Voltaire's Truth

Voltaire ends the story in a curious manner that revokes the character’s views and instead clearly expresses his. Voltaire shows that regardless of a person’s position in society they are just as likely to suffer misfortunes. “That old fellow…seemed to have done much better for himself than those six kings we had the honour of supping with.”(p.143) Although the kings were of a high position, that didn’t save them from experiencing hardships and the fact that the other was just a commoner didn’t condemn him to an everlasting amount of troubles.

            Similarly, the different characters in Candide all had their share of evils. Regardless that they were all different, one the daughter of a Pope and Princess, one the greatest philosopher in all of Westphalia, another a beautiful young lady turned ugly with time, another a simple servant and so on, none led a life free of difficulties. They all had their own tragic tales to their names and they all ended up toiling on the very same farm.

            Voltaire’s last concrete lesson is that all the characters’ views were ultimately wrong. Life can’t be seen through Martin’s eyes where, “a man is badly off wherever he is.”(p. 139) According to him everything is dark, tragic, and misfortunate, yet since this is how it is everywhere, there is nothing to do on the matter. Voltaire of course says that this view is wrong. Yet, he also disproves Pangloss’ theory. According to Pangloss, “everything would turn out right in some marvelous way,”(p.140) because after all, “this [was the] best of all possible worlds.” Throughout the story, he maintained that everything that happened was for the best and therefore, one should just accept all occurrences, since that was the best and only way for them to happen.

            The truth according to Voltaire is that life is similar to Adam and Eve’s situation in the garden. “When man was placed in the Garden of Eden, he was put there ‘to dress it and to keep it’, to work.”(p.143) We must take an active role in our lives and never sit back and observe like Martin and Pangloss suggested. Life is difficult, but we can improve it by working. This is why Voltaire decided to finish the book with the analogy of a farm. Candide seemed to understand that they “must go and work in the garden.”(p.144) By doing this, their farm would bear heavy crops and so would their life in general. Voltaire’s call for action is that we must work to improve our lives and the world around us, we must take control of our own fate and future.