The novel reflects a type of writing known as bildungsroman. Bildungsroman is a story in which the main character moves from a state of innocence and inexperienced to a state of wisdom and maturity through his or her experiences. The beginning course of bildungsroman is that the protagonist has some reason to go on a journey such as a bad behavior makes the protagonist to leave from his or her current life’s setting. At the beginning of Candide, it tells that Candide was a son of the Baron’s sister.
He was a perfect innocent man who worshiped Pangloss, a philosopher of Optimism. He listens to Pangloss’ philosophies attentively and believes innocently. These philosophies have caused Candide and Cundegonde to fall in love with each other. The baron finds out about the relationship and kicks Candide out of the castle. This incident is the most important reason that forces Candide to leaves his current life in Westphalia. It also starts the adventures that have developed Candide’s state of wisdom and maturity.
The process of maturing of Candide is long and consisting of repeated clashed between needs and judgments by the society. On Chapter 14, page 82, Voltaire writes : “I have delivered thee out of the galleys, I have paid thy ransom, and thy sister’s also; she was a scullion, and is very ugly, yet I am so condescending as to marry her; and does thou pretend to oppose the match? I should kill thee again, were I only to consult my anger. ” This is an example of clashes between needs and judgments by the society.
The Term Paper on Candide And The Enlightenment
Many of the ideals of "The Enlightenment" can be read and seen in Voltaire's Candide. The Enlightenment was a new view of investigation that tried to improve the conditions of humanity by applying rational thought to natural happenings. Voltaire depicted these ideas and his personal thoughts on the Enlightenment within the pages of his most famous novel Candide. Candide is the story of a man who ...
In this line, Candide asks to marry Cundegonde even as she is now an ugly and poor woman. Candide’s proposal is being rejected by the Cundegonde’s brother. One of the most important reason for Candide to want to marry Cundegonde is that he wants to keep his promise and doesn’t want the society view him as an untrustworthy man. He has sacrificed his needs for the judgments of the society. In bildungsroman, the character is usually be able to make a smooth movement away from conformity throughout major conflicts such as individuality vs. onformity. During his adventures, Candide acquires wealth and experiences about the world. These factors cause Candide to question his belief in optimism. After Candide listened to Martin’s philosophy of pessimism, he has changed his views from optimism of Pangloss to Martin’s pessimism. At the end of the novel, Candide rejects Pangloss’ philosophy and Martin’s philosophy. He begins aware of both good things and bad things. He starts to forms his own life opinions by becoming a gardener.
This is an example of individuality vs. conformity. In this novel, Voltaire is able to use bildungsroman to moves Candide from an innocence and honest man to a man of wisdom and maturity. After being forced away from Westphalia, Candide is able to acquired some knowledge about the world. He is now matured enough to be able to sacrificed his needs for his reputation. He has gained wisdoms to develop some opinions for himself. Finally, the novel Candide can be considered as a bildungsroman because of these elements.
