Candide-Purposeful Satire

For a reader to have a true understanding of Candide, they must know the purpose of Voltaire’s writing. Voltaire shows the flaws of Leibniz’, a German philosopher of Voltaire’s time, idea that the world they live in is the best of all possible worlds cause it is God’s creation through the use of satire. Voltaire uses Pangloss and a contrasting character, Martin, to point out the shortcomings in Leibniz’ philosophy. Voltaire creates …

…were the "best of all possible worlds," innocent people would not be harmed, and viole peoples such as the Bulgarians would not exist. Although Candid was written partially for entertainment purposes the main objective of Voltaire is to mock the views of Leibniz’ philosophy. He achieved his goal of satirizing Leibniz by tearing apart Pangloss' philosophy, using Martin as a contrast t Pangloss, showing the destruction caused by natural disasters, and the brutality of war.