"'If this is the best of all possible worlds... what can the rest be like?'"

I've heard people go against the Church millions of time. Some say it's all a fake, others say it only seeks power and control. However, I have never heard someone so biased against the church as Voltaire. His opinions must have been clear to anybody who heard him during the enlightenment era, and they are evident to anybody today who reads Candide.


Candide is a huge criticism towards the Catholic religion. Not towards the beliefs, but towards the people's hypocrisy. He tells of how a Cunégonde belonged to Don Issachar, a Jew, but then an Inquisitor wished to own her as well. Seeing as Don Issachar would not let him have her, he threatened to burn him alive. By doing so, the Grand Inquisitor is taking advantage of his power and using it for is benefit in things that are not even religion-related. In addition, when the Inquisitor and Don Issachar are murdered by Candide, the Catholic man is buried in a "beautiful church", while the Jew is "thrown in a dunghill." To further strengthen Voltaire's arguments, Caunégonde has her jewels stolen. But not by a poor man, seeking anything that will help him prevail. On the contrary, the thief turns out to be a reverend friar. Aren't friars supposed to have vowed to poverty? So, since when does stealing jewels comply with this bow? This, is a perfect example of the Church's hypocrisy.

One would expect Voltaire to prove his point with simple examples nobody would be able to miss. However, he uses satire instead. There is not a single time when he has a character say something like "See? That's how hypocritical the Church is," or anything of the sort. Instead, he leaves it to the audience to see it in whatever way they desire. Yet, for some fortunate reason, most readers will analyze these example in the exact way Voltaire wants them to.

At the beginning of the story, Pangloss's teachings are portrayed as exemplary ones, far from being wrong. However, as the story develops, Candide begins to doubt these teachings. In his opinion, they are way too optimistic. Everything is not for the best and this is not the "best of possible worlds". It is strange how it is evident that Voltaire was against Pangloss's teachings since the start. Yet he chooses to show how his characters stop trusting these, instead of having them go against these teachings since the beginning. I believe he does this to have the reader go through the same change of opinion as the characters, rather than having him doubt the characters and go against their disagreements with Panglos.  This technique reminds me of a movie called Inception. In this movie, the characters fake an opinion and then slowly change it, in order to have another character slowly do so as well. Whether Voltaire did this on purpose or accidentally, this is a genius technique an might have helped him gain even more support.