Satire in the writings of Voltaire and Hogarth

¶ … satire in the writings of Voltaire and the etchings of Hogarth. Voltaire (1694-1778) was a philosopher, critic, writer, and one of the leading intellectual figures of the French Enlightenment. All of his works reflect his belief in science, reason, and freedom, and his hatred of superstition, intolerance, and privilege. Read the excerpt from Candide?, his most famous work, and discuss his critique of the Catholic church, government and government officials, women, science, The New World. Do the Hogarth etchings reproduced in the text suggest a similar sensibility?

Many philosophers of the Enlightenment period were considered Optimists, believing that the only reason evil exists is to justify good. The optimists purported that God had created the best world he possibly could because if no evil existed, we would not be able to appreciate good; just as we cannot appreciate happiness if we have never experienced suffering.

Revered scholars such as Voltaire harshly disparaged these concepts and critically satirized them quite ruthlessly. In Voltaire's play Candide, the characters are so overly optimistic that it is comical. Pangloss is able to see the good in everything and everyone. If you cut off his arm, he would just be grateful that he still had another one. He is convinced that everything happens for a reason and that that reason is God's will.

Candide is Pangloss' protege and although he tries to capture the same level of optimism that Pangloss possesses, he is never quite able to reach that higher echelon, primarily because, as Voltaire is attempting to demonstrate, maintaining a totally optimistic response to tragedy goes against the very fiber of human nature. Thus Candide's beliefs fall somewhere in between Pangloss' excessive sanguinity and Voltaire's belief that sometimes bad things happen for no good reason at all.

In contrast with the optimists' beliefs, Voltaire's version of God consisted of a spiritual deity who created us and then left us to fend for ourselves. When, at the end of Candide, Pangloss asks why man exists, the dervish responds "What does it matter whether there's good or evil? When his highness sends a ship to Egypt, does he worry whether the mice on board are comfortable or not?" (Voltaire, Chapter 30). In Voltaire eyes, men were the mice, and "his highness" was not at all interested in the daily trials and tribulations of their existence.

The satiric nature of Candide and its vilification of optimist theories is especially evident in the final lines of the work, when Voltaire refers to the theory known as "best of all possible worlds." The concept of "the best of possible worlds," essentially asserted that God put just the right amount of evil in the world; not so much that it conquered all goodness, but not so little that we wouldn't have a legitimate benchmark with which to measure our happiness.

Though he was not necessarily a pessimist but more of a realist, Voltaire refused to believe that everything that happens is always for the best. Voltaire thought it ridiculous that optimists obviously had no problem believing in such notions, claiming that although the world may seem like a convoluted maze of unexplainable, unconnected events, that this was a necessary condition to achieve balance and harmony in life. The idea that every event is just one link in the chain of events that connects all elements of life together is satirized beautifully in the play's final lines:

"There is a concatenation of all events in the best of possible worlds; for, in short, had you not been kicked out of a fine castle for the love of Miss Cunegund; had you not been put into the Inquisition; had you not traveled over America on foot; had you not run the Baron through the body; and had you not lost all your sheep, which you brought from the good country of El Dorado, you would not have been here to eat preserved citrons and pistachio nuts."

That's very well said and may all be true," said Candide "but let's cultivate our garden." (ch. 30, 829-840).

Emphasizing man's ability to distinguish between good and evil is perhaps the most significant way in which the optimists tried to justify the existence of the evil and suffering. After being cast out of heaven, Satan made the choice to continue his revenge rather than to quietly accept his punishment, which may have ultimately let him back into the kingdom of heaven. On the opposite end of the spectrum, God's son chose to help his father and humanity by agreeing to be mankind's portal to salvation. So the primary optimist message that Voltaire is satirizing is that if there were no evil to select over good, then man would not be able to distinguish between making the right and wrong choices in life. Voltaire finds this concept to be ridiculous and hypocritical, particularly since the optimists also believed in fate and destiny. Voltaire, saw this aspect of optimist perspectives to be a blatant contradiction, and he specifically attacked these premises in the following dialogue from Candide:

A little man clad in black, who belonged to the inquisition, and sat at his side, took him up very politely, and said: "It seems, sir, you do not believe in original sin; for if all is for the best, then there has been neither fall not punishment."

"I most humbly ask your excellency's pardon," answered Pangloss, still more politely; "for the fall of man and the curse necessarily entered into the best of worlds possible." "Then, sir, you do not believe there is liberty," said the inquisitor. "Your excellency will excuse me," said Pangloss; "liberty can consist With absolute necessity; for it was necessary we should be free; because, in short, the determinate will -- "

Pangloss was in the middle of his proposition; when the inquisitor made a signal with his head to the tall armed footman in a cloak, who waited upon him, to bring him a glass of port wine.