire urges the reader to be more practical rather than happily ignorant bailiwick Cited Voltaire. Candide. Trans. Bair, Lowell. New York Bantam Books, 1988.