A
shade of "dark" light has been cast over the eyes of Candide, a light
that has not only been limiting Candide's embracement of the world, but has
also put his life at risk. But before going into the series of misfortunate of
events that have been cast over Candide, one must take a couple steps back and
fully take in Voltaire’s fundamental ideologies: "Anyone who has the power
to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit
injustices." What does this quote say to the public?
For
many, this quote is a message to the people of Voltaire's era, a message
of defiance or maybe a call to action for the French people. A wake-up call to
really see who was ruling them or influencing their daily lives, and as most
knew, Voltaire wasn’t the biggest fan of the French Crown and had even worse
ties with the Roman Catholic Church. Although that quote from Voltaire isn’t
identically "copied and pasted" into Candide, Voltaire substitutes this idea
with "The Philosopher of the Holy Roman Empire", Dr. Pangloss.
There
exists no better definiton/example of Voltaire's satire as to Dr. Pangloss. Voltaire
uses Dr. Pangloss to illustrate the pathetic ness of society, to capture the
absurdness of the ideas that came from people, who were supposedly fit for
influencing other or for ruling entire empires. Throughout Dr. Pangloss's involvement
in Candide,
his absurdity seems to grow and literally spreads to infect the people around him;
his ridiculous ideology starts to take a toll on the prospect of reality of
Lady Cunegonde and Candide himself. But leaving aside Pangloss's ideas of the
"greater good", Voltaire gives him a trait, a trait that in history
has proven to be possessed by some of the most memorable leaders. This trait
for some has been eternally successful, but for most, it has eventually proven
to be "auto destruction." Pangloss has the gift of talking his way
through life, convincing people to follow his steps, steps that will
"lead" people to the greater good. Basically promises are what
enabled Dr. Pangloss to achieve such admiration from people such as Candide and
Lady Cunegonde, much like leaders have been doing ever since the birth of man.
What is even more ironic is the way Dr. Pangloss dies, with that said the
perfect parallel for Dr. Pangloss is Maximilien
Robespierre.
Robespierre had a very similar way of operating; he used his
absurd ideas of the greater good to gain favorable support, targeted the
"future" to spread his ideas. Robespierre like Pangloss was a mad
men, even though Pangloss never went himself to the killing fields (As
Robespierre), he justified them as "for the greater good." And last,
but definitely not least, is that both of their lives ended due to their
tongue. The same tool that got them to the peak of their lives was the sole
reason of their execution. The ideas of these men took the real out of reality;
they fantasized with utterly absurd optimism, ideas that everything was meant
to happen for the greater good. Their tongues blinded the people around them
with a fake sense of good, a sense that put band-aids on gushing wounds.
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