Student Name: Emma Stanard
Title of Work : Candide
Extract Link:
Character
Choose a character or pair of
characters and what purpose
they serve in the work. Then,
describe how the author
achieves this purpose.
5-7 sentence Pangloss: Pangloss, a
explanation of ideas philosopher and optimist, was
in the work. Candide’s teacher. Pangloss is
a caricature of the philosopher
Leibniz, whose ideas Voltaire
very much disagreed with.
Pangloss sticks by his belief
that everything happens for the
best because this is “the best of
all possible worlds” throughout
the book. Even when countless
events appear to prove his
theory wrong he still sticks by
it. Pangloss suffers many near
death experiences and
constantly maintains his view
that everything is for the best.
Pangloss is the character
through which Voltaire mocks
the philosophy of optimism.
Theme
Choose a theme in work and
explain its significance to the
work as a whole. Then, describe
how the author conveys this
theme.
Philosophy is a prominent theme
in this novel. The characters all
have very different philosophies.
Pangloss follows the philosophy
of optimism, which is a primary
target of mockery for Voltaire.
Pangloss taught this philosophy
to Candide and Cunegonde who
later begin to question this
philosophy. The old woman is
more of a realist while Martin
takes a more pessimistic view of
life.
Plot
Choose an aspect of the plot
(point of view, conflict,
resolution, etc) and explain how
the author crafts the work as a
whole.
Conflict: ​Candide​ is filled with
conflicts for the characters. Many
of the characters, including
Pangloss, Cunegonde, the Baron,
and others, have near death
experiences, or are thought to be
dead and then end up alive.
Additionally, Candide goes
through many troubles and
conflicts to make his way back to
Cunegonde. This ongoing
conflict helps Voltaire to mock
optimism and the traditional
adventure novel. Voltaire lets
these absurd things happen to the
characters to show how
everything cannot possibly be for
the best.
Global Issue
Identify and describe a global
issue that the author addresses in
the work. Then, list how the
author develops the global issue.
One global issue revealed in this
work is the mistreatment and
objectification of women.
This is shown through the stories
that Cunegonde tells of her
family’s death and what happened
to her after that. The old woman
also has similar stories of being
mistreated and objectified in her
youth. Pacquette is also treated
like property in the novel. All of
these women are treated like
objects and not like human
beings.
Author technique or ● Caricature ● Character foils ● Parody of adventure ● Mock heroism
strategies (bullet ● Foils - Martin, Old ● Absurdity novel ● Understatement
points) woman ● Mocking ● Irony ● Absurdity
● Absurdity- Pangloss ● Irony ● Absurdity
You may wish to ‘dies’ then comes back
consider: motifs, more than once
symbols, character ● Mocking, Irony
foils, narrative
technique, plot
structure.