Voltaires Candide: Analysis of Tragedy and Humour

Voltaires Candide: Analysis of Tragedy and Humour Tragic Humor: Realism and Comedy as Satirical Tools in Voltaires Candide There are few chapters in Voltaires classic satire Candide that are wholly comedic; in truth, it seems there are fewer still that do not throw light on the tragic degradation, destruction, and immorality of a humanity fed on others misery. An optimist, the character of Candide should contrast directly the pessimism and unhappiness of the world around him. However, even his interactions and experiences do little, in reality, to combat an image of a cold and cruel world. This is, of course, at the root of Voltaires satirical genius. Candide is captured into the service of the Bulgarians, finds that his love, Mademoiselle Cunegondes family has been torn apart, she herself raped and almost killed, sold from one man to another until she can maintain her fortunes as a mistress to powerful men. Voltaires Candide experiences a reality that is chaotic in its duality, with not one faction of his life seeming safe or unalterable. Through the people he encounters and the ways in which they cope and shoulder the tragedy and gifts of their lives with equal aplomb, Candides struggle is edged with a wry humor. This humor works with the harshness of the reality to lend a human perspective to the political and social issues Voltaire seeks to satirize. It is difficult to pinpoint any one large instance of humor in Candide, quite simply because the humor is of a smaller nature. Instead it works to compliment the adventures of Candide, as he crisscrosses the world while drawing on and underlining the inequalities and tragedies of societys institutions. At the beginning of his travels, Candide still believes naively in the philosophy of his old teacher, Pangloss. This philosophy believes that, since everything is made for an end, everything is necessarily for the best end (Voltaire 521). Candide and Panglosss other pupils are soon confronted by the atrocities of the world death, destruction, rape, and deception and yet seem to largely still cling fondly to the memory and philosophy of their naively optimistic teacher. It is only after losing everything and hearing the tales of the others that Candide begins to see the folly in this philosophy. Through the humor laced encounters and near and absolute tragedy, Voltaire illustrates the resilience of humanity through such characters as the old woman who cares for Candide after he has been flogged by the Inquisition. The old woman has been through combinations of terror degradation that should have reduced her humanity but instead have created. The optimism inherent to Panglosss version of fate undermines the truth of life and glosses over pain and tragedy as part of a larger universal plan. However, the humor which peppers the old womans story, the Princess of Palestrina, shows the hypocrisy of the systems of society which propagates this ideal. A prime example of this humor is the womans description of her abduction by Morocco pirates. Our soldiers defended themselves as papal troops usually do; falling on their knees and throwing down their arms, they begged of the corsair absolution. (535). The image presented is meant to be both humorous and illustrative of the illusion of religion and social position. Though the family of the Pope, the old woman and the other women aboard are abandoned to the whim of the pirates. Neither their religious affiliation, social rank, money nor beauty are able to protect them from being murdered, and in the case of the old woman sold from broker to broker having in one instance one buttock sliced off to prevent herself from being cannibalized. While the woman has in some ways accepted her lot in life, showing complicity that is at the root of such institutionalized systems that promote obedience and blind acceptance, her humor lends to Voltaire overall satire on the notion of happiness as an abstracted ideal. Having suffered innumerable tragedies throughout her long life, the old woman notes, a hundred times I wanted to kill myself, but always I loved life more(538). This ridiculous weakness is perhaps the most disastrous of our inclinations; for is their anything sillier than to desire to bear continually a burden one always wishes to throw on the ground (538). While it is supportive, in her expression of it here, of Candides own optimism it still belies a realism that there is little in her tragedy that can or has been justified by man or God. She has suffered and in her suffering has sought to hold onto the brief victories and happiness that she has attained. Her point is later echoed by Candide when in explaining the i dea of optimism to Cacambo he shows that his own blind belief in the abstract of happiness preached by Pangloss is more madness than reality. In viewing the upset of Candides very notion of life through a harsh and dramatized realism, Voltaire leads the reader to Candides own conclusions. Humor works with this realism to act as a springboard for insinuations against the institutions and conventions that have created and prolonged some of the greatest miseries in the world. Voltaire, Francois-Marie Aronet de. Candide. The Norton Anthology of World Literature: 1650 to 1800. Ed. Sarah Lawall, et al. 2nd ed. Vol. D. New York: W.W. Norton Co., 2001. 520-582.

Community And Social Structure

The idea of people being social in nature can be clearly illustrated by the groups, or communities that one sees all around them. Groups of individuals share a common perspective of what reality consists of, this is known as culture(Charon, 1997). This reality is perceived through our interactions with others in the group and by what our position is within that group(Charon, 1997). The way in which we see the world is in a sense limited by both our position and our interactions. In order to actually fill your position in the group you need to have a working set of ideas and concepts to get the job done(Charon, 1997). This working set of ideas is actually formed by the interactions that you have with other people who have the same position as you. It works for everyone else, and therefore you can t just randomly choose another set of concepts and ideas andexpect them to work, so you choose the ideas, concepts, and means that your peers use(Charon, 1997). For instance, if you are a Chemist, you obtain knowledge and perspectives consistent of your environment, i. e. chemistry, you would not learn a great deal about molecular biology because those concepts and ideas are not useful to you. We don t have a complete picture of everything around usbecause we perceive only the things which fit into our social structure(Charon, 1997). Reality is not a Velcro Nerf dart toss of facts and ideas, but rather a magnetic selection of those facts and ideas which are conducive to our pre-constructed structure. To one man power and riches are the greatest thing to achieve, but to a bum The oiliest thing is to have a warm placeto sleep (Coleman,1982:207). It s unfortunate that these conceptscan be utilized by a dictator to gain control and power for his own ideas and concepts. Hitler was just such a man, he used a social construct known as patriotism, that is, sense of pride and connection with everyone within a society. Hitler rallied people by the droves claiming economic bloom, and prosperity for all if they submit to the organization, and promised death to any that were not within that organization. He kept them thinking the same thoughts, holding the same beliefs, and striving towards a common cause, and six million Jewish people gave their lives up for not being part of his concept of community. The German people believed in the concepts and ideas because Hitler was going to bring them prosperity once he got rid of those niggardly Jews. When someone is told to electrocute another person to train them to respond with positive answers only, they take it as their role to do so without questioning, even if the shock was strong enough to be lethal(Meyers, 1970). Such was the case in a study done in North Carolina(Meyers, 1970). It illustrates how we are socialized to be an equal member of the community. We do and believe that which is necessary to fulfill our role in the community, and so our perspective is that of our communities. Charon, 1997) In short, we all are socialized into the people we become, and we only associate with people that are socialized in a similar manner as ourselves(Charon, 1997). Those that are similar form a community and teach new members of the community what their status quo is through example and explicit instruction. And this is what makes us social in nature, that we rely on others to justify ourselves, this need for acceptance leads us to alter our perspective to match that of those we wish to be accepted by. The social structure being what it is, there is a situation in which ones community can be very limiting. Take the homeless for example, a homeless person has ragged clothes, no address, no phone number, sometimes no identification, and no resources for obtaining these(Coleman, 1982). A homeless person would need a job to get the necessary components needed to get a job, and so they have restricted life chances(Coleman, 1982). The homeless learn this and limit themselves further by believing that their position is the only one they can hold, and have no choice(Coleman, 1982). Community And Social Structure The idea of people being social in nature can be clearly illustrated by the groups, or communities that one sees all around them. Groups of individuals share a common perspective of what reality consists of, this is known as culture(Charon, 1997). This reality is perceived through our interactions with others in the group and by what our position is within that group(Charon, 1997). The way in which we see the world is in a sense limited by both our position and our interactions. In order to actually fill your position in the group you need to have a working set of ideas and concepts to get the job done(Charon, 1997). This working set of ideas is actually formed by the interactions that you have with other people who have the same position as you. It works for everyone else, and therefore you can t just randomly choose another set of concepts and ideas andexpect them to work, so you choose the ideas, concepts, and means that your peers use(Charon, 1997). For instance, if you are a Chemist, you obtain knowledge and perspectives consistent of your environment, i. e. chemistry, you would not learn a great deal about molecular biology because those concepts and ideas are not useful to you. We don t have a complete picture of everything around usbecause we perceive only the things which fit into our social structure(Charon, 1997). Reality is not a Velcro Nerf dart toss of facts and ideas, but rather a magnetic selection of those facts and ideas which are conducive to our pre-constructed structure. To one man power and riches are the greatest thing to achieve, but to a bum The oiliest thing is to have a warm placeto sleep (Coleman,1982:207). It s unfortunate that these conceptscan be utilized by a dictator to gain control and power for his own ideas and concepts. Hitler was just such a man, he used a social construct known as patriotism, that is, sense of pride and connection with everyone within a society. Hitler rallied people by the droves claiming economic bloom, and prosperity for all if they submit to the organization, and promised death to any that were not within that organization. He kept them thinking the same thoughts, holding the same beliefs, and striving towards a common cause, and six million Jewish people gave their lives up for not being part of his concept of community. The German people believed in the concepts and ideas because Hitler was going to bring them prosperity once he got rid of those niggardly Jews. When someone is told to electrocute another person to train them to respond with positive answers only, they take it as their role to do so without questioning, even if the shock was strong enough to be lethal(Meyers, 1970). Such was the case in a study done in North Carolina(Meyers, 1970). It illustrates how we are socialized to be an equal member of the community. We do and believe that which is necessary to fulfill our role in the community, and so our perspective is that of our communities. In short, we all are socialized into the people we become, and we only associate with people that are socialized in a similar manner as ourselves(Charon, 1997). Those that are similar form a community and teach new members of the community what their status quo is through example and explicit instruction. And this is what makes us social in nature, that we rely on others to justify ourselves, this need for acceptance leads us to alter our perspective to match that of those we wish to be accepted by. The social structure being what it is, there is a situation in which ones community can be very limiting. Take the homeless for example, a homeless person has ragged clothes, no address, no phone number, sometimes no identification, and no resources for obtaining these(Coleman, 1982). A homeless person would need a job to get the necessary components needed to get a job, and so they have restricted life chances(Coleman, 1982). The homeless learn this and limit themselves further by believing that their position is the only one they can hold, and have no choice(Coleman, 1982).

Summary Of Jacob Struggles With God - 1907 Words

Introduction: â€Å"Jacob Struggles with God† is a selection that came from the book of Genesis chapter 32. Genesis describes God’s creation of earth and his first interactions with human beings. Throughout the Bible, there are many instances and occasions where the almighty Lord God demonstrates his strength and power. In Genesis chapter 32, a strange man appeared before Jacob, who is the son of Isaac and Rebekah, and they wrestled until daybreak. In Genesis 25:23, when the Lord was talking to Rebekah he said, â€Å"Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples born of you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the younger.† The story of Jacob, the younger son, and the story of Esau, the older son is a†¦show more content†¦The timeline of genesis begins with God’s creation of earth and ends with the death of Joseph, who was the eleventh of Jacob’s twelve sons. Although it is not possible to date the creation o f earth, it is possible to determine the dates of events in Genesis. The birth of Abraham was approximately in 2166 B.C and the death of Joseph was approximately 1806 B.C. The book was originally written in Hebrew, and its Hebrew name was Bereshith, which means â€Å"The Beginning†. Eventually it was translated from Hebrew to Greek in approximately 250 B.C. One of the purposes of writing Genesis was to trace major historical events from the beginning of time. Many different writers wrote parts of Genesis, but Moses, the messenger of the Lord, received credit for putting it together. Genesis 5:8 states, â€Å"So all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died.† It is a mystery to me why not only Seth, but Enosh, Kenan, Noah, and many others lived very long lifespans. After the first flood, people’s lifespans decreased dramatically and the Genesis time period became a period of survival. Abraham died of old age at one hundred seventy-five years. As the story of Genesis progressed, people’s lives became more difficult. They were not technologically or medically advanced. The life span of an average person became pretty small and people fought for survival every day. They fought each other for land and for power. Men worked

How Shutter Island Relates to Psychology Essay example

------------------------------------------------- How Shutter Island Relates to Psychology. ------------------------------------------------- The movie Shutter Island is based in Boston’s Ashecliffe Hospital located on Shutter Island in 1954. It’s about a Federal Marshal named Teddy Daniels and his new partner, Chuck Aule who are sent to Shutter Island to investigate the disappearance of a patient there, Rachel Solando. She had been put in the institution because she drowned her three kids; However Teddy had been pushing for the assignment on the island for personal reasons, but before long he wonders whether he hasnt been brought there as part of a twisted plot by hospital doctors whose radical treatments range from unethical to†¦show more content†¦However, deinstitutionalization has helped create the mental illness crisis by discharging people from public psychiatric hospitals without ensuring that they received the medication and rehabilitation services necessary for them to live successfully in the community. Consequently, a lot of severely mentally ill people do not receive any psychiatric trea tment. Catch 20/20 if you ask me. Treat them the way we did in the 50’s or 60’s or don’t treat them at all. Don’t get me wrong though many have come a long way in the ways to treat patients through different psychological methods. Thus improving the way mental hospitals are ran, and how mental patients are treated. Second, what are the psychology disorders of the movie? Looking at Teddy, the mentally ill character in this film, displays a wide range of symptoms. The most apparent symptom is of course the showing of two very distinct identities. The character switches from being an institutionalized mental patient who murdered his wife, to being a US Marshal investigating a mental institution. When he is in one identity, the patient shows a complete amnesia for his other identity. Teddy, according to the movie he is an intelligent, high functioning individual, whose is an alcoholic and workaholic family man that provided just enough emotional detachment to blind him from the murderous insanity bubbling up within his bipolar/manic depressed wife. I think that Teddy’sShow MoreRelatedFreuds Psychoanalytic Theory Analyzes Modern Day Texts1910 Words   |  8 PagesFrom the time of the Victorian Era, theorists have analyzed the mind and how it works. Many consider Sigmund Freud the father of psychology. According to Freudian theory, humans are controlled by three personalities throughout life; the id, ego, and super ego. However, we are not born with all three. Instead, â€Å"we are born with our id† (â€Å"Structural Model†). At the age of three, the second part of the unconscious mind, the ego, is developed. Later, when the child is five, or ending his or her phallic