by Steve Kallenberg

Created on: May 23, 2009   Last Updated: May 25, 2009

In the story Candide, written by Voltaire, the protagonist Candide and his philosopher friend, Dr. Pangloss, believe that the world in which they live is the best of all possible worlds. The adventure that takes them around the world brings up lots of reasoning why theirs is not the best possible world and is, in fact, a miserable world filled with misfortune and calamity.

To begin the story, the Baron drives Candide from his castle, where Candide was raised, and after a while a group of Bulgarians capture him and take him prisoner, where they beat him daily with a cudgel. While in this enslavement, others with Candide consider him a hero to only receive ten blows with the cudgel (Voltaire 4).

For Candide to be labeled a hero is a positive thing because it means that someone in the world respects him. However, they think well of him regarding his punishments. It cannot be the best of all possible worlds when one can be called a hero for his punishments but not for his actions.

When he escapes from his enslavement, Candide comes across an Abare village that has been massacred by the Bulgarians. Civilians lie beaten, bloodied, and bruised in the streets as a result of this raid (5). Such violence does not belong in the best of all possible worlds because violence is the province of sin and the perfect world should contain no violence or pain.

Candide then learns that the love of his life, Cunegonde, is supposedly dead (7). At this point Candide questions the goodness of the world because the people that he loves die and are taken from him. Later in the story, Candide watches his dear friend, Dr. Pangloss, hanged; he himself murders two men in attempts to obtain Cunegonde, who apparently is alive; and he runs the Baron through with a sword (13, 20, 36).

The world in which Candide dwells is filled with so much death and anger that it cannot be the best of all possible worlds. A place must exist where peace endures rather than pain, where joy overcomes sorrow, and laughter takes the place of tears, for pain surely is not the result of goodness. The result of goodness should be love, fulfillment, and contentment. But these traits are nearly impossible for Candide to find in his adventure.

Near the end of the story, Candide is finally reunited with his true love, Cunegonde, only to find that he no longer loves her and marries her only out of duty. She is not beautiful as she once was and Candide is all but revolted by her worn appearance (82, 84).

Nothing seems to be ideal for Candide. Even Dr. Pangloss, before his death, stops believing that things always happen for the best. The story is littered with tragedy, loss, and dissatisfaction, all of which lead one to believe that clearly the world represented in Candide's adventures cannot be the best of all possible worlds.

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