Satire in Candide

The Range of Satire in Candide

Francois-Marie Arouet De Voltaire’s most classic work, Candide, is a satiric assault on most everything that was prevalent in society during the author’s lifetime. In Candide, Voltaire offers the reader characters that partake in extremely exaggerated and outlandish events. Portrayal of these melodramatic events act as a form of satire, which Voltaire epitomizes throughout his reflections in Candide. Satire is a means for ridiculing something or someone in order to discredit it. Satire allows Voltaire to criticize through humor. As a result, instead of normal comedies which analyze the faults or weaknesses of its characters, Voltaire tries to make them as ridiculous as possible. Through emphasizing the absurdity of a situation or one of the characters, satire almost adequately displays cruelty. Voltaire applies satire as a means of pointing out this cruelty and making it seem intolerable to the reader. Although many of Voltaire’s ideas are exagge...