Satire Is. The American Heritage College Dictionary

¶ … satire is. The American Heritage College Dictionary describes satire as a literary work that attacks human vice or folly through irony, derision, or wit. Using this definition, we will focus on the manner in which Candide and Bourgeois Gentihomme make use of satire and comedy.

The most well-known book by Voltaire is Candide, his amusing satire on philosophical optimism, which has also been made into a musical by Leonard Bernstein. On the other hand, it is not one of his most influential works although he was considered one of the most widely read of the Enlightenment spokesmen.

Voltaire valued clarity and wit and it is evident in all of his works. It is interesting to note that Voltaire was deeply pessimistic about the human nature. In Candide, he never dreamed of creating a perfect world but rather argued that the world could be better if ignorance and superstition were replaced with knowledge and rational thought. In Candide, Voltaire analyzes the problem of evil in the world and depicts the woes heaped upon the world in the name of religion.

Voltaire rejected everything irrational and incomprehensible his morality was founded on a belief in freedom of thought and respect for all individuals, and he is considered a forerunner of such 20th-century writers as Jean-Paul Sartre and other French existentialists.

Moliere had long been acclaimed as the greatest French writer of all. His personal style of comedy was based on the normal and abnormal seen in relationship to each other. He used animation and drama to drive home his satire, very often beyond the limits of probability. His comedy was often the comedy of the absurd.

Voltaire's writing in contrast to Moliere sought to point out the fallacy of the theory of optimism and the hardships brought on by the inaction taken up against the evils of the world. Voltaire's uses of satire and exaggeration to highlight the evil and brutality of war and a world where men are meekly accepting of their fate. Moliere's comedy-ballet, the Bourgeois Gentihomme uses farcical comedy to deliver its messages.